After a Sam Shaw retrospective: a question.

[Joao]

I had the privilege of attending a Sam Shaw retrospective of more than 200 photos (I went there three times). Outstanding work !
One of the prints was a contact sheet with sequential photos of Woody Herman playing sax in 1948. Each frame is (aprox.) 3 x 4,5 cm. I am puzzled by the very fast sequence of the pictures, the sequence looks almost like cinema – and Woody Herman was not a static musician.
In the link bellow there is a part of the A4 contact sheet (I was allowed to take this photo, but I am not sure if I should upload it to RFF)

http://s627.photobucket.com/user/foto_apparat/media/S Shaw Sax 1_zps8rzbzewa.jpg.html

Can someone tell me what kind of camera could have been used in 1948 to take such a fast sequence of frames ??

Thank you for your input

 

[photomoof]

He could have used a Robot, but my guess is they are film frames, since he was a film producer. Nothing was posted?

http://www.leitzmuseum.org/CameraMakes/Robot/Robot39II-1.jpg

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/09/arts/sam-shaw-87-film-producer-and-photographer.html

His amazing work, for those not familiar:
http://shawfamilyarchives.com/work.php

 

[Joao]

He could have used a Robot, but my guess is they are film frames, since he was a film producer. Nothing was posted?

No technical details were available.
The frames are too large for film - 3 x 4.5 cm . I don't know any motorised camera from 1948 using a film with frames that size...

Regards

Joao

 

[photomoof]

Hard to say, he was certainly active in 48, but his photos of Brando in 51 made him well known.

Could not find anything on the web re those photos, sure they were so large, not an enlargement?

 

[Joao]

Could not find anything on the web re those photos, sure they were so large, not an enlargement?

That's precisely my point ! It was presented as a contact proof . Each frame size was aproximately 4,5 x 3 cm, in a sheet close to A4 size . In my opinion it does not make sense to enlarge a contact proof (besides the technical difficulty!)
A large film, in "portrait" frames, in a motorised camera ???

 

[photomoof]

That's precisely my point ! It was presented as a contact proof . Each frame size was aproximately 4,5 x 3 cm, in a sheet close to A4 size . In my opinion it does not make sense to enlarge a contact proof (besides the technical difficulty!)
A large film, in "portrait" frames, in a motorised camera ???

Actually enlarged contact sheets were once very common, they would put the negatives in a 8x10 enlarger. I used to have 16x20 contact sheets made, they were great.

 

[Joao]

Actually enlarged contact sheets were once very common, they would put the negatives in a 8x10 enlarger. I used to have 16x20 contact sheets made, they were great.

Now that's something I didn't knew ! And could be a good explanation for my question.

Thank you for clarifying.

Joao