Evergreen States
Francine Pierre Saget (they/them)
Kids these days call it the Sigma Grindset
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/sigma-grindset-hustle-culture-memes
Coldkennels
Barnack-toting Brit.
Nah, it's definitely not a Zorki 4. The Zorki 4 is knob-wind, not lever-wind, and the lever-wind Zorki 4K doesn't have the weird dome over the film advance lever.
It's either a Zorki 5 or 6 - they both have the same distinctive arrangement over the film advance and the giant disc for the rewind "knob". My guess, based on the brief flash of the side of the camera, would be the Zorki 6. It's tough to tell at that resolution but the back doesn't look solid like the Zorki 5.
HCB had taste. Those were the best cameras Zorki ever made, as far as I'm concerned.
Erik van Straten
Veteran
I'm sorry, I'm no expert on Zorki's. It's been years since I've wondered what kind of camera this was. The answer then was "Zorki". Perhaps Picasso's Zorki is a Zorki 4.
Erik.
Erik.
oldwino
Well-known
One of the interesting things about HC-B (to me, anyway), is that he was able to use classic composition even while on the street. So many of his frames are just perfectly composed. No twisty horizons or "radical" angles. I think that's an innate skill.
Erik van Straten
Veteran
Maybe he was helped because in the 1930's he used a "Vidom", a viewfinder that showed the image mirror wrong. Many painters view their paintings through a mirror to better assess the composition and to detect "drawing errors".
Erik.
raid
Dad Photographer
I may have a Vidom, but will I take better photos then? 
Erik van Straten
Veteran
I may have a Vidom, but will I take better photos then?
Don't forget that Cartier-Bresson was a painter, in the late twenties pupil of André Lhote .
Erik.
raid
Dad Photographer
Oh shoot! I am not a painter, Erik. Thanks for this information. I was unaware that HCB was a student of Andre` Lhote. Cool.
raydm6
Yay! Cameras! 🙈🙉🙊┌( ಠ_ಠ)┘ [◉"]
I have read that too Erik. The reversed and inverted image helped with compositional and geometric abstraction.
Interesting article about that here:
https://fotophilosophy.wordpress.com/2013/11/23/external-finders-for-leica-ltm-cameras/
Erik van Straten
Veteran
One of the oncles of Cartier-Bresson was a painter, but he died as a soldier in WW1. As a child Cartier-Bresson was often in his studio.
Erik.
Erik.
raid
Dad Photographer
This is interesting to learn about. Thanks. I love history.
Erik van Straten
Veteran
There is a biography of Cartier-Bresson by Pierre Assouline (translated from the French by David Wilson) "Henri Cartier-Bresson - A Biography" (Thames & Hudson) ISBN 978-0-500-29052-1. Paperback edition 2012.
Erik.
Erik.
p.giannakis
Pan Giannakis
Very nice video - thanks for sharing.
xayraa33
rangefinder user and fancier
HCB did use a Zorki 6 and even a Jupiter 3 lens but like his use of the bottomloader Canon and the Canon "Sonnar" lens...not for very long.
The famous photo of Picasso with a USSR made camera usually shows him with a Fed 2 camera.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/garythegit/95313877
jpressman
Well-known
Great video, thanks! Wonderful reminder to just get out there and shoot.
Erik van Straten
Veteran
Cartier-Bresson used a Leica I in 1932 and I use it now.
(shot this afternoon)
gelatin silver print (elmar 50mm f3.5) leica l (1930)
Erik.
(shot this afternoon)
gelatin silver print (elmar 50mm f3.5) leica l (1930)
Erik.
boojum
Ignoble Miscreant
I may have a Vidom, but will I take better photos then?
Only with a Leica I ;p)
raydm6
Yay! Cameras! 🙈🙉🙊┌( ಠ_ಠ)┘ [◉"]
Since I'm in the market for a VIDOM and am doing some research, I came across another reference to HCB's usage of the device in his recommendation to Inge Morath (alongside 'looking at photographs upside-down'):
From: "Inge Morath’s First Months at Magnum"
If I understand correctly, the VIDOM provides an upside-down image *only* when the camera is held on the vertical and if the rear knob is not turned. Horizontal usage only provides a reversed (and not upside-down) image. Please correct me if I am wrong.
From: "Inge Morath’s First Months at Magnum"
If I understand correctly, the VIDOM provides an upside-down image *only* when the camera is held on the vertical and if the rear knob is not turned. Horizontal usage only provides a reversed (and not upside-down) image. Please correct me if I am wrong.
raydm6
Yay! Cameras! 🙈🙉🙊┌( ಠ_ಠ)┘ [◉"]
Cartier-Bresson used a Leica I in 1932 and I use it now.
(shot this afternoon)
gelatin silver print (elmar 50mm f3.5) leica l (1930)
Erik.
Nice image Erik!
I have early Leica camera gas at the moment and am on the hunt for a nice specimen.
Erik van Straten
Veteran
gelatin silver print (elmar 50mm f3.5 fixed) leica 1a
