Rangefinders conquer space?..take a look...

[monkeypainter]

I was happily browsing the GRIN (Great Images in Nasa) site as I discovered this one:

(Ed White First American Spacewalker...)

¿What's this guy's camera? ¿how do you cock the shutter with these giant gloves? 😀

You can check the Hi-res file here.

And the original source web-site here. It's photo #50

 

[sevo]

That looks very much like a modified Contarex.

Googling a bit: "on the second Gemini mission, history was made when the first picture of a spacecraft in orbit was taken by astronaut Ed White as he floated outside his spacecraft. He used a Zeiss Contarex 35mm camera mounted atop his gas-powered maneuvering gun."

I.e. no rangefinder, but a SLR supposedly hacked for focus free operation.

Sevo

 

[monkeypainter]

Thanx!

Looks like if the prism (and probably the mirror) had been removed. Not a SLR anymore!

 

[Larky]

Sad to know that none of the cameras made it back. All the spacewalks ended up with lost cameras, and the blads got left on the moon. 🙁

 

[Spoks]

Sure, a rangefinder camer was used in space. The Hasselblad SWC. Look up this:

http://www.hasselblad.com/about-hasselblad/hasselblad-in-space/space-cameras.aspx

 

[sevo]

The NASA had a SWC with rangefinder?

Going by the Hasselblad site, they stripped the SWC of its viewfinder (not rangefinder), and most of the SLRs of their mirror, ground glass and hood - and probably removed the helicoid from the lenses as well, ending up with finder free cameras with fixed focus set at infinity.

 

[FrozenInTime]

The rangefinder mechanism associated with the NASA SWC cameras consisted of a pair of eyes inside the space helmet. ;-)

 

[monkeypainter]

The NASA had a SWC with rangefinder?

... ending up with finder free cameras with fixed focus set at infinity.

That makes sense. I'm sure that up there you can see a hell of a lot of infinity.

 

[Chuck Albertson]

The New York Times' Lens blog had an excellent post on NASA photography last night---the accompanying slide show is worth a look.

 

[monemmer]

I guess one would use sunny 16 in space.