New Film Format Arrives - Exclusive To Camera Electronic

Well, it arrived. The sample film from my friend at Corrigan AFB arrived today - see heading picture. Dominic was unsure whether we should keep it in the fridge but as we are going to be loading it into the special camera later in the day we decided that it could be left out.

 This is a point that we get asked by a number of customers - generally we reply that while we keep the film in the fridge against the chance of colour changes in hot weather, once they take it out there is unlikely to be such a long period of danger before they expose and process it. All that being said, I did make the mistake in my own studio of leaving several 4 x 5 colour negative holders out of the fridge over several months of summer and the results when I did use them were dreadful. It was funky but not by intention. Discretion is advised.

The new Kodak film will be loaded into a M/Y Cro IIIA surveillance camera fitted to one of the visiting aircraft. I haven't been given details of the mounting but I guess it would be one of those external pods similar to the ones that the RCAF used. From what I can find on the net this sort of thing is demountable and can be shifted between different aircraft. It means that a basic air force or in this case a " civilian " user can make use of smaller vehicles - it is unlikely that they could stretch to a complete RB 36 unit.

It's surprising how the aerial photography thing has taken off here in Perth. Guess it is driven by the real estate trade as much as anything. We see a number of our clients utilising power-extending poles and computer-controlled mounts to get an elevated viewpoint. Several have tried to make powered drones do the job but I think the DCA has put restrictions on this. At least the user of the new film in the M/Y Cro IIIA won't be troubled with that sort of interference while working. We're looking forward to seeing the pictures once they are processed.

The Cold War Heats Up - With Kodak

Relax - no need to go into the fallout shelter just yet. The Russians are only annexing their neighbours and we don't live that near them. Just don't go investing your superannuation in Lomo camera shares....

Actually, I am not sure if it is the increase in international tensions or just a clever ploy by Rochester to get money from the government, but I note hat there is a new aerial film format being introduced later this month. Apparently digital imaging from near-space just does not have the resolution that film can provide, so they are going back to flying over  potential targets and photographing them with regular cameras. The RB36 has been mooted as the best platform.

Of course these are not just "regular" cameras - they need to have a big format to pack all the information in. Thus the new film format. Rumour has it they use colour negative film, but I don't know what emulsion.

I've asked a friend who works at Corrigan AFB if he can get me a roll of it to test out. I am not quite sure if my Linhof monorail camera will take it, but this sort of opportunity is too good to miss. I'll report whatever success when the film arrives.

Uncle Dick

Cameras In The Trenches - The Next Four Years

We are just about to see the centenary of the First World War. From August of this year to November of 2018 we are going to get periodic reminders of the events of the twentieth century - spaced out as manufacturers, film producers, and politicians cash in on the thing. I have a number of predictions for the photographic side of it.

1. There will be an ANZAC camera - in fact several of them.

 Someone will package up a film disposable with images of ANZAC cove and an Australian...and possibly New Zealand... flag printed on the cardboard outer sleeve. it is likely that the RSL will sell them from street stalls at the appropriate time of the year - it is absolutely certain that they will appear on eBay from Hong Kong.

There will also be a commemorative waterproof camera produced by either Nikon, Canon, Panasonic, or Olympus with some sort of ANZAC marketing. Perfect for capturing pictures at dawn on a beach.

There will be a professional ANZAC video camera developed by the ABC. It will be issued to film crews covering various commemoration ceremonies. The most interesting feature of the device will be the incorporation of the "reptile-recognition" button. Whenever this is pressed the camera will automatically focus upon a state or federal politician with a sombre expression on their face. It will hold this focus until the politician's rating in the Gallup poll rises by 2%.

2. The Leica company will re-issue a re-issue of the Leica O camera with a digital sensor inside. It will not function, but this is not viewed as a problem - indeed it can't be vied at all - the entire production run will be sent directly from Wetzlar to Hong Kong and will disappear into the interior of China.

3. The Reica company of Guang Zhao will issue a re-issue of a re-issue of a camera that looks really very much like a...Oh...whatever was I thinking?

4. Kodak will invent a new film format, then cancel it, then go broke again.

5. The Ilford company will issue anti-Zeppelin film for use in 35mm cameras. We will stock it here at Camera Electornic and can confidently predict that the city will not be attacked by Zeppelins. We do our bit for Australia.

6. LOMO will make something out of plastic that exposes film through a plastic lens. It will resemble a camera. It will be packaged in 115 layers of propaganda and cost as much as a small digital camera. It will be themed upon WW1. In 2017 it will be repackaged as a revolutionary product. It will be manufactured in China.

7. ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT will be re-filmed with aliens and pirates. It will star Angelina Jolie in the role that originally used Ernest Borgnine.
Will Smith may star as the Kaiser if contractual arrangements work out. If the Japanese buy into the financing there will be Hello Kitty in a stahlhelm with a Mauser rifle as a sniper.

8. The Department of Maintenance will take take the opportunity of changing and cleaning the carpets in Parliament House in Canberra during April 2015. All the federal politicians, advisers, secretaries, and ABC camera operators will be fact-finding and commemorating in Turkey during this month and it will give time to let the carpet glue smell dissipate. A large mat will be put out the front door to get the beach sand off when they came back...

9. Camera club presentations nights will feature military and naval subjects. The local re-enactors will be seen from every angle. Someone will fall over on parade and appear on the front page of the local paper.

10. Four good movies will be made of the conflict - one will involve airplanes and will be filmed by Peter Jackson. One will be of trench warfare and will be filmed in Yugoslavia.
If it is paid for by the French they will show more people sitting around eating than fighting. The American film industry will craft something around Belleau Wood.
The Swedes will make something gritty and depressed and the Germans will help them do it but it will pale into insignificance with the spectacular that the Russians will make in 2017 to celebrate being revolting. The theme of the 2017 Russian film will be " We were right - really we were. Honest to Putin, we were."

Put on your tin hats and look for a better 'ole...

'Ol Uncle Dick

Snap!

I knew it. I knew I had seen that camera somewhere before. It has been bugging me for months, but I knew I had seen it.

Then I googled the Kodak Retina Reflex IV. Snap. Olympus are channelling the German Retina Reflex. Okay the original is a leaf-shutter mid-quality plastic-bodied 35mm SLR camera and the Olympus is a metal-bodied micro 4/3 mirrorless that can turn out 1000% better photos...they have obviously been designed by the same person. Now as the Retina Reflex was produced 50 years ago, it begs the question where they hid the designer in the interim.

Questions must be asked.

Doin' The Numbers - You Can Too

Went on holiday in Europe in 1973. Went on holiday in Europe in 1995. Went on holiday in Melbourne in 2013. Took 1000 pictures each time. Here's the numbers - see if you think the world has got better...

1973. S/H Leica M2 - 50mm f:2.8 Elmar, S/H 35mm f:3.5 Something Leica with spectacles, S/H 90mm Elmar f:4 collapsible. Agfa CT 18 50 ISO. Billingham bag. Slides still exist - yellow dye has disappeared from them so they are magenta monsters...

1995. S/H Nikon F3, S/H 50mm f.1.4 Nikkor, S/H 16mm F:4 Nikkor, New 85mm f:2 Nikkor. Kodak Kodachrome 200 ISO. Lowepro bag. Slides still exist  - colours fast.

2013. New Fuji X-10, 28-112 f:2 Fujinon. Crumpler bag. Jpeg images on Drobo at home.

Several ponts of interest here - the business of buying and using secondhand photographic equipment IS PERFECTLY ALRIGHT. I emphasise that because occasionally we get people who are so fastidious as to reject perfectly good gear because someone else has used it before. This can be a personal thing or a cultural thing or just a thing - but you might be missing out on some wonderful opportunities for shooting. The 35 in 1973 and the 16 in 1995 were lifesavers for the types of images I take. I couldn't have got them new, but they worked just fine secondhand.

Secondly - don't sit there and agonise over the money costs. Real photographers, as opposed to the dillettanti, spend what they need to spend to get what they want to do done. I spent money to get 1000 pictures of Europe or Melbourne and that was well spent.

Thirdly. The weight. I weighed 75 Kg in 1973 and 1995. I weigh 69 Kg now. You can ask me how I lost the 6 Kg but be warned - I'll show you the scars...The real weight question is the gear weight that I carried around:

1973 - 3460 grammes

1995 - 3520 grammes

2013 - 1080 grammes

Fourthly. The X-rays and inspections. Went through 9 airports on the European journeys; the 1973 ones had little or no X-ray inspection - the 1995 had a lot of it. The domestic Australian inspection is a breeze and if you look interesting they'll also swab you for explosives and pat you down. I was clean, but i went back for seconds because the lady who did it had warm hands...

But what about hauling film through the rays, versus memory cards. Wouldn't like to do the film, the cards seem to be immune.

Fifthly. Processing. Two weeks after I returned from Europe I had 1000 slides in boxes ready for projection. Twenty minutes after I returned from Melbourne I had 1000 images in the Drobo and had emailed the good ones to my mates.

Sixthly. When was the picture taken? I can see the sequence of slides by looking at the edge of the film, but if I wanted to have a time and date I needed to keep a paper notebook. THAT lasted about one day, I can tell you...

So - You can do the figures yourself, but you can see why I am smiling. I now shoot with a third of the carriage weight with a wider range of focal lengths, and a choice of colour or monochrome renditions at my fingertips - even " mid-roll ". One filter only. You can X ray me until my buttons melt and the pictures will be unaffected. No lens changing. As many copies of my work as I like for free and I can make them myself with a cup of coffee in hand. Plus there is a record with each shot of what date and when it was taken - and this information isn't burnt into the open face of the image in yellow letters.

And finally - an on-board flash that lets me do selfies in restaurants. You can't do that with the big flashes on film cameras. Well, actually, you can, but they throw you out of the restaurant after one shot...

The Wurst-Käse Scenario

Many people have seen the uniforms of troops in the German army and noticed the various pouches and attachments that they have on their gear, ammunition pouches, entrenching tools, gas mask containers, etc. Few know the significance of the small sealed box on the upper left hand strap of the 1917-model field webbing.

It is seen in old photographs of the period and can sometimes be offered in militaria auctions. Rarely is it seen in the unopened form, but recently at Denby's in El Paso one of these originals showed up and after it was sold the collector who had bought it agreed to open it for the camera. It contained the  remains of three small sausages and a block of extremely hard cheese - the seal must have been good enough to prevent total spoilage over the the last 90-odd years.

The collector explained that this was the emergency ration of the observation-corps soldier, to be used only if all other rations had been expended, he was trapped far behind enemy lines, and on the point of death from starvation - the seal was to keep the food edible but there was a military law that forbid breaking it under any other circumstances.

It was the the sort of dire situation that gave rise to the Wurst-Käse scenario...

Which brings us to the topic of this post. Most people come into the shop looking for the best camera. They all ask for it. They all search for it on the internet. They all know someone who has advised them to get it...

Hardly anyone comes in looking for the worst camera. Oh, there are a few who do - they are very special people. Very. Special. And they have got me thinking that their approach to the art and science of photography might be a good test for the rest of us.

To that end, I shall be proposing a small contest later in the year - open to amateur and professional alike. There will be publicity, prizes, and probably art. Or artillery. Either way, there will be sausages and cheese.