My Dad bought this '58 Savoy around 1962-3 as a pile of rust, and spent a few months after work fixing the dents, and rotting fenders and doors, then finally painting it and getting it back on the road as a daily driver for my Mom. Years later Mom would load my brother and me in the car to run errands and get groceries, and by that time, the car was starting to fall apart again.
My only memories I have of riding in it was that every time Mom drove through a puddle, I'd get soaked. I always...
Here's another picture from a set taken at Ware Brothers Sporting Goods and Hardware Store in Spokane Washington; this time featuring various lawn care products for you to consider. It looks like this image was taken outside the store at night on one of their sidewalk window displays. I think 125 Howard St might be the address at the time of these photographs. The picture dates from approximately 1918.
Let's peek inside and see what we have for sale; there are two reel mowers; a 'Reliable' and 'Hero' brand, both 'self adjusting' and featuring 'Ball Bearings' in the reel mechanism I'm assuming. Darn, I can't read the hanging tags to check out the price. It looks like both are made by the same company as the...
I thought I'd post another set of samples showing the differences between Color negative, and Color reversal film, otherwise known as 'slide' film. The first post was here, where I compared two images taken at the same time with the same scene, but with totally different cameras. For our second look, the same camera was used for both images as I was able to swap-out the Fuji Velvia film with Kodak Portra 800 back at the hotel room, and head back for the second Church shot.
The Little Stone Church is the subject for our comparison today. For the first shot I used Fuji Velvia 100 color reversal (slide) film, and at the bottom, Kodak Portra 800, both taken with the Agfa Record III reviewed here.
Since I used two different types of film, and even different apertures, let's not compare the sharpness and grain detail of the pictures, that's not what we're looking for. As a side note; the Agfa Solinar lens is really sharp at F/22, noticeably more so than at F/16, and those were the apertures I used below.
The images below were cropped to a 6x4.5cm aspect ratio (removed excess sky and street) from a 6x9cm area, and...
When you walked into your local camera shop in the late teens or early 1920s and wanted to get some ideas for printing your pictures, the dealer might show you this sample album from Kodak. The Kodak Velox Print Album has seven pages, and includes samples of not only different types of Kodak's own Velox paper, but the actual size of the negatives from some of Kodak's cameras, like the Vest pocket, No. 1, 1a, 2c, 3a, and the 'Panoram' camera.
The printing papers in the sample album were marketed towards amateur photographers, and showed the size and quality one could get using a selection of Kodak's less expensive cameras. I've scanned the whole album for a page-by-page presentation. Unfortunately, over the years, the prints have suffered some degradation, mostly visible in 'silver mirroring' which is described here.
The colors of the pages and prints in this post are pretty accurate compared to directly viewed images; so with that said, let's step back in time for a moment, and see how our pictures might've looked nearly a hundred years ago...
Check out this nearly one hundred year old 8x10 glass plate negative with absolutely stunning detail! This 1922 image may have been taken to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the 1902 Cadillac, and the fact that it was still running! Looks like they need some air in the tires though if they want to continue 'running' it. Also included is a 1904 Cadillac, and it too is still running! Click for a larger version at 9000 pixels wide. Mobile devices will probably not show the full resolution.
This 8x10" glass plate negative was taken in c.1922, at 1000 Van Ness ave, San Francisco, California. The image derives from the Wyland Stanley collection of San Francisco historical memorabilia; the entire collection was later purchased by Marilyn Blaisdell in the late 1970s. I purchased this item via ebay, and scanned it with an Epson V700.
I can hear the Photographer setting things up, and yelling out "Office Ladies to the right please, Managers take the driver's seats, and all others, (lead paint stained workers) in the middle." Oddly, I see many of the employees in overalls are wearing neckties; maybe Don Lee had a high standard of dress for all employees to make sure and impress the customers. Incidentally, I have a picture of Don Lee, but I don't believe he's in this photo. Other interesting details include painters hats advertising "Pioneer" White Lead Paint; how'd you like to work with that all day for years on end; and by the looks of some of the employees, they might already be having problems...
Here are a few E-6 (slide film) samples from the Fuji GA645Zi, reviewed here. The Fuji medium format zoom correctly exposes slide film as well as the other versions, so no surprise there. I've added the photos inside to the review, but you can check them out here if you've already seen the review.
Also, I've slightly revised my assessment of the Olympus XA. I was pretty hard on it at the time because I was reviewing the Olympus 35 SP, and Nikon 35Ti at the same time, and the little XA just didn't have the same image qualities as the other two much more expensive cameras.
The list of 135 film keeps growing, the newest is Lomography Potsdam 100 B&W; judging by the samples, it doesn't look like anything special for $8 a roll. Go here for a complete list of B&W film, or color here.
I received my roll of Kodak Ektachrome E100 back from the developers last week, and I've put together a few samples for you to check out. Funny, but it appears the Darkroom (in San Clemente, CA), are using the Fuji Velvia profile for scanning the Kodak film, because the Ektachrome scans look almost identical to Fuji Velvia I've had developed from them in the past, see sample below. I order scans from them just in case the film gets lost in the mail on the way back. As a side note; I've had good luck with the Darkroom for developing my E-6 film, but they don't seem to be able to correctly scan images for shadow details, they're almost totally black, so I always do it myself at home using the...
Welcome to a very early look at the upscale Crocker Highlands development, just east of Oakland, California. High Society folks living here now describe the development as 'a neighborhood that overflows with an abundance of character and charm, and exhibits a genteel ambiance of an old Hollywood movie set.' Crocker Highlands offers elegant examples of Tudor, Spanish, Arts and Crafts, Beaux Arts, and Art Deco period homes.
Zeroing in on the actual location is a bit tricky. I see...