Added to the Archives

A few more olde-timey tidbits added to the archives this weekend:

Two of the eventual "Ten Great Photographs" from the old site...go to:

-         -Cameras Page > T.O.P. Ten Lists > Ten Great Photographs

"Ten View Camera Makers"...links...go to:

-         -Cameras Page > T.O.P. Ten Lists > Ten View Camera Makers

"Ten Best Black and White Movies" also resurrected from the old site...go to:

-         -Cameras Page > T.O.P. Ten Lists > Ten Best Black and White Movies

_________________

Mike

Comments

[Steve Mason]

Just read the top 10 list of B+W movies, how can "The Beast Years of Our Lives" be left out. A sham, an outrage, imposable. It really should be if not at the topthen at least on the list.
Thanks

[Tom V]

Artist's reproduction in gravure?

Mike since both you and Ctein are printers, could you comment on the process Mr. Gardner went through to produce this wonderful result.

When I look at the Indiana Historical Society "straight print" I think about sharpening, tonal balancing, local contrast enhancement, etc, but it is clear that Gardner's Photoshop skills were much more advanced that mine!

[Mike]

"The Beast Years of Our Lives"? Is that a porno film joke or something? ;-)

Mike

[Chris Crawford]

Tom,

A grauve print is a type of intaglio print that uses a photograph as its basis. Intaglio prints are made by engraving a drawing into a metal plate, or etching it into the plate with acid. The plate is inked, then the ink is wiped from the surface of the print, leaving it only in the lines that are carved into the plate. The plate has a piece of wet paper laid upon it and the whole thing is run through a press that uses big steel rollers that are tightened to high pressure. This transfers the ink to the paper. Intaglio print types include etching, aquatint, engravings, and photograuve. Our US dollars are printed using the etching process, and you can tell they are intaglio prints by feeling the ink raised on the surface of the print. Intaglio inks to not absorb into the paper.

I don't know much about grauve printing....I know a chemical process is used to transfer the image from a photo to the metal plate and the plate is etched in acid. But I never got to learn the process when i was an art student, though I have done etchings and aquatints.

[Jean-Pierre Grüter]

what is about the sinar view cameras?

[Mike]

Jean-Pierre,
Actually, I don't think I've ever met a non-pro who shoots with a Sinar. (I'm sure I'll hear from some now, though.)

The list is by no means complete as to all of the VC manufacturers. There are probably easily twice as many. A comprehensive list might also be fun to compile....

Mike

[David Kelly]

Now that Nikon has joined the FF ranks, with Sony rumored to be soon to follow,please consider reviving your unfinished 35mm lens reviews project. Johnston the optics connoiseur is my favorite iteration of the many Johnstons!

[David A. Goldfarb]

Second-hand Sinars are so cheap these days, and Sinar accessories are so plentiful, they make much more sense for amateurs than the old boat-anchor monorails that used to be popular as beginner LF cameras. A 4x5" F or F1 is likely to be under $500, and a used F2 will go for around $750.

I bought my 8x10" Sinar P with custom long bellows for about $850 from a NYC food studio that had upgraded to P2s, and for not much more, I've added extension rails, bag bellows, a bellows shade and filter holder, 4x5" reduction back and 4x5" sliding back, and other odds and ends. A new 8x10" P2 Expert Kit today runs about $16K, but doesn't do much more than what I've managed to pick up for under $2K, accessories and all.