Woobra and other stuff

At the Wood and Brass community there was a message about the digitisation of the British Journal of Photography Almanak (which is only a plan and far from realisation). I know that many old journals are already digitised and available online, so I tried to find the BJPA at the Internet Archive and Hathi Trust digital libraries. Many years are available full text so I tagged them in Delicious (social bookmarking) with a unique tag: woobra. If you register at Delicious you can search for this tag and you will find my saved woobra links. At the moment I have 3 links to about 25 years of the BJPA, full text!
What is still more interesting is that you can use the woobra tag too, if you find full text photography journals online. Then, when I will search for the woobra tag, I will find your links also. This way we can share a digital library. Below a screenshot of the first page of the complete 1871 edition of the BJPA.

The last weeks there were some interesting items at aBay, like the Kodak Enlarging Camera No. 1 in super condition and with an extra lens to take photos. The beautiful instrument did fetch US $ 750. It was made from 1903 onwards for several years, and was in fact a daylight enlarger and copying camera. See the screenprint from the 1904 catalog below.

Another fine item was a very clean No. 1A Speed Kodak. Often these cameras are worn, with dried out leather and missing pieces of leather. This one was a peach, to use a phrase from its own days. It sold for $ 650.

Surprising was the $ 260 for a cabinet size photo of a gentleman in a studio, with one of the Eastman plate cameras on a tripod next to him. I have paid good money for photos with a rare Kodak on it, but not so much as $ 260!

Last but not least the latest news on my teahouse project. After several weekends of hard labor the stone path around the teahouse is ready. I'm happy with the result and so is my wife. On we go to the next project...



Fiftieth Anniversary Kodak

The Anniversary Kodak set arrived this week and I am happy to say that the camera, film and instruction booklet are in pristine condition. The dealer card is a bit worn at the edges and discolored, and the box had several loose parts. With pliobond and strips of brown packing paper I glued all parts in the original place and restored the box to a fine exhibition item.

I added a description of the camera to my website, so click here if you want to read more about it.

There are a number of cameras and items I did not buy, but would have liked to bid on and win. First of all there was a fine No. 3 Folding Pocket Kodak Deluxe. Thanks to my high bid and to the even higher bid of another collector it went for a nice sum of Uncle Sam $$$, but alas not to me.
Because I did go for the Deluxe, I let pass a nice No. 3 Eastman Plate camera Series D and a No. 1A Speed Kodak. So now I did not get any of these, but they will come again, they always do. More rare is a tin box for developing powder in Art Nouveau style, with a beautiful drawing of a lady with a Folding Pocket Kodak in her hands. I did bid on it, but not enough, so someone else is happy with it now. It would have been a nice addition to my Original FPK set! Alas again...

For the rest I am busy in my garden and don't have much time for blogging. Terraces are ready around the house, but a new teahouse needed / needs electricity, paint and the garden around it had to be planted all over again. The planting is done, but now I have to make a brick path leading to the teahouse...

No. 4 Eastman Plate Series D & Anniversary set

The Eastman Plate camera arrived and it surprised me in a positve way. The camera is not only in a very nice condition, but it is also a high quality instrument with of number of special features for the advanced amateur photographer. The lens panel can move up and down and to the left and right, facilitating perspective adjustments. The back panel can rotate along a horizontal axis, making tilting of the plane of focus possible. My Series D camera has double extension of the bellows, so the camera could be used for close up photos.
There is not much information around about the camera, but I found that it cost US$ 25.00 in its day for the version with the Rapid Rectilinear lens. That was not a small amount. A factory worker had to work more than two weeks at 50 hours per week to earn that. A version with a better grade Plastigmat lens cost $ 62.50.
After a bit of cleaning, reparing the reflex finder on the drop bed and a coating of Venetian Cream the camera was ready for a portrait session. Here are two results.

Because of the winter period (and the bad light) my Black Maria film studio is closed. The video with the rotating camera will have to wait until the spring. Nevertheless I added the No. 4 Eastman Plate Series D to my website. Follow the link to see it there.

Since many years I have a Anniversary Kodak in my collection. My mother gave it to me for one of my birthdays a long time ago. That was in the pre-internet age, when lists of cameras arrived in the mail (yes, on paper!) and if you wanted something you had to call the dealer in the middle of the night (from Europe to the USA). The camera I got is not in the best condition, but as it is a birthday present I never replaced it. I won't discard it now, but I could not resist buying a very fine set, with box, booklet, special card, box of film and a very clean camera in like new condition. It did not arrive yet, but here's a pic.

Additions to my collection

I have not blogged for some time because I have been and still am very busy with building a terrace on three sides of the house. It takes all my time, but the result is worth it. Below you can see the work in progress on one side.

Working around the house does not mean that I forgot about my collection. Certainly not, I even added three items to it. I bough a set of two photos, made with a A Kodak and B Kodak, meaning the A Ordinary or Daylight and the B Ordinary or Daylight. I allready had an A and a C photo, and now I have the a complete set to go with my cameras. Below is a low quality snap made with my phone, showing my Daylight and Ordinary cameras and the three photos. Notice something? Yep, the A Daylight is missing. Let me know if you have a nice one for sale.

Also I bought a nice No. 4 Eastman Plate camera Series D set, wtih case, plate holders, ground glass back and a camera in good shape. It even has the two screws on the side panels that are often missing. This camera was not made in very large numbers, but still it is offered for sale regularly. But not often in so nice a condition!

What did I buy not? There was a very clean and very rare Falcon box on eBay that sold for US $ 618. I did bid on it, but because I have a Falcon I didn't go very high.
I did not bid on a beautiful No. 4 Eureka with plate holders and ground glass. It went for $ 466. It's good to see that such rare cameras still fetch good prices. See my No. 4 Eureka here, and my No. 4 Zenith here. The Zenith was the UK version of the Eureka and only 1000 were made. It is quite rare now.

I'm ending with a thing that I certainly would never bid on, but that sold for $ 4078. It's a figurine with a box camera. I would not have it in my garden and certainly not in my museum, but someone is happy with it now.

The Digitized Kodak Catalog Project 1886 to 1941

A couple of weeks ago I received the CD with the Kodak catalogs from 1886 to 1941 that was produced by Rob Niederman and Milan Zahorcak. Now I have had the time to have a good look at it, and here is what I found.
When you put the CD in the drive it starts the explorer (if you have a Windows computer, I don't know about Apple), in which you will see a list of 9 folders and files.

There is a START-HERE.html file and it is quite obvious that you have to start by double clicking that one. Doing so opens a page in your internet browser that acts as a kind of menu. You can choose between several options, like clicking on one of the catalogs.
The picture below on the left shows the menu page.
You can go directly to a catalog by clicking once on the picture of the catalog you want. A PDF opens with the complete catalog. You can scroll through it in the usual PDF way. See the pic below right.

A very nice option is that you can search every word in the catalog. I did so with the word "enlarging". See the illustration. With the 'next' and 'previous' arrows you can navigate through the search results.

This is one way to find information, but there is more. Remember the START-HERE page. One of the menu options is: globally searching the catalog library. Click on it and a new page opens with instructions how to search all the catalogs with one search. This is a real magnificent option. Imagine, you can find every word in all the Kodak catalogs from 1886 to 1941! I tried it with "folding kodet" and got a list of hits.

On the left you see the list of hits. Every catalog in which the search string 'folding kodet' is found is presented as a folder. You can open the folder and see all the pages from that catalog in which the search string was found. Click on one of these and on the right you get that page. See the pic above.

Are there things you can not do? Yes, you can not print a catalog. But who should want that? If you need an illustration of a camera or catalog text, you can make a screen print and trim it with any picture editor.

This digital collection is one of the best things that happened to the Kodak collector for many years. You can not only find info on a camera, but also read the forewords in the catalogs. These often contain information about the important developents of that year and the way Eastman Kodak tried to make use of them.

I am happy with this CD? Yes! Should you buy it? I would say 'yes', but that is what you have to decide yourself. I hope this description is helpful.

To end this blog I show one page from the 1895 catalog about the Pocket Kodak.

On the page you read about a Plate holder for the Pocket Kodak, a very rare item, but I am so lucky to have one in my collection. What I do not have is a Pocket Kodak in its case. There was a very fine one on eBay, but the starting price of Uncle Sam $ 475 was a bit high. I hoped no one would bid and the camera would be relisted, but no, someone did bid and got it for the $ 475 plus $ 40 postage. Ten years ago I would not have hesitated to go for it, but nowadays this price is too much. I will wait for another one to turn up.



A victorian lady's summer sunday afternoon

Learning by doing is, I think, the best way to learn anything. Also I don't like to read instructions. So I installed my Adobe Premiere Elements 10 and began experimenting. I started with the full installation, with the trial version of Photoshop and the contents CD of Premiere, but my notebook wasn't so happy with that. It was so slow and often just stopped working that I de-installed everything and started all over with only the main programm of Premiere, not the content CD. The result is better, but not perfect. Sometimes parts of the editing just don't work and the programm closes, resulting in loss of work. Now I save the file every few minutes.
Nevertheless it is much fun working with Premiere Elements 10. There is so much in it, that I have only scratched the surface of all posibilities. In my first experimental film I have experimented much with two or three films imposed over each other, fading in and out. Here it is: (take care that your speakers are turned on loud enough!)

A Vistorian Lady's

Summer Sunday Afternoon

A Kodaksefke Production

eBay stereo & a rare 4A Speed Kodak plate back

To start with the plate back: that is the latest addition to my collection. It fits beautiful to my No. 4A Speed Kodak camera. The plate back was sold for $ 7.50 during the period 1909-1913. A double glass plate holder did cost $ 1.25.

The camera itself appeared in the 1908 catalog, but the plate holder back first appeared in the 1909 catalog. (Many thanks to Rob Niederman and Milan Zahorcak for their Kodak catalog CD, from which the pic is taken.)

Then to the stereo stuff. A couple of days ago a very nice No. 2 Stereo Brownie salesman example card was sold for $ 39. I did not buy it because I allready have a Stereo Brownie card, but I don't know if that was a good decision. See for yourself.
The building could very well be a part of Kodak Park. It sure looks like that. See the Brownie camera on my site.

Not yet sold are three stereo cameras. The first is a No. 2 Stereo Brownie in very nice condition, although the strap is broken. Still 9 days to go. If you want one, this would be a nice one.
The second camera is the second version of the Stereo Kodak Model 1. See the pic below on the right. Still 6 days to go.
The third one is also the second version. See it here. You can buy it now for $ 499 or make an offer. The first version of the Stereo Kodak Model 1 camera you can see on my site.

The CD with all the Kodak catalogs did arrive and far above you can see a page from the 1909 catalog (4A Speed Kodak). I will have a better look at this CD and report on it here.

All the old Kodak catalogs

Early Kodak catalogs are quite rare and contain lots of information. So it's not very strange that they sell for a nice bundle of $$$. For all those who do not have a full set of original catalogs a DVD is available now, with all the catalogs from 1886 up to 1941. It is produced by Rob Niederman and Milan Zahorcak. Read all about it at Rob's site. I am going to order one and I will get back on it here. Below the cover of a 1906 catalog from my own collection.

Today I also pre-ordered the Adobe Premiere Elements 10 software for editing videos. Until now I worked with the free Windows Live Movie Maker. I noticed that I like working with video, so I gave it a go. The software will arive around October 11, just in time for my holiday week.

What's going on at eBay? In the past weeks two Eastman Plate Cameras were sold. The No. 4 size was a nice set (see below). The No. 3 was just the camera. I didn't bid on them because I thought they were not good enough, the No. 4 missing the screws on the side of the body and the finder, and the No. 3 also missing the screws and having scuffed leather. Both sold for US$ 122. They pop up regularly, so I will find mine.

At the moment there is a No. 1 Kodak box and a 1889 instruction booklet for sale. As you can see, the Kodak box is rather damaged and the pull string is missing. Only 1 day to go. The book has 3 days to go. Not much bidding yet, but that will come.

No. 2 Bullet Special and No. 2 Bull's-Eye Special

Last weekend I shot two videos of my No. 2 Specials and this weekend I uploaded them to my website. Both cameras date from the period 1898-1904 and were better grade box cameras for the family photographer. The difference between the regular Bullet and Bull's-Eye being that the Specials have a better lens (Rapid Rectilinear) and shutter. This Eastman Triple Action shutter has Bulb, Instantaneous and Time setting (B, I, T). The I setting has three speeds: slow, medium and fast. There is also an iris diaphragm.

The first video shows the No. 2 Bullet Special. See the black insert in the back of the box? This was used when the camera was loaded with roll film, to fill the empty space in the back and to prevent light coming through the little side door and spoil the film. When the camera was used with double glass plate holders, the insert was taken out and the side door then permitted to insert the plate holder.

The second video shows the No. 2 Bull's-Eye Special. It can only take film, so there's no side door. Both cameras are fixed focus, meaning that the pitures where sharp from a few feet onwards. Not having to focus the camera made the instrument more simple to use. It is clear that these models were intended for the amateur who only wanted to take some snaps. The instruments were more expensive, US $ 18 and $ 15, than the regular models, and were aimed at the buyer with a bit more $$ to spend. The "poorer" snapshooter had to do with a camera with meniscus lens and simple rotating shutter.

A couple of days ago I received an invitation from the Fotogeschichte journal to write a small article about Theodor Scheimpflug. The journal is aimed at the professional photographer and photo historian and I am going to add some information about the context of Scheimpflug's work and inventions.

A mystery Bullet and some news on Theodor Scheimpflug

Lets start with the pink colored Beau Brownie from my last blogpost. It was sold for US $ 1525 and received 21 bids. It's nice to see that some fine cameras are still valued by collectors. Congratulations to the winning bidder! S/he surely has added a magnificent item to the collection.

Maybe, just maybe, later this year there will be some sort of event in Vienna to commemorate Scheimpflug's 100th dying day. I got that message from a professor at the Technical University of Vienna, and he will keep me informed. It certainly would be nice if the event took place. Also there is a chance that additional information on Scheimpflug will surface. I'm curious what it will be.
I uploaded the first part of my Scheimpflug article to the 'Scheimpflug File' on my website. It is in Dutch. I still have plans to translate it in German or English, but I have so many plans.... A day should have 48 hours!

Then there is a question about a rare and early Kodak box camera from 1895. It is the original version of the No. 2 Bullet camera, an Eastman copy of the historical important Boston Bull's-Eye box from 1892. According to literature the Bullet was only made during a short period, say 1895. In 1896 it was replaced with an improved model.
I received a question from a collector who has a 'normal' Bullet model and a Bullet model of '98. That is very strange, because in 1898 the original model was long replaced by the improved model. My idea is that the bottom of the camera, with the text about the model, was later replaced with a panel from the improved version. But... that is just a theory. Question: who has another No. 2 Bullet of the first version, with a Model '98 designation inside?

On the right the 'normal' model of the Bullet '95, with no text printed on the panels. On the left the mystery model. Both have Tisdell shutter, D-shaped red window and screw in the bottom to attach the mechanism to the box.

B.t.w., I'm still looking for a nice example of the orginal Bullet. I have one, but it has fake crocodile leather that is not original. Anyone wanting to sell his Bullet?