Cameras of the JFK assassination
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Well-known
Yes, there is an interesting museum in the Texas School Book Depository.
Arguably missing in this group is the Nikon S3 used to photograph Lee Harvey Oswald's assassination by Jack Ruby.
Pál_K
Cameras. I has it.
It's good to see the Nikkorex F used by James "Ike" Altgens, reporter for the AP.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ike_Altgens
His photo was the very first photo of the scene that I ever saw (on TV later that afternoon) - it was made from the south side of Elm street and showed the approaching Lincoln. My very first impression was that it was a picturesque area (that morning when I heard about the assassination, as a young kid in school, I envisioned the car traveling along the freeway with bleak buildings alongside - Altgens' photo disrupted that mental image in a startling way).
In 1987 I went to Dallas for the sole purpose of duplicating many of the famous photos from that day and to walk around the area. I duplicated the Altgens photo, printed it out, and had it on the wall of my office for many years. People would look at it and say, "that looks familiar" - I never explained it to them.
Altgens also had a role in the 1960 movie, "Beyond the Time Barrier" - the very first science fiction movie that captured my attention!
Anyway, I've resisted any impulse to get a Nikkorex F - it actually was not made by Nikon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ike_Altgens
His photo was the very first photo of the scene that I ever saw (on TV later that afternoon) - it was made from the south side of Elm street and showed the approaching Lincoln. My very first impression was that it was a picturesque area (that morning when I heard about the assassination, as a young kid in school, I envisioned the car traveling along the freeway with bleak buildings alongside - Altgens' photo disrupted that mental image in a startling way).
In 1987 I went to Dallas for the sole purpose of duplicating many of the famous photos from that day and to walk around the area. I duplicated the Altgens photo, printed it out, and had it on the wall of my office for many years. People would look at it and say, "that looks familiar" - I never explained it to them.
Altgens also had a role in the 1960 movie, "Beyond the Time Barrier" - the very first science fiction movie that captured my attention!
Anyway, I've resisted any impulse to get a Nikkorex F - it actually was not made by Nikon.
markjwyatt
Well-known
I have a Nikkorex F. I bought it on ebay, and it wound a couple of times and it jammed. I took the bottom plate off tonight after seeing this and played around, and got it to wind once and fire, but the mirror stayed up! I have a non-AI Nikkor 50mm f1.4, and bought the camera to try the lens. According to Richard Haw, it is a pretty simple camera.
Pál_K
Cameras. I has it.
peterm1
Veteran
Well, there was that one guy who thought he had bought a Leica shoulder stock camera through the mail, but it turned out to be a terrible mistake.....................
(Sorry let me apologize for this joke in advance).
On a more serious note, I wonder who here feels that we now know everything we need to know about the assassination. Are all the conspiracy theories just, well conspiracy theories? Or was there really a cover up? To be honest, I vacillate between the two opposing points of view. There did, after all, seem to be a rush to judgment backed by a whole lot of official effort to close down any questions, some of which were pressing in the extreme and some evidence that came out subsequently did seem to be deliberately overlooked or covered up. And so, many of those questions are still unanswered. My gut says there is more to the story than some would have us believe. But even so it may just have been that "lone gunman". Perhaps.
On a slightly less serious note, looking at the photo of the exhibit the only camera I would want to own these days is the Leica (which even at that time was "old technology"). The rest of them were essentially ephemeral designs and types that were designed for a specific technological state and with a specific design ethic that now looks horribly dated and probably performs equally poorly. They passed into and out of the record almost without making a ripple - apart from I suppose having been incidentally part of some epoch making events like this. Still I suppose in 60 years they will be saying the same about much of the equipment we drool over today.
(Sorry let me apologize for this joke in advance).
On a more serious note, I wonder who here feels that we now know everything we need to know about the assassination. Are all the conspiracy theories just, well conspiracy theories? Or was there really a cover up? To be honest, I vacillate between the two opposing points of view. There did, after all, seem to be a rush to judgment backed by a whole lot of official effort to close down any questions, some of which were pressing in the extreme and some evidence that came out subsequently did seem to be deliberately overlooked or covered up. And so, many of those questions are still unanswered. My gut says there is more to the story than some would have us believe. But even so it may just have been that "lone gunman". Perhaps.
On a slightly less serious note, looking at the photo of the exhibit the only camera I would want to own these days is the Leica (which even at that time was "old technology"). The rest of them were essentially ephemeral designs and types that were designed for a specific technological state and with a specific design ethic that now looks horribly dated and probably performs equally poorly. They passed into and out of the record almost without making a ripple - apart from I suppose having been incidentally part of some epoch making events like this. Still I suppose in 60 years they will be saying the same about much of the equipment we drool over today.
Out to Lunch
Veteran
I find all of this too morbid.
joe bosak
Well-known
A TLR, an SLR, a folder, two RFs. And 7 movie cameras.
I don't think I ever saw anyone using movie cameras, growing up in the sixties, until videotape became a thing.
I don't think I ever saw anyone using movie cameras, growing up in the sixties, until videotape became a thing.
Graybeard
Longtime IIIf User
I believe there was a second photographer present who used a Speed Graphic.
peterm1
Veteran
Second photographer? Hmmmmm, he must have been on the grassy knoll. 🙂
Estona
Member
Some interesting info on here, good to read and some cool shots, thanks.
lxmike
M2 fan.
Interesting but the footage shot at the time still fills me with sadness every time I see it
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