Photography My Pentax

Paul Outerbridge

2009-12-30T07:46:00.000-08:00

Paul Outerbridge (1896 - 1958) was an American photographer, who was well known for his early use of color photography. As a fashion and commercial photographer, Outerbridge was an early pioneer and teacher of color photography; as an artist, he created erotic nudes photographs that could not be exhibited in his lifetime.

Paul Outerbridge first worked as an illustrator and theatrical designer and created stage settings and lighting schemes. In 1917, he enlisted in the U.S. Army where he produced his first photographic work. In the early 1920s, Outerbridge studied the Clarence H. White school of photography at Columbia University. Within a year his work began being published in Vanity Fair and Vogue magazine. In Paris he produced a layout for the French Vogue magazine, met and worked with Edward Steichen, and built the largest, most completely equipped advertising photography studio of the times.

Paul Outerbridge died on October 17, 1958. In 1959, the Smithsonian Institution staged a one-man show of Outerbridge's photographs. Although his reputation has faded, revivals of Outerbridge's photography in the 1970s and 1990s has periodically brought him into the public's awareness.

Outerbridge's Photographs

Triumph of the Egg

Images de Deauville

Kitchen Table (1921)

Woman with a Snake

Jerry Uelsmann

2009-12-29T06:34:00.000-08:00

Jerry N. Uelsmann was an American photographer born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1934. His interest in photography began when he was at high school. Having worked as a free lance photographer, shooting weddings, Uelsmann studied photography at the Rochester Institute of Technology, obtaining M.S. and M.F.A. degrees from Indiana University. He began teaching photography at the University of Florida in 1960.

Jerry Uelsmann was a master printer producing composite photographs with multiple negatives and extensive darkroom work. He used up to a dozen enlargers at a time to produce his final images. Similar in technique to Rejlander, Uelsmann was a champion of the idea that the final image need not be tied to a single negative, but may be composed of many. Unlike Rejlander, however, he did not seek to create narratives, but rather allegorical surrealist imagery of the unfathomable.

Uelsmann's Photographs

Louis Jacques Daguerre

2009-12-28T12:33:00.000-08:00

Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre (1787 – 1851) was the French inventor of the daguerreotype process of photography. He was also artist and chemist. Daguerre was born in Cormeilles-en-Parisis, Val-d'Oise, France, in 1787. He learned architecture and panoramic painting. He was adept at his skill for theatrical illusion and became a celebrated designer for the theater; later he invented the Diorama, which opened in Paris in July 1822.

Louis Daguerre joined in partnership with Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, who developed the world's first permanent photograph (known as a Heliograph). The main reason for the partnership had to do with the already famous dioramas of Daguerre. Since Niepce was a printer and his process was based on a faster way to produce printing plates, Daguerre thought that the process developed by his partner could help speed up his diorama creation.

After years of research, Louis Daguerre announced the Daguerreotype on January 6, 1939. The French Academy of Sciences announcing the process on January 7 of that year. Daguerre's patent was acquired by the French Government, and, on August 19, 1839, the French Government announced the invention was a gift "Free to the World."

The work on the Daguerre process was taking place at the same time as that of William Fox Talbot in England on the calotype process. Both men knew that they were working on a process that would revolutionize the art world. The Grand Tours which were so popular were illustrated by drawings of scenes and the "photographic" process would improve the quality and ease with which these popular holiday memories could be produced.

To protect his own invention, Daguerre himself registered the patent for Britain on August 12 (a week before France declared it "Free to the World"), and this greatly slowed the development of photography in that nation. Great Britain was to be the only place the patent was enforced. Antoine Claudet was one of the few people legally able to take daguerreotypes there.

Daguerre did not need to make money from the invention to live, since he had been pensioned by the French government. Fox Talbot spent a considerable amount of money on his process (est. £5,000 in 1830s money) and licensed the process to British photographers where it was used instead of the Daguerreotype.

Cyanotype

2009-12-27T16:08:00.000-08:00

Cyanotype was a photographic printing process that gave a cyan-blue print. The process was popular in engineering circles well into the 20th century. The simple and low-cost process enabled them to produce large-scale copies of their work, referred to as blueprints. Two chemicals were used in the process: ammonium iron(III) citrate and potassium ferricyanide. The cyanotype process was invented by Sir John Herschel, who was a scientist, in the early 1840's.

In the cyanotype process, equal volumes of an 8% (w/v) solution of potassium ferricyanide and a 20% solution of ferric ammonium citrate are mixed. This mildly photosensitive solution is then applied to a receptive surface (such as paper or cloth) and allowed to dry in a dark place. Cyanotypes can be printed on any surface capable of soaking up the iron solution. Although watercolor paper is a preferred medium, cotton, wool and even gelatin sizing on nonporous surfaces have been used. Care should be taken to avoid alkaline-buffered papers which will cause degradation of the image over time.

A positive image can be produced by exposing it to a source of ultraviolet light, such as sunlight, with a negative. The UV light reduces the iron(III) to iron(II). This is followed by a complex reaction of the iron(II) complex with ferricyanide. The result is an insoluble, blue dye (ferric ferrocyanide) known as Prussian blue. Upon exposure to ultraviolet light (such as that in sunlight), the iron in the exposed areas will reduce, turning the paper a steel-grey-blue color. The extent of color change is dependent on the amount of UV light, but acceptable results are usually obtained after 10-20 minute exposures on a bright, sunny day.

Cyanotype Photographs

Nicéphore Niépce

2009-12-26T14:39:00.000-08:00

Joseph Nicéphore Niépce (1765 – 1833) was a French inventor. He was one of the inventors of photography and a pioneer in the field. He is most notable for producing the first photographs, dating to the 1820s. Joseph Niépce was born on March 7, 1765 in Chalon-sur-Saône, Saône-et-Loire. He took what is believed to be the world’s first photoetching, in 1822, of an engraving of Pope Pius VII, but the original was later destroyed when he attempted to duplicate it.

Niépce also experimented with silver chloride, which darkens when exposed to light, but eventually looked to bitumen, which he used in his first successful attempt at capturing nature photographically. He dissolved bitumen in lavender oil, a solvent often used in varnishes, and coated the sheet of pewter with this light capturing mixture. He placed the sheet inside a camera obscura to capture the picture, and eight hours later removed it and washed it with lavender oil to remove the unexposed bitumen.

In 1829 he began collaborating on improved photographic processes with Louis Daguerre, and together they developed the physautotype, a process that used lavender oil. The partnership lasted until Niépce’s death in 1833. Daguerre continued with experimentation, eventually developing a process that little resembled that of Niepce. He named this the "Daguerreotype", after himself.

Niépce's early photograph

Daguerreotype

2009-12-25T15:49:00.000-08:00

A daguerreotype was an early type of photograph which was developed by Jacques Daguerre, in which the image was exposed directly onto a mirror-polished surface of silver bearing a coating of silver halide particles deposited by iodine vapor. In later developments bromine and chlorine vapors were also used, resulting in shorter exposure times. The daguerreotype was a negative image, but the mirrored surface of the metal plate reflects the image and makes it appear positive when the silvered surface had a dark ground reflected into it. Daguerreotype was a direct photographic process in which the photograph could not be reproduced and was therefore unique.

The daguerreotype was the first publicly announced photographic process (1839) and while there were competing processes at the time, the accepted scientific etiquette of the time was that discovery was attributed to first published. All of the initial photographic processes required long periods for successful exposure and proved difficult for portraiture. The daguerreotype did become the first commercially viable photographic process in the history of photography as it was the first to permanently record and fix an image with exposure time compatible with portrait photography.

Daguerreotypes

Boulevard du Temple, Paris, 1843

Abraham Lincoln 1846

Photogravure

2009-12-24T12:34:00.000-08:00

Photogravure is an intaglio printmaking process in which photographic images are printed using forms of mechanized etching of plates. Photogravure envolves etching an image on a copper plate, previously-prepared with a grained surface, so that the etched area can hold printing ink. In this photomechanical process, printing plates are etched from photographic images, producing high quality prints in large quantities.

The first forms of photogravure were developed in the 1830s by Henry Fox Talbot in England and Nicéphore Niépce in France. They were seeking a means to make prints that would not fade, by creating photographic images on plates that could then be etched. The etched plates could then be printed using a traditional printing press.

Photogravure plates go through several stages: 1) Prepare a copper plate by cleaning with a weak acid then with potash. 2) Lay a ground upon the copper plate, with the ground made by up of fine dust and bitumen; then warm the plate gently until the bitumen adheres to it. 3) Use the original negative to make a carbon positive on a transparency, and allow to dry. 4) From the carbon transparency make a carbon negative onto, say, Autotype tissue; this is called a resist because it will, at a later stage, resist the action of the etching fluid. 5) Lay the resist on the grained copper plate and develop, as for a carbon print, with warm water; then dry the resist, using alcohol to do so; this will leave a coating of gelatin on the ground copper surface, thinnest in the shadow. 6) Etch the copper plate through the resist; do this by placing in a dish containing perchloride of iron. 7) Wash the resist off the copper plate, then print from the plate.

Photogravure Portrait of Canadian Indian

William Fox Talbot

2009-12-23T13:15:00.000-08:00

William Henry Fox Talbot (11 February 1800 – 17 September 1877) was the inventor of calotype process, the precursor to most photographic processes of the 19th and 20th centuries. He was also a noted photographer who made major contributions to the development of photography as an artistic medium. His work in the 1850s on photo-mechanical reproduction led to the creation of the photoglyphic engraving process, the precursor to photogravure. Talbot is also remembered as the holder of a patent which, some say, affected the early development of commercial photography in Britain. Additionally, he made some important early photographs of Oxford, Paris, and York.

William Fox Talbot's Photographs

The Footman from 1840

Game Keeper from 1843

Henrietta Horacia Maria Fielding from 1845

Open Door from 1844

Pantheon from 1943

Jacob Riis

2009-12-22T07:36:00.000-08:00

Jacob Riis (May 3, 1849 - May 26, 1914), was a Denmark-born American photographer, social reformer, and muckraking journalist. He is known for his dedication to using his photographic and journalistic talents to help the impoverished in New York City, which was the subject of most of his prolific writings and photography. He helped with the implementation of "model tenements" in New York with the help of humanitarian Lawrence Veiller. As one of the most prominent exponents of the newly practicable flash, he is considered a pioneer in photography.

Riis had for some time been wondering how to show the squalor of which he wrote more vividly than his words could express. He tried sketching, but was incompetent at this. Lenses of the 1880s were slow — necessarily, for depth of field despite their considerable focal length — as was the emulsion of photographic plates; photography thus did not appear to be of any use for a reporter of goings on in dark interiors. In early 1887, however, Riis was startled to read that "A way had been discovered to take pictures by flashlight. The darkest corner might be photographed that way." The German innovation, by Adolf Miethe and Johannes Gaedicke, was to mix magnesium with potassium chlorate and antimony sulfide for more stability; the powder was used in a pistol-like device that fired cartridges.

Riis informed a friend, Dr John Nagle, a keen amateur photographer and chief of the Bureau of Vital Statistics in the City Health Department. Nagle found two more photographer friends, Henry Piffard and Richard Hoe Lawrence, and the four of them set out to photograph the slums.

Jacob Riis's Photographs (taken between 1889 and 1896)

Italian Ragpicker

Five-cent Lodging

Sleeping in the Cellar

Mulberry Bend

Edward Steichen

2009-12-21T12:26:00.000-08:00

Edward Steichen (1879 – 1973) American photographer, painter, and art gallery and museum curator. He was the most frequently featured photographer in Alfred Stieglitz' groundbreaking magazine Camera Work during its run from 1903 to 1917.

Edward Steichen was born in Bivange, Luxembourg, and became a naturalized citizen in 1900 after his family moved to America in 1881. Steichen assumed the pictorialist approach in photography and proved himself a master of it. In 1905, Steichen helped create the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession with Stieglitz. After World War I, during which he commanded the photographic division of the American Expeditionary Forces, he reverted to straight photography, gradually moving into fashion photography. Steichen's 1928 photo of actress Greta Garbo is recognized as one of the definitive portraits of Garbo.

Edward Steichen's Photographs

Lotus (1915)

Portrait of Miss Sawyer (1914)

Time-Space Continuum

Spring

Time-lapse Photography

2009-12-20T10:06:00.000-08:00

Time-lapse photography is a cinematography technique whereby each film frame is captured at a rate much slower than it will be played back. When replayed at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus lapsing. Time-lapse photography can be considered to be the opposite of high speed photography.

Processes that would normally appear subtle to the human eye, such as the motion of the sun and stars in the sky, become very pronounced. Time-lapse is the extreme version of the cinematography technique of undercranking, and can be confused with stop motion animation.

Classic subjects of timelapse photography include: cloudscapes and celestial motion; plants growing and flowers; opening; fruit rotting; evolution of a construction project; people in the city. The technique has also been used to photograph crowds, traffic, and even television. The effect of photographing a subject that changes imperceptibly slowly, is to create a smooth impression of motion. A subject that is changing quickly already is transformed into an onslaught of activity.

The first use of time-lapse photography in a feature film was in Georges Méliès' motion picture Carrefour De L'Opera (1897). Time-lapse photography of biologic phenomena was partially pioneered by F. Percy Smith in 1910 and Roman Vishniac from 1915 to 1918. Time-lapse photography was further pioneered in a series of feature films called Bergfilms (Mountain films) by Arnold Fanck, in the 1920s, including The Holy Mountain.

Rapatronic Camera

2009-12-19T05:57:00.000-08:00

The rapatronic camera is a high-speed camera which is capable of recording a still image of an extremely fast moving object with an exposure time as short as 10 nanoseconds, that is to say billionths of a second.

The rapatronic camera was invented by the American scientist Harold Edgerton in the 1940s and was first used to photograph the rapidly-changing matter in nuclear explosions within milliseconds of ignition. To overcome the speed limitation of a conventional camera's mechanical shutter, the rapatronic camera uses two polarizing filters and a Kerr cell. The two filters are mounted with their polarization angles at 90° to each other, to block all incoming light. The Kerr cell between the filters, which changes the polarization of light passing through it when energized, acts as shutter when it is energized at the right time for a very short amount of time, allowing the film to be properly exposed.

For a film-like sequence of high-speed photographs, as used in the photography of nuclear and thermonuclear tests, arrays of up to 12 cameras were deployed, with each camera carefully timed to record a different time frame.

Harold Edgerton was born in Fremont, Nebraska on April 6, 1903, the son of Mary Nettie Coe and Frank Eugene Edgerton, a direct descendant of Richard Edgerton, one of the founders of Norwich, Connecticut and a descendent of Governor William Bradford (1590-1657) of the Plymouth Colony and a passenger on the Mayflower. His father was a lawyer, journalist, author and orator and served as the assistant attorney general of Nebraska from 1911 to 1915. Harold grew up in Aurora, Nebraska. He also spent some of his childhood years in Washington, D.C., and Lincoln, Nebraska. In 1925 he received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln where he became a member of Acacia Fraternity. He earned an S.M. in electrical engineering from MIT in 1927.

In 1937 Edgerton began a lifelong association with photographer Gjon Mili, who used stroboscopic equipment, particularly a "multiflash" strobe light, to produce strikingly beautiful photographs, many of which appeared in Life Magazine. This strobe light could flash up to 120 times a second. Edgerton was a pioneer in strobe photography, subsequently using the technique to capture images of balloons during their bursting, a bullet during its impact with an apple, or tracking of a devil stick motion, as only a few examples. He was awarded a bronze medal by the Royal Photographic Society in 1934, and the National Medal of Science in 1973.

He was a cofounder of the company EG&G, with Kenneth Germeshausen and Herbert Grier, in 1947. EG&G became a prime contractor for the Atomic Energy Commission and had a major role in photographing and recording nuclear tests for the United States through the fifties and sixties. For this role he developed the Rapatronic camera, which was supplied by EG&G.

Rapatronic Camera

Rapatronic Photographs

High Speed Photography

2009-12-18T07:58:00.000-08:00

High speed photography is the art or science of taking photographs of objects which move fast. In 1948, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers defined high-speed photography as any set of photographs captured by a camera capable of 128 frames per second or greater, and of at least three consecutive frames. High speed photography can be considered to be the opposite of time-lapse photography. To freeze an a fast-moving object in a frame without the blur, one needs a professinal camera with a high shutter speed, between 1/1000 and 1/2000th of a second plus a roll of sensitive film, at least 400 or 800 ASA.

In common usage, high speed photography may refer to either or both of the following meanings. The first is that the photograph itself may be taken in a way as to appear to freeze the motion, especially to reduce motion blur. The second is that a series of photographs may be taken at a high sampling frequency or frame rate. The first requires a sensor with good sensitivity and either a very good shuttering system or a very fast strobe light.

The first practical application of high-speed photography was Eadweard Muybridge's 1878 investigation into whether horses' feet were actually all off the ground at once during a gallop. High Speed Photography is used in physics, health research, sports and more. High-shutter-speed photography has come a long way from Muybridge's galloping horse in 1887 and even from Edgerton's strobe work in the 1950s and '60s. Milliseconds are an eternity compared to the attosecond images of electron drift we see today.

Carleton Watkins

2009-12-17T15:45:00.000-08:00

Carleton E. Watkins (1829 – 1916) was a renowned 19th century California photographer.

Carleton Emmons Watkins was born in Oneonta, upstate New York. In 1851, he went to San Francisco during the gold rush. He traveled to California with Oneontan Collis Huntington, who later became one of the owners of the Central Pacific Railroad, which helped Watkins later in his career. After having worked as an aide in a San Francisco portrait studio, Watkins started taking photographs of his own in 1861. He became interested in landscape photography and soon started making photographs of California mining scenes and of Yosemite Valley.

Carleton Watkins experimented with several new photographic techniques, and eventually favored his "Mammoth Camera," which used large glass plate negatives, and a stereographic camera. He became famous for his series of photographs and historic stereoviews of Yosemite Valley in the 1860s that helped influence Congress' decision to establish the valley as a National Park in 1864. Watkins also took a variety of images of California and Oregon in the 1870s.

In 1879, Watkins married his 22-year-old assistant, Frances Sneade, with whom he had two children. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire destroyed Watkins's studio and negatives. In 1910 Watkins was committed to the Napa State Hospital for the Insane, where he died six years later.

Carleton Watkins Photographs

The Wreck of Viscata

Coast View

Yosemite Valley

North Point

Max Waldman

2009-12-16T16:55:00.000-08:00

Max Waldman (1919 - 1981) was an American photographer. He gave up commercial work in the mid-1960's, and began doing art photography. Waldman had an excellent eye for capturing stage and dance performers.

Max Waldman's Photography

Ballet Rehearsal Theme

Natalia Makarova

Marat/Sade

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Edward Weston

2009-12-15T07:21:00.000-08:00

Edward Henry Weston (1886 – 1958) was an American photographer, and co-founder of Group f/64. Most of his work was done using an 8 by 10 inch view camera.

Weston was born in Highland Park, Illinois on March 24, 1886. He began taking photographs at 16, when he was given his first camera, a Kodak Bull's-Eye #2. He became a pioneer of precise and sharp presentation. His photographs included the human figure as well as items of nature, including seaside wildlife, plants, and landscapes. Edward Weston made his last photographs at Point Lobos State Reserve in 1948.

Edward Weston's Photographs

Shells

Pepper

Nude

Tina Reciting

Konica Autoreflex TC

2009-12-14T06:31:00.000-08:00

The Konica Autoreflex TC was a 35mm, SLR camera introduced in the late 1960s by Konica of Japan. The Autoreflex TC featured through-the-lens metering and automatic exposure control. It used a Konica Hexanon AR 50mm f/1.7, six elements, prime lens with a minimum focusing distance of 21.7". The camera had a Konica bayonet mount.

The Konica Autoreflex TC was fitted with a metallic, vertical-run, Copal Square focal plane shutter with speeds that ranged from 1/8 to 1/1000th of a second plus B. Flash synch was up to 1/125. The TC also offered a coated eye-level pentaprism and a split-image focusing screen. It was equipped with an instant return mirror and a built-in self-timer. Film advance was via a single-stroke lever.

Konica Autoreflex TC

Konica Autoreflex T4

2009-12-13T15:59:00.000-08:00

The Konica Autoreflex T4 was a 35mm, single-lens-reflex, film camera which was introduced in 1978 by Konica Camera Company of Japan. The T4 was a light and compact professional camera with automatic exposure control. It was designed to give the photographer dependable and trouble-free use. The T4 had a Konica bayonet (47mm) mount and used a Konica Hexanon AR 50mm f/1.7 standard lens, which was made of 6 elements in 5 groups.

The Konica Autoreflex T4 featured a metallic, vertical-run, Copal Square-FC, focal plane shutter with speeds ranging from 1 to 1/1000th of a second plus B. Speeds were set manually by turning the shutter speed dial on the right side of the top plate. Flash synchronization X was at all speeds up to 1/125. The Autoreflex T4 also featured a built-in self-timer; an oversize, coated, reflex instant return mirror; and eye-level pentaprism viewfinder with split-image focusing screen. The metering system was powered by two 1.35V mercury batteries (Mallory P-13, PX-625, or Eveready EPX-625).

Konica Autoreflex T4

Konica L

2009-12-12T06:56:00.000-08:00

The Konica L was a 35mm, rangefinder camera introduced in the 1950s by the Japanese firm Konishiroku Photo Industry Co. The Konica L was compact, light and offered a bright frame viewfinder for easy and accurate sighting. It used a Hexar 40mm f/2.8 lens which was made of 4 elements in 3 groups; each one of these elements was amber-coated. It could focus from 3 feet to infinity.

The Konica L used a Seikosha L leaf shutter (built in the lens of the camera) with speeds from 1/30 to 1/250th of a second plus B. Flash sync X was at 1/30. The exposure meter was cross coupling by adjustable needle to match fixed mark, either in viewfinder field or at top of camera body. The film advance of the Konica L was by a thumb-operated, single-stroke lever which was situated on the right side of the top plate. By one 120º stroke of the lever, the film advanced one frame and cocked the shutter simultaneously.

Konica L

Konica III

2009-12-11T04:20:00.000-08:00

The Konica III was a 35mm, rangefinder camera introduced in 1956 by Konishiroku Photo Industry Co. of Japan. It was light and compact and replaced the Konica II, as it introduced new features; the shutter was cocked by the film advance and the film wind lever was not on top, but on the front of the camera. The Konica III used the Hexanon 48mm f/2.0 lens, which was made of six elements in five groups. It was a sharp and versatile lens with extremely high resolving power.

The Konica III was equipped with a Seikosha MXL leaf shutter, which was capable of operating at the following speeds: 1, 1/2, 1/5, 1/10, 1/25, 1/50, 1/100, 1/250, 1/500th of a second plus B (bulb). The Konica III was fitted with a coupled rangefinder, which was of the double-image type. Sighting and focusing it was done by bringing the camera up to eye level and peering through the single eye piece; a double image could be seen at the center of the field of vision; then one had to adjust the focusing lever until a single image was formed.

Konica III

Konica II

2009-12-09T03:35:00.000-08:00

The Konica II was a 35mm rangefinder film camera which was introduced in 1951 by Konishiroku Photo Industry Co. (later Konica) in Japan. It was a high quality camera made with precision engineered mechanical pieces. The Konica II was equipped with the famous Hexanon 50mm f/2.8 lens which had been developed with five elements. This Hexanon lens was Koni-coated in all air-to-glass surfaces and was virtually aberration-free.

The Konica II was fitted with a coupled rangefinder; a double-image coincidence type. The camera was equipped with the Konirapid-S leaf shutter (built in the lens) with speeds ranging from 1, 1/2, 1/5, 1/10, 1/25, 1/50, 1/100, 1/250, 1/500th of a second plus B. It also offered a built-in self-timer. The shutter was required to be cocked first; the shutter speed could be selected by turning the shutter speed dial on the camera lens. The Konica II had accessory shoe and a winding knob.

The Konica II rangefinder was a unique optical mechanical instrument with an internal lens which was actuated by an accurate cam mechanism. This lens changed the direction of the light as the camera taking lens was focused back and forth.

Konica II

Konica Autoreflex A3

2009-12-08T07:57:00.000-08:00

The Konica Autoreflex A3 was a 35mm, SLR camera which was introduced in 1973 by Konica of Japan. The Autoreflex A3 was a professional camera designed to give the photographer dependable trouble-free use. It offered a through-the-lens metering system and automatic exposure control. The Autoreflex A3 had a Konica bayonet lens mount (47mm) and used the Hexanon AR 50mm f/1.4 standard lens with fully automatic diaphragm.

The Konica Autoreflex A3 was fitted with an oversize, coated instant return mirror; a Konica microdiaprism focusing screen; a coated eye-level pentaprism viewfinder. The Autoreflex A3 camera was equipped with a metallic, vertical-run, Copal Square-S shutter with speeds that ranged from 1 to 1/1000 sec. plus B and built-in self-timer. Electronic flash synchronization X was at all speeds up to 1/125 sec. It was powered by two 1.35V mercury batteries, such as the Mallory PX-675 or the Eveready EPX-675.

Konica Autoreflex A3

Konica Autoreflex T

2009-12-07T13:08:00.000-08:00

The Konica Autoreflex T was a 35mm, SLR, film camera which was produced between 1968 and 1970 by the Japanese firm Konica. The Autoreflex T incorporated a fully automatic exposure control system and a through-the-lens metering system which measured light reaching the film plane in the most ideal way, depending on the coverage of angle of an interchangeable lens. It featured a bayonet type Konica lens mount 11 and used a Hexanon AR 57mm f/1.2 prime lens made of 7 elements.

The Konica Autoreflex T was fitted with a Copal Square S, vertical-run, metal focal plane shutter. Speeds ranged from 1 to 1/1000 second plus B. Flash sync X was at 1/125 sec. It was also equipped with a built-in self-timer. The Autoreflex T also featured an eye-level pentaprism viewfinder with fresnel lens and instant return reflex mirror.

Konica Autoreflex T

Minoltaflex II

2009-12-06T06:12:00.000-08:00

The Minoltaflex II was a twin-lens reflex camera for 120 film. It was manufactured from 1950 to 1952 by Chiyoda Kogaku Seiko. The Minoltaflex used a Rokkor 75mm f/3.5 taking lens, which was coated and had an excellent resolution and sharpness. It was fitted with a Minolta-Anastigmat 75mm f/3.2 coated viewing lens. Rigid coupling of both lenses provided unerringly precise transmission of sharp focusing to the film.

The Minoltaflex II featured a Konan Rapid shutter which operated in steps from 1 to 1/1000 sec. plus B. It had a built-in flash synchronizer and depth of field indicator, which was encircled on the focusing adjustment. The Monoltaflex II had a self-erecting focusing hood with a hinged large magnifier and cover plate. All the fittings of the Minoltaflex were chromium-plated.

Minoltaflex II

Minolta X-300

2009-12-05T06:04:00.000-08:00

Minolta X-300 was a 35mm, SLR, film camera which was introduced in 1984 and manufactured until 1990 by Minolta Co. Ltd. of Japan. The X-300 was an ergonomic, easy-to-use, microcomputerized camera with quartz control of mechanical sequences and shutter speed. It automatically set the precise shutter speed for correct exposure according to the built-in camera meter at the aperture the photographer had selected. The X-300 had a bayonet mount and used a Minolta MD 50mm f/2.0 standard lens.

The Minolta X-300 was equipped with a quartz/electronically controlled, vertical-run focal plane shutter with speeds that ranged from 4 to 1/1000 sec., which were set automatically with selector speed dial at "AUTO". Bulb was set manually. It was fitted with a hot shoe and flash synch X was automatically set at 1/60 sec. The X-300 also featured a tripple-coated, oversize instant return reflex mirror; eye-level pentaprism and Acute Matte focusing screen with central horizontally oriented split-image spot. This camera was powered by two 1.5V alkaline manganese (LR44; Eveready A-76) batteries.

Minolta X-300