Amateur Photographer - UK (2019-10-18)

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LANDMARK CAMERAS Testbench

Sandersonfull plate

camera 1896

Whilethisparticularcamerawasn’tmadeuntila

decadeormoreafterAP’sbirth,it’sstillrepresentative

of whatamateurphotographersof thetimemighthave

used.ThisSanderson‘fullplate’modelusesa classic

folding-bellowsdesign,andproduces 8 ½x 6½in

exposures.Theimagewouldhavebeenfocusedontoa

ground-glassscreen,whichwouldthenhavebeen

removedandreplacedbya plateholder.The

exposuretimeswouldgenerallyhavebeenin the

orderof seconds.

CamerasbearingFrederickSanderson’snamewere

allbasedona patenthefiledin 1895,whichdescribes

a specific arrangementforholdingthelensboardusing

twopairsof slottedstruts.Initiallytheywere

manufacturedbyHolmesBrothersin Manchester,

beforethefirmwasincorporatedintothegreatBritish

cameracompanyHoughtonsLtd.Overall,about

27,000Sandersoncameras were produced between

1896 and 1939.

KodakBrownie 1900

Whileamateurphotographersof thelateVictorianeramayhaveusedbig,
complex,bulkycameras,theeverydaysnap-shooterwantedsomething
smallerandsimpler(soundfamiliar?).Nocompanydidmoretodeliver
photographytothemassmarketthanKodak,andthiswasthefirstmodelto
bearthefamous‘Brownie’name.TheoriginalKodakboxcameraof 1888
hadcomepreloadedwitha 100-exposurefilm,andneededtobereturned
intacttothefactoryforprocessing.ButtheBrownieused117-formatroll
filmthatcouldbereloadedbytheuser,andcostjust$1.It washugely
successful,withover150,000Browniesbeingmadein thefirstyearof
productionalone.Thefollowingyear,theBrownieNumber2 adoptedthe
larger120-formatfilm,whichis stillin usetoday.TheBrowniename
continued to be used on Kodak cameras all the way through to 1986.

Rolleiflex 1928

Earlyin the20thcentury,a young
designerwithVoigtländerbythenameof
ReinholdHeideckeinventeda twin-lens
reflex(TLR)rollfilmcamera.It solvedthe
problemof focusinganimageontothe
filmbyusingtwolinkedlenses,oneabove
theother,withtheupper‘viewing’lens
projectinganimageontoa ground-glass
focusingscreenviaa mirror.Whenthe
imageonthescreenwassharp,thefilm
couldbeexposedin correctfocususing
thelower‘taking’lens.
Voigtländerwasn’tinterestedin
Heidecke’screation,soheformedhisown
companywithbusinessmanPaulFranke
tobuildit. Theresultantcamera– the
Rolleiflex– wasthefirstproductionTLR,
andthroughitsmanyiterationsbecame
oneof themosticoniccamerasof alltime.
In our3 April 1929 issue,APdescribedit
as‘a daintyandefficientcamera, capable
of doing fi rst class work’.

LeicaIII 1933

In1913,OscarBarnackmadetheinitial

prototypesof hisminiaturecamerathatwasthe

firsttomakepracticaluseof 35mmcinefilm.

Around 20 yearslater,theLeicaIII wasreleased

togreatacclaim,withitsmajornewfeature

beinga slow-speedshutterdialallowingspeeds

as slow as 1 second. Suitably impressed, in our

28 June 1933 issue,wedeclaredthat‘Leica

hasdoneitsdevoteesa greatservice.’

WhiletheLeicaIII is surelythegreatpre-war

35mmcamera,it remainedin productionin its

variousiterationsuntil1960.Thisoneis a

post-warLeicaIIIf,whichitselfcamein

sub-variantswithdifferentshutterspeeds,and

withorwithouta self-timer.The

Leica’ssmallsizeandquietshutter

endearedit toa whole

generationof candid

photographersand

photojournalistsledbyHenri

Cartier-Bresson,andit wasonly

withtheemergenceof

high-qualityJapanesecameras

in the1960sthattheir

allegiance switched to SLRs.