Category Archives: Camera

MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA: trainspotting!

‘Long live the poetry of the propelling and propelled machine, the poetry of levers, wheels, and steel wings1, the iron screech of movements, the dazzling grimaces of red-hot jets.’ From: ‘We. A Version of a Manifesto’, Dziga Vertov, Kino-Fot no. … Continue reading

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MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA: reflections

Studying ‘Man with a Movie Camera’ carefully, shot by shot, for two previous posts on the locations and cameras, I was struck by the repetition of reflected and reversed images throughout the film from the first dramatic view of the … Continue reading

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MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA: the first cinema screening

In the spring of 1927 Dziga Vertov* moved to Kyiv to work for VUFKU, the All-Ukrainian Photo Cinema Adminstration (Vse-Ukrains’ke Foto Kino Upravlinnia, ВУФКУ – Всеукраїнське фоtокіноуправління) after being sacked by Sovkino, the Russian equivalent, for being over budget on … Continue reading

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Dismal Designs – Nikon D5

In complete contrast to my previous post……. The grotesque looking D5 is the epitome of everything I loathe about the current offering of DSLR cameras. It is the Mr Creosote* of cameras, a misshapen lump with buttons, lids, and switches scattered at … Continue reading

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Delightful Designs – 1946 SIRIO Elettra II camera

As well as being a Leica fan I’m also intrigued by the many ‘Look-a-Leicas’ that mostly appeared in the decade after WW2. The launch of the first Leica in 1925 caused a sensation, changing the way people took photographs. Tens … Continue reading

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Leica 1 Model C – The First System Camera

The renowned optical instrument firm of Ernst Leitz of Wetzlar in Germany produced the first modern camera in 1925, the Leica 1 Model A.  Designed by two brilliant engineers, Oskar Barnack and Max Berek, it revolutionised photography by using 35mm … Continue reading

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Miniature Masterpieces – Leica VISOR, VIDOM and VIOOH viewfinders

I’m completely besotted with early Leica cameras, as you can tell from the header image (1952 Leica 1f red dial with SBOOI 5cm viewfinder and FOKOS rangefinder). There is a watch-like precision, a combination of delicacy and solidity, about them … Continue reading

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