[rollei_list] Re: Press Cameras
- From: Newhouse230@xxxxxxx
- To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2012 21:22:40 -0400 (EDT)
I had two experiences with 4x5 'press cameras'
. The first was in the 1950's I worked a summer or two at a camera store
in Brookline, MA. They had a contract with the Post Office to develop and
print 4x5 negatives sent to them each week. The subject'; Post Office trucks
that had been in traffic accidents. Each week we got a packet with 4 x 5
film still in their holders. We developed them and made an 8"x10" of each
one and returned everything to the local Post Office. The quality of the
shots was usually terrible. Large negatives don't guarantee quality if the
photographer can't manage to focus well. The relatively shallow DOF seemed to
be a problem for the photographers as rarely were all the important areas of
vehicle damage in focus.
The second experience was in college. I worked two summers at
Polaroid's home office in Cambridge, MA. I was a quality control test
photographer. We subjected the Polaroid films to extreme heat and cold and
made note
of the color shifts etc. One of the films we enjoyed working with on our
own time was the 4 x 5 black and white film that yielded an instant
positive print as well as producing a negative. The negative required a water
wash if I recall, but could then be printed in the conventional fashion.
It was 'that' film which made me crave a 4 x 5 camera. They detail was
excellent and we had 16 x 20 prints from that film to prove it. There were
also some 'mural size' prints made from them which held up to the
enlargement fairly well.
That 'positive-negative' film, among others, was given to various
famous photographers who had relationships with Polaroid and agreed to create
photographs using the instant film. Ansel Adams was one of those
photographers. Marie Cosindas was another. She had an amazing eye for color
and
somehow created a palette that few others could, even using the same films.
Using the Speed Graphics in the test studio and getting instant
results was a great experience. I was using a Rolleicord VB at the time,
and
the larger 4 x 5 format of the 'press camera' was another 'step up' in
image quality from the 35mm format that had taken hold, almost completely in
the 60's.
Charlie Silverman
In a message dated 3/24/2012 8:31:09 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
glehrer@xxxxxxxxxx writes:
RUGers,
I did use my 4x5 Graphic for high school and college sports and special
events work.
Naturally I was never paid for the prints, which were needed that day.
I was repaid in film.
The 4x5 fast print work stood me in good stead when I was working nights
till 2:30 AM in
night club darkrooms at the Copacabana, Latin Quarter etc in New York.
Tray developing
and making prints from wet negatives for the scantily dressed "Camera
Girls". They always
wanted fast print service, which I tried to oblige.. My problem was
getting to 8 AM classes the
next day! The girls doing night club photography with their 3 1/4 x 4
1/4 Graphics were a
special kind of people. It is too bad that no one ever did a story
about them-- Not even Weegee.
As "Pal Joey" said "If they asked me, I could write a book".
Jerry Lehrer
On 3/24/2012 2:56 PM, Jon stanton wrote:
> I have a Speed Graphic for anyone interested
>
> Olympia, WA
>
> On Mar 24, 2012, at 2:20 PM, "Richard Knoppow"<dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Don Williams"<dwilli10@xxxxxxx>
>> To:<rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> Sent: Saturday, March 24, 2012 12:18 PM
>> Subject: [rollei_list] Press Cameras
>>
>>
>>> Just a random comment-
>>>
>>> Today I just happened to watch, on TV, the show about the "21" quiz
>>> show where Charles vanDoren and others were found to have been given
>>> answers to the questions. Maybe half of you will remember it.
>>>
>>> As I watched the movie, I noticed there were many press cameras and
>>> some pretty cheap cameras in the courtroom scenes.
>>>
>>> From a very young age I wanted a press camera, maybe a Speed
>>> Graphic, or something similar. I now realize that having a press
>>> camera would have been a real bother and I would have had no need for
one.
>>>
>>> Are there others who had the same thoughts as a young amateur
photographer?
>>>
>>> DAW
>>>
>> I remember 21 and the awful scandal it brought about. It seems to
me that cheating was found to be common on these high-jackpot shows. All
meant to make the shows more exciting for the audience and sell more soap or
cigarettes or whatever.
>> The Speed Graphic was the standard press camera. There _were_
others such as the B&J camera. After the Crown Graphic came out in 1947 a lot
of photogs switched to them because they were noticeably lighter. The
difference is that the Crown does not have the focal plane shutter of the
Speed. Busch also made good folding cameras, and at one time, advertised one
with a focal plane shutter in it. This was probably to meet a military spec
for the Speed but the Busch shutter was much advance over the very crude one
found in the Speed Graphic and Graflex cameras. I've never seen one of
these Busch cameras in the flesh so I don't think many were made. I had a
Busch Pressman long ago (a burglar go it) it was a fine camera.
>> The Speed Graphic became the defacto standard press camera sometime
around the late 1920s. Previously the Graflex SLR was very often used,
especially in the 5x7 size. The story, which may be apocryphal, is that a
N.Y.Times photog was using his Graflex to photograph an automobile race and
was
hit and killed by a run-away car because his face was in the hood and he
could not see it. The Times forbid the use of Graflex cameras and so did
other papers so the Speed Graphic came to the fore.
>> The film of the time tended to be grainy so having a large negative
was a virtue. Also, plates and sheet film lent themselves well to rapid
processing. Also, the usual technique was to use a powerful flash, stop the
lens down, and use the camera as pretty much a fixed-focus or guess focus
camera to speed up action. Even if the wanted image was captured on only a
corner of the negative it could still be blown up with enough detail for the
very low resolution half-tone printing of the time (sometimes with lines
drawn around the important parts). After WW-2 smaller cameras began to make
inroads. Initially Rolleiflexes started to appear and then 35mm cameras.
>> I was brought up on press cameras. One of my teachers in highschool
had been a working press photographer and showed me how to use a Speed
Graphic, both to take pictures and as a weapon (metal re-inforced corners). I
still like these old dinosaurs and can work pretty fast with one.
>> Of course, modern press work is simply to point your cell phone at
the subject and take a low frame rate movie of it. One can then select the
right picture. In the old days one had to have a nose for the "right
moment".
>>
>>
>> --
>> Richard Knoppow
>> Los Angeles
>> WB6KBL
>> dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> ---
>> Rollei List
>>
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>
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