Are you old enough to remember?

[Retro-Grouch]

Back in the ‘70s, a store in Sacramento (Curry’s or McCurry’s?), the sales staff all wore white lab coats.

Just like the staff in psychiatric hospitals. Coincidence?

 

[Retro-Grouch]

When I worked at a chain of camera stores in a large metropolitan area, we had a big book provided by subscription from the National Pricing Service in Montgomery Alabama. The binder listed every photographic product available, who provided the products and the price. Replacement page updates arrived seemingly weekly. I now wish I had kept all the old pages; no, I now wish I had stolen the book when I stopped working at the store. It was the definitive trove of information. I have only two pages from it.

From 2005, not that long ago, I have the B&H "35mm SLR Photo Sourcebook" which nominally sold for $6.95, but was mailed free to their regular customers. It's the size and thickness of an urban phonebook, and the title says it all. I glance through it periodically, and it feels like a trip to a galaxy far away and long ago, when real photographers snickered smugly at digital. All gone and pretty much forgotten! And every time I see the listing for a Hasselblad X-Pan complete kit for $2499.99, I kick myself. Hard.

 

[Oren Grad]

For anyone that had never been in these old NYC camera stores they weren’t like a mall store Lens and Repro was sort of hidden and in an old building on non consecutive multiple floors. If I remember right you took a freight elevator to the different floors. Ken Hansen wasn’t much better. At Lens and Repro you’d find plastic laundry baskets full of Hasselblad magazines and old dirty display cases full of exotic view camera lenses and glass cases with rare cameras and others stacked on top of them.

One floor would have rows of used enlargers from old Leica Valoy to 8x10 Saltzman, Durst and Omega F series. Another floor would be lighting from Ascor Sun units to carbon arc. Amazing places!

The old EP Levine shop on Drydock Ave on the Boston waterfront, in what's now called the Seaport District, was in an old high-ceilinged industrial building, though on one floor only. Also, before he re-established an independent shop in Wrentham and then Woonsocket, Steve Grimes's repair business was embedded within the EP Levine space, so you could bring an item in to him for repair and then wander a few steps over to see what other interesting things EP Levine had sitting around.

 

[Oren Grad]

From 2005, not that long ago, I have the B&H "35mm SLR Photo Sourcebook" which nominally sold for $6.95, but was mailed free to their regular customers. It's the size and thickness of an urban phonebook, and the title says it all. I glance through it periodically, and it feels like a trip to a galaxy far away and long ago, when real photographers snickered smugly at digital. All gone and pretty much forgotten! And every time I see the listing for a Hasselblad X-Pan complete kit for $2499.99, I kick myself. Hard.

The 35mm SourceBook is still available for download...

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/find/Product_Resources/35mmsrcbook.jsp

...as are the three other SourceBooks:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/find/Product_Resources/photo_srcbook.jsp

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/find/Product_Resources/lighting_srcbook.jsp

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/find/Product_Resources/professional_video_srcbook.jsp

 

[boojum]

I pulled out a box of flash bulbs and thought everyone might enjoy.

They range from the small 5 to the FF33 that has the ribbon in it. That was a motion picture bulb for ultra high speed motion picture work and had a peak of 1.75 seconds. I used the for high speed work with a Redlake Highcam and shot at 44,000 frames per second.

The really large one is a #3 and was the largest for normal use. Bright!!!!! I lit some huge areas with those. There’s a #2, 22, 40 and a European bulb, the blue one. Also the black one is a GE5 IR. No visible light from those, only IR. They came in all sizes too.

There’s a #11 shown signed by O. Winston Link. Search his name for some great images lit with bulbs.

Sylvania, Blue Dot for Sure Shot. Seems like only yesterday. It was 1956.

 

[Retro-Grouch]

Flashcubes, anyone, for your Instamatic?

 

[Oren Grad]

Flashcubes, anyone, for your Instamatic?

My Brownie Fiesta R4 took flashcubes, but my older brother's Instamatic X-15 took those newfangled Magicubes. 🙂

 

[CMur12]

My Kodak Duaflex IV from Christmas 1959 took real flash bulbs (in two sizes) in its detachable flash unit. 😎

- Murray

 

[Oren Grad]

My Kodak Duaflex IV from Christmas 1959 took real flash bulbs (in two sizes) in its detachable flash unit. 😎

- Murray

My Kodak Hawkeye Flashfun II takes bulbs, as does the flash attachment that came with my dad's Olympus Pen EE-S. AG-1's, I think.

 

[x-ray]

I briefly worked for a camera shop part time and the main store was in an old Victorian building. The floors squeezed and the lighting was bad and fluorescents that flickered and buzzed. There were multiple types of bulbs from blue to yellow green. It added a little challenge when you were evaluating the color of you photo finishing prints.

I was in the original store that was basically a 2 story barn that was a commercial studio and commercial photo supply and warehouse. The business was established in 1906 and is still going, sort of. It was an amazing place with a segment of the second story floor that was like an elevator and could be raised and lowered on geared tracks. Jim Thompson, the owner, used to photograph pianos through a hole in the floor. He could do a perfect vertical shot and move the floor up and down.

In 1967 urban renewal took the building and Jim retired in his 80’s.

I worked with several of those old timers and was totally amazed at them. They were so resourceful and could solve any problem. I’ve seen my coworker go to the trash can, pull out some junk and fabricate a solution to a complex problem. These guys were practical and had so much self acquired knowledge and skill.

One problem my co worker solved was a motion picture shoot where plump red strawberries had to pour in a red syrup, strawberry pie filling, into a pie crust and look thick, rich and appetizing. My coworker decided to take Marvel Mystery Oil which was thick and red and put fresh strawberries in it and over crank the 35mm Arriflex we had and have someone pour the mixture into the pie crust.

Holy cow, it worked. CG couldn’t have done it any better. It looked so good you wanted to get a slice of that pie. I’ve seen these old timers do this kind of problem solving a million times. They were creative and amazing technicians.

 

[wlewisiii]

Mom had an Instamatic with those bleeping blinding MagicCubes. But then mom & dad got the money together for a real vacation and went to Hawaii and the Doctors dad had his second job with (assisting at postmortems) let them take the hospital's Canon AE-1 with them 🙂 She was never willing to use the Instamatic again. I wonder why ? 🤣 That said, it had taught her the basics and her work with that Canon was solid.

About a year later I found myself in Germany, in the Army and at the PX. I bought a Canon AE-1 with a 50/1.8 SC and learned a hell of a lot in that base's darkroom.

So my memories went from those ok square prints of childhood to damn good real prints in high school. I still have one hell of a print of a great portrait of my girlfriend in high-school (who is my current GF thanks to the ironies of life 😀 ) by my mother for a class in B&W photography she took to learn how to use that AE-1. I can do landscapes with the best of them; I have yet to equal that portrait.

 

[x-ray]

Canon must have sold millions of the AE-1. It was a ground breaking camera and still excellent today. I understand the young photo guys really get into them and have run the price up on the to pretty high prices. Once in a while you see one in an antique shop but usually the battery compartment has green keys in it where the battery leaked so you can imagine what they’re like inside.

It’s amazing how 50 years later they’re still popular and many are still going. And the Canon lenses of that era were darn good too.

 

[Oren Grad]

John Newcombe!

 

[wlewisiii]

Yes they were and are. I stole an AE-1 Program (metaphorically) from a pawn shop not long ago for $40. They had no record of it and it's what I had in my wallet at the time so they accepted it 🤣 They go for as much as $800 on Eprey 😉

I started with Canon FD. I remember how good that glass is. But as nice as, say, the T90 or the A2E were? I can get the best elements of BOTH in my current F4 and use both manual focus and auto focus lenses. Everyone here probably knows that but still.

I did love the T90 and the A2E when I owned them. But I had to buy new lenses in between them. To go from a F2 to a F4 to a D7100 to a D810? All the same. At least for the Nikkors I own 😉

And if I get a Z5? Real adapters exist for F, S & M mounts, I'm not sure If I'd even _bother_ with a Z mount lens...

 

[x-ray]

$800 for an AE-1?😳

 

[chuckroast]

I briefly worked for a camera shop part time and the main store was in an old Victorian building. The floors squeezed and the lighting was bad and fluorescents that flickered and buzzed. There were multiple types of bulbs from blue to yellow green. It added a little challenge when you were evaluating the color of you photo finishing prints.

I was in the original store that was basically a 2 story barn that was a commercial studio and commercial photo supply and warehouse. The business was established in 1906 and is still going, sort of. It was an amazing place with a segment of the second story floor that was like an elevator and could be raised and lowered on geared tracks. Jim Thompson, the owner, used to photograph pianos through a hole in the floor. He could do a perfect vertical shot and move the floor up and down.

In 1967 urban renewal took the building and Jim retired in his 80’s.

I worked with several of those old timers and was totally amazed at them. They were so resourceful and could solve any problem. I’ve seen my coworker go to the trash can, pull out some junk and fabricate a solution to a complex problem. These guys were practical and had so much self acquired knowledge and skill.

One problem my co worker solved was a motion picture shoot where plump red strawberries had to pour in a red syrup, strawberry pie filling, into a pie crust and look thick, rich and appetizing. My coworker decided to take Marvel Mystery Oil which was thick and red and put fresh strawberries in it and over crank the 35mm Arriflex we had and have someone pour the mixture into the pie crust.

Holy cow, it worked. CG couldn’t have done it any better. It looked so good you wanted to get a slice of that pie. I’ve seen these old timers do this kind of problem solving a million times. They were creative and amazing technicians.

I learned quite young that I didn't want to be a commercial photographer, but the few years I did work as a photographer's assistant taught me that good photographers are inventive and able to build their own solutions to complex shooting and darkroom problems. To this day, my first instinct isn't, "Can I buy a solution", but instead, "Can I build one"...

 

[x-ray]

I learned quite young that I didn't want to be a commercial photographer, but the few years I did work as a photographer's assistant taught me that good photographers are inventive and able to build their own solutions to complex shooting and darkroom problems. To this day, my first instinct isn't, "Can I buy a solution", but instead, "Can I build one"...

Commercial photography isn’t for everyone but I loved it. 55 years doing it is a long time if you don’t.

I couldn’t work with the public. I would have thrown myself off a tall building if I’d had to do portraits and weddings. I liked working with designers and art directors as well as the client. I liked working with professionals that knew what they wanted and appreciated my work. I won’t say I loved every day but mostly I loved it.

 

[DownUnder]

$800 for an AE-1?😳

Wishful thinking? Creative fiction? Or a bit of both.

Maybe an Ebay fantasy. Many of those around. One born every few minutes.

Whichever, it's - amusing. Or indicative of the collective dreamtime we are slipping and sliding into in C21.

 

[phojsu]

I pulled out a box of flash bulbs and thought everyone might enjoy.

They range from the small 5 to the FF33 that has the ribbon in it. That was a motion picture bulb for ultra high speed motion picture work and had a peak of 1.75 seconds. I used the for high speed work with a Redlake Highcam and shot at 44,000 frames per second.

The really large one is a #3 and was the largest for normal use. Bright!!!!! I lit some huge areas with those. There’s a #2, 22, 40 and a European bulb, the blue one. Also the black one is a GE5 IR. No visible light from those, only IR. They came in all sizes too.

There’s a #11 shown signed by O. Winston Link. Search his name for some great images lit with bulbs.

During my first newspaper photo internship, I was charged with cleaning out a storage closet. This was 1974, towards the back there was a cache of flash bulbs in the Common (USA) lightbulb screw base. For about a week pranksters (NOT ME, I needed the job) were replacing enlarger bulbs with flash bulbs. Every time someone turned-on an enlarger to check focus, BOOM. After that week, all the flash bulbs went to the trash.

I just checked my garage freezer, I still have a few thousand feet of Bulk Film: KB-25, Ilford Pan-F (ASA 50) my all-time favorite film, a few hundred rolls of Arista Tri-X equivalent, as well as some bags frozen to the freezer floor which will need to be seriously defrosted to rescue. Lots of Elon/Metol and Sodium Sulfite to brew Kodak D-23 (another lifelong favorite).

My bride of 32 years and I are planning a major cross country move to be near our soon-to-be grandchildren. The Omega Prolab may or may not make the trip. The Nikon reels and Kinderman tanks certainly will, same for the Cenrack drier as well as the Nikon 35mm Scanner and retired MacBook Pro with the proprietary driver.

Long live film!

I'm keeping the M9-P bodies, they work just fine.

 

[phojsu]

I shot Rollei SL66’s for work and bought quite a bit from Ken Hansen. Used to drop in his shop and Lens and Repro when I was in NYC.

For anyone that had never been in these old NYC camera stores they weren’t like a mall store Lens and Repro was sort of hidden and in an old building on non consecutive multiple floors. If I remember right you took a freight elevator to the different floors. Ken Hansen wasn’t much better. At Lens and Repro you’d find plastic laundry baskets full of Hasselblad magazines and old dirty display cases full of exotic view camera lenses and glass cases with rare cameras and others stacked on top of them.

One floor would have rows of used enlargers from old Leica Valoy to 8x10 Saltzman, Durst and Omega F series. Another floor would be lighting from Ascor Sun units to carbon arc. Amazing places!

Altman in Chicago was like a 3 or 4 story modern department store, huge and open with glass cases full of the best gear. As you walked in the front door there were cases of Linhof, Sinar, Leica, Hasselblad, Rollei, Zeiss and every other companies equipment you could think of.

Take the escalator up to the next floor and it was lighting, tripods and grip and studio equipment. Above that was darkroom and then the next floor was motion picture equipment, Arriflex, Eclair, Baleau and Bolex and all the premium lenses.

Then there were those special small dealers like Jim Kuehl. He C sold through Shutter Bug and had premium gear. Jim had been a Leica rep and you felt like you knew him on a personal level. He was old school and a true gentleman and 100% honest. I would call him looking for a lens, for example my 75 Summilux, and he’d tell you what he had and the condition with the price. He’d ask if he could send it to you on approval. If you said yes he shipped it right out with no deposit or credit card, strictly honor system. If you liked it you’d send a personal check and if not just ship it back. I asked once if anyone had ever taken advantage of him and he said no. He said no one had ever given him a bad check or shafted him on an item. Jim was amazing!

A couple of other dealers I delt with that were great was Jimmy Koh at Koh Camera. He’s still around but mostly retired. The other was Alex Thomas in Buffalo. He’s who I learned of Jimmy Koh. Alice had Rollei SL66’s gear, Linhof and nothing but premium gear st good prices and service.

Sammy's in LA, the original location. Oh the excitement of going to a different floor!