Cameras can come in all shapes and sizes. The rules that define a functioning camera allow for endless design possibilities. It's no secret that (like many other things) the 1980's were an...
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5 Absurdly Luxurious Special Edition Leica Cameras
If Leica wasn't already the pinnacle of luxury digital and film cameras, here's a set of special edition Leica cameras that will leave you checking the blue book value on your car. Enjoy!
Read MoreEarliest Known Images of People Smiling
The following is a collection of some of the earliest known images of people smiling, starting with a pair of soldiers in the Mexican American War in 1847, up to a group of soldiers near the end of the Civil War.
Read MoreGoing Analog, Full 35mm Photography Kit Under $50
There's much to be debated when asking "Is film dead?" In my opinion it could best be summarized by saying, "Film is not dead, it's just not a necessity." Though some film purists would disagree.
Read More18 Most Expensive Photographs Ever Sold
Here is a list of the 18 most expensive photographs ever sold, this collection features works created from the mid 1800s to 2014….
Read MoreLeica's Early Years, "Little Negatives Big Pictures"
Leica, 1920's Germany
Just as films were getting better, making bigger enlargements possible, the Leica camera changed the world. Then, as now, the Leica was made to the highest mechanical standards, all designed to help a photographer take the highest quality photographs in the easiest, least obtrusive way.
Its inventor, Oskar Barnack, developed prototypes as early as 1913, and in 1925, Ernst Leitz introduced the 35mm Leica A, known as the Leica 1 Model A in the United States. In 1935, each of its new interchangeable lenses-both a 35mm wide-angle and 135mm telephoto - turned Leic into a different instrument. "Little Negatives, big pictures," was Barnack's motto.
Here are some of Leica's earliest models that were the trendsetters of the early camera industry.
Leica 1 Model A, 1925
Focal Plane Shutter: 1/25 - 1/500 Lens: Non Collapsible 50mm f/3.5 Price in 1925: $114
Leica 1 Model B, 1930
Rim-Set Compur Leaf Shutter: 1/1 - 1/300
Leica II Model D, 1932
Built in Coupled Rangefinder Built in Yellow Filter Optional: Remote Film Advance/Shutter Release Price in 1932: $56
Leica Single Exposure, 1936
Designed for Film Testing Tiny View Camera Price in 1936: "OLIGO" Model $31.50, "OLORA" Model $12.75
Part of Leica's appeal came from the very idea of the "candid camera." Erich Salomon (1886 - 1944) first used a handheld model, the Ermanox, to photograph German high society as Hitler was gaining power.
Before long Alfred Eisenstadt and Henri Cartier-Bresson were using Leicas to make pictures of scenes such as V-J Day kisses in Times Square and street life in paris. The cumbersome Speed Graphic with its powerful flash was still an awesome weapon for news photographers covering Hollywood openings and shooting crime scenes. But the Leica ratified the 35mm format.
In the 1960s, German, American, and especially Japanese camera companies gradually substituted the single-lens reflex format for the rangefinder system.
Production was streamlined and camera prices lowered. By marketing their cameras to affluent amateurs, companies such as Nikon, Canon, Olympus, Asahi Pentax, and Minolta grew the business. Meanwhile films, newspapers, lenses, and processes all improved - each significant innovation serving as a "force multiplier" to drive camera sales, spur film and print consumption, and propel a growth curve that implied permanent prosperity. . .
Text from Gustavson, Todd. "Camera". New York: Fall River Press, 2009
14 Amazing Portraits of History's Most Influential Women
Winnie the Welder (some call her Wendy the Welder), the moniker given to some 2,000 women who worked in the shipyard building war ships and subs.
Read MoreA Brief Guide to Finding & Buying Tintype Photographs
Where to buy tintype photographs is not always easy, but it can be with a few bits of insight. First lets see what's so fascinating about tintypes in the first place.
Read MoreCamera Commercials of the Last 20 Years
Please enjoy this gallery of camera commercials over the last 20 years. No matter your age, there's sure to be some here you'll remember and I hope it will bring back a bit of nostalgia. At the bottom of the page you'll find what I consider the best camera commercial of all time.
Read MoreA List of Every Canon FD Lens Ever Made
Hopefully you already have some knowledge of the use of FD lenses and made your way to this page in an effort to diversify your FD portfolio. Glad you made it, here is a list of every Canon FD lens ever made…
Read MoreApollo 11 Camera Lost 40 Years Found in Closet
Nearly 40 years after the first spaceflight that landed humans on the moon, a cloth bag packed with items from the Apollo 11 mission has been recently discovered. The discovery was made by Niel Armstrong's widow Carol Armstrong as she cleaned out a closet of their home office in Ohio. She send the following photo the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum asking if they had any interest in the items.
The most significant of the items was a 16mm Data Acquisition Camera that filmed Neil Armstrong's infamous ladder descent to the surface of the moon.
The museum immediately recognized the bag which was used as a temporary stowage bag aboard the lunar missions. It was specially fitted with pins that locked into sockets left of the Lunar Module hatch, in front of the Commander's station.
Many Cameras Never Made it Back to Earth
It's amazing that the Apollo 11 camera lost for 40 years, was even here on earth at all. Like any aircraft, the lunar module had very specific cargo weight limits. The 10 lbs of relics found in the bag, took up a significant amount of valuable space aboard the craft. The astronauts needed to lose weight before they could return home to account for the extra cargo of moon rocks and samples they obtained. In fact, it was common enough to leave cargo behind that there are 12 Hasselblad cameras still sitting on the surface of the moon to this day.
16mm Apollo 11 Film Camera on Display
The camera is temporarily on display at the National Air and Space Museum in New York City as part of the Outside the Spacecraft: 50 Years of Extra-Vehicular Activityexhibit.
Images from Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
The Speech that Changed the World (& Photography) Forever
No this is not an article about JFK or MLK, but long before that. The speech that changed the world came in a California courtroom in 1875, by a man named William Wirt Pendergast. In an attempt to…
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