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A name that has become synonymous with 35mm photography, is Leica. This is a Leica IIIg, produced in October 1957. The first of these Leica models were produced in 1933. It used the 135 cartridge (on the left) that was made popular by Kodak in the early 1930s.

Fun day with 35mm film

Date: 05 October 2017 By: Anton van Zyl

During the next vintage-photography excursion, the very popular 35mm film cameras will be put to the test. All photography enthusiasts are invited to join in, and those who do not have a vintage camera are welcome to borrow one from the camera museum and use it for the day.

As usual, black-and-white film will be provided. The cameras eligible for use must be older than 50 years. The venue for the excursion must still be finalised, but the date is provisionally set for Saturday, 14 October.

The 35mm film format was originally designed for motion pictures. The 35mm refers to the width of the film, which was 34,98mm, with four perforations per frame along the edges. In cinematography this resulted in 16 frames per foot of film. It was first introduced in 1892 by William Dickson and the well-known US inventor, Thomas Edison.

The film format gradually made its way to still photography, and in 1913 the American Tourist Multiple was launched. This was the first 35mm camera produced in volumes for the commercial market. (The roll of film allowed the photographer to take 750 photos before it had to be sent away for development.) Experiments with the format, however, started much earlier and in 1905, Jens Paul Anderson of Denmark designed a camera using this movie film format.

The popularity of 35mm film can partly be attributed to people such as Oskar Barnack, who was in charge of research and development at Leitz. In 1913 he built the prototype for the Ur-Leica. World War I halted the further development, but in 1923 the next prototype of the Leica camera was introduced. Distribution of the Leica I started in 1925. The camera was an immediate hit among photographers worldwide and the Leica legacy kicked off.

Kodak, the company that dominated photography for many decades, introduced their competitor in this market, the Retina I, in 1934. Kodak went further and introduced the 135 cartridge, which was to become a feature of these cameras for decades to come. This also meant that 35mm photography became much more affordable and a gradual switch started from the 120 roll film to the smaller format.

A market that quickly adapted to the new developments was the Japanese one. Names such as Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory (the makers of Canon cameras) started to appear in the early 1920s. Between 1933 and 1936 the company produced “The Kwanon”, which was a copy of the Leica 35mm camera. Interestingly enough, the early “Canon” cameras used Nikkor lenses, bought from the company that would later become their biggest competitor, namely Nikon.

The photography session on the 14th will start at around 09:00. It normally starts with a quick introduction to the cameras. Interested persons are encouraged to visit the newspaper’s office a few days before and choose a camera that they would like to use. The group will then set off to take photos at a pre-determined location.

For more information, phone Anton, Isabel or Andries at (015) 516 4996/7.

 
 
 

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Anton van Zyl

Anton van Zyl has been with the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror since 1990. He graduated from the Rand Afrikaans University (now University of Johannesburg) and obtained a BA Communications degree. He is a founder member of the Association of Independent Publishers.

 
 

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