[LargeFormat] REALLY Large Format 30x40

LNPhoto largeformat@f32.net
Wed Mar 10 08:38:15 2004 

Probably. I have a hard time committing to lunch so we'll have to wing 
it.


Les


On Mar 10, 2004, at 1:54 AM, k4sb@niia.net wrote:

>
> The first time I saw the GEH camera I recognized it as being a F&S
> camera. I saw Bel Parks first by 5 years. It too was a F&S. These
> were just big portrait cameras! Who better than Chicago big whigs to
> have their portrait taken than by a big camera! Do not read too much
> into the size. You know very well that in the "ol" days if you wanted
> a 4x5 print you used a 4x5 camera. These were just a Photographers
> tool in those days. BUT how about the handeling of a glass plate that
> big!! I'm doing a Pano shoot in Grand Rapids in June any chance you
> and the Donald want to drive over?
> Ken
>
> ---- Original Message ----
> From: LNPhoto@twmi.rr.com
> To: largeformat@f32.net
> Subject: Re: [LargeFormat] REALLY Large Format  30x40
> Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 00:51:50 -0500
>
>> I've always wondered what their use was for....my theory is it (now
>> they!) were made for a trade fair....1904 World's fair, &  1901
>> World's
>> fair in Buffalo come to mind.  The Chicago fair in '93 was too ealry
>> for F&S.. they were still farming out the construction, and after '04
>>
>> they were a Division of EKC and George made sure everybody knew it.
>> This one has problems too.  The ground glass was replaced with a
>> silver
>> mount/matte board, then they cut slots in the bellows so you could
>> see
>> the image from inside the camera.  On the back of the board they
>> added
>> information with those die cut letters made for titling home movies
>> and
>> the like that were popular in the 50s
>>
>> Was yours a Folmer and Schwing or just an overly large camera by
>> somebody else?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mar 10, 2004, at 12:31 AM, k4sb@niia.net wrote:
>>
>>> Ditto from me. Now......Drum roll please.....There's another one.
>>> In a varnished wood finish. I saw it at Bel Park Photo YEARS AGO!
>>> I'd love to know who owns it. Had a B&L APLANET on it in BBL.
>>> Bad bellows but nice wood and 2 holders. It was on a  three wheeled
>>> carrage. Barney Copeland wanted 2000.00 for it in 1981. Anyone on
>>> list have it?
>>> Ken
>>>
>>> ---- Original Message ----
>>> From: LNPhoto@twmi.rr.com
>>> To: largeformat@f32.net
>>> Subject: Re: [LargeFormat] REALLY Large Format  30x40
>>> Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 00:10:48 -0500
>>>
>>>> I"m not sure which version you know.  I'll tell my version, you
>> can
>>>> tell his.
>>>>
>>>> The camera sat in the lobby of the Gannett building (aka Photo
>>>> building) at Rochester Institute of Technology for many years
>>>> including
>>>> the years I was there. I remember marveling at it and even asked a
>>>> couple of old timers about it, but nobody knew anything about it
>>>>
>>>> A couple years back I called master tinkerer PRof Andy Davidhazy
>>>> about
>>>> a Bausch & Lomb microscope camera I had found and wondered if
>> there
>>>> was
>>>> a market up there for it.  He responded that not only was there no
>>>> room
>>>> for it, but that he had a bigger white...er  black elephant that
>> he
>>>> couldn't get rid of.... It seems the lobby was being refurbished
>> and
>>>> this camera was no longer welcome.
>>>>
>>>> I told him under threat of life was he was not to allow this
>> camera
>>>> to
>>>> be destroyed.  If nothing else I would rescue it. As I hung up the
>>>> phone I had madcap visions of shooting little league groups with
>> it
>>>> by
>>>> putting this beast on some sort of scissor jack in the back of a
>> van
>>>> a
>>>> la Professor Fate's car. He couldn't think of what to do with it
>> and
>>>> I
>>>> have to admit I don't know why I didn't think to tell him to call
>> the
>>>>
>>>> Eastman House.
>>>>
>>>> Luckily for me somebody did.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Todd Gustavson curator of cameras at Geo Eastman House got a call,
>> I
>>>> assume from PRof. Davidhazy, about this very large, very old
>> camera
>>>> that had lost it's lease in the lobby and if somebody didn't take
>>>> this
>>>> thing, it would lose its lease on life.  Todd  was torn between
>>>> making
>>>> space and saving a piece of history (the camera is 24 x 36 INCHES
>> in
>>>> format, made between 1897 and 1904 and had a Taylor Taylor Hobson
>>>> mammoth plate Rapid Portrait Lens on it from about 1870.)  Todd
>>>> looked
>>>> into the records and found that a camera with a similar
>> description
>>>> had
>>>> once been in the collection. So he went and rescued the camera and
>>>> within a couple of hours found the extension rail that fit it AT
>> the
>>>> Eastman house!
>>>>
>>>> It seems the camera collection was a very poor orphan division for
>>>> many
>>>> years (Ken Hough will say it still is)  there was no room to keep
>>>> cameras at the house, so the previous curators would "loan"
>> cameras
>>>> out
>>>> for storage.  This camera had been a part of the Eastman
>> collection
>>>> many years before, but poor records and bad memories nearly lost
>> it
>>>> forever.
>>>>
>>>> And frankly its in a much better place there than here.  If I had
>>>> implemented my plan and rescued the camera, I would've had to
>>>> convince
>>>> my wife that it really was small enough to fit in the house and
>> that
>>>> I
>>>> was too big to sleep in it outside. A tough sell on both counts.
>>>>
>>>> Les
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Mar 9, 2004, at 10:07 PM, k4sb@niia.net wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hey Les! Ask Gustafson at George Eastman House about that
>> "camera"
>>>>> Neat story.
>>>>> Ken
>>>>>
>>>>> ---- Original Message ----
>>>>> From: LNPhoto@twmi.rr.com
>>>>> To: largeformat@f32.net
>>>>> Subject: Re: [LargeFormat] REALLY Large Format  30x40
>>>>> Date: Tue, 9 Mar 2004 21:46:18 -0500
>>>>>
>>>>>> I corrected it once, but that post never made it to the list for
>>>> some
>>>>>>
>>>>>> reason...
>>>>>>
>>>>>> the full url should be
>>>> http://home.twmi.rr.com/lnphoto/F&SBIG2.jpg
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Mar 9, 2004, at 8:50 PM, Richard Knoppow wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>>>>> From: "LNPhoto" <LNPhoto@twmi.rr.com>
>>>>>>> To: <largeformat@f32.net>
>>>>>>> Sent: Tuesday, March 09, 2004 1:53 PM
>>>>>>> Subject: Re: [LargeFormat] REALLY Large Format 30x40
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> here's one a bit bigger, a Folmer & Schwing to boot
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> http://www.F&SBIG2.jpg
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>    This URL doesn't work, is it complete?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> F&S built large copy cameras and studio cameras, I think up
>>>>>>> to 11x14 and maybe to 16x20 inches. They were owned by Kodak
>>>>>>> for a time and continued to build cameras for Kodak after
>>>>>>> they were divested. Kodak sold Century studio cameras up to
>>>>>>> 11x14 although they are rare.
>>>>>>>   Up to the early 1950's at least 11x14 was not unusual for
>>>>>>> advertising illustration.
>>>>>>> ---
>>>>>>> Richard Knoppow
>>>>>>> Los Angeles, CA, USA
>>>>>>> dickburk@ix.netcom.com
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
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>>>>>
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