the beauty

[Godfrey]

Spent the evening at the Edison Theater - Silent Movie Museum in Niles watching an evening of Mary Pickford classics from the 1909 to 1913 period of silent films. How beautiful these century old films are! After a couple of them, the language of that era's silent film grows on you and you begin to hear them with your eyes.

And then you wander about the museum space and play with the old cameras. How simple and precise, how mechanical they feel. Beautiful things.

Very inspiring evening. There is a simplicity and a nuance to these ancient photographic works that is sublime.

G

 

[D&A]

I just recently watched "The Artist" having missed it during it's run in theaters. Although it might not depict accurately the silent era of films (I honestly don't know), nerveless it illustrated how the exaggerated motions and facial inflections were the speaking voice of these actors and actresses and why their transition to "talkies" wasn't always successful. I truly admired much of what I saw.

As for older mechanical cameras, I still marvel every time I pick up one of my pristine Spotmatics or even an all mechanical Leica. I assume just like a vintage classic watch (which I no little about), the precision it took to have these jewels of cameras function as they did, is truly a remarkable. I can see how the evening was inspiring.

Dave (D&A)

 

[organicfood]

I just recently watched "The Artist" having missed it during it's run in theaters. Although it might not depict accurately the silent era of films (I honestly don't know), nerveless it illustrated how the exaggerated motions and facial inflections were the speaking voice of these actors and actresses and why their transition to "talkies" wasn't always successful. I truly admired much of what I saw.

As for older mechanical cameras, I still marvel every time I pick up one of my pristine Spotmatics or even an all mechanical Leica. I assume just like a vintage classic watch (which I no little about), the precision it took to have these jewels of cameras function as they did, is truly a remarkable. I can see how the evening was inspiring.

Dave (D&A)

hello to all,iam agree him lot.:clap:

 

[Godfrey]

I just recently watched "The Artist" having missed it during it's run in theaters. Although it might not depict accurately the silent era of films (I honestly don't know), nerveless it illustrated how the exaggerated motions and facial inflections were the speaking voice of these actors and actresses and why their transition to "talkies" wasn't always successful. I truly admired much of what I saw.

That was a brilliant piece in the theater. I saw it twice. Utterly charming. But oh so modern in its production values.

As for older mechanical cameras, I still marvel every time I pick up one of my pristine Spotmatics or even an all mechanical Leica. I assume just like a vintage classic watch (which I no little about), the precision it took to have these jewels of cameras function as they did, is truly a remarkable. I can see how the evening was inspiring.

My latest camera obsession of the past few weeks has been Berning Robot. I picked up a nice looking Robot II from '41, thinking "I've seen these all my life and always wondered about them. I don't care if it's going to be just a shelf queen." Little did I know how cool a piece of machinery it is. It's rapid fire, quick responsiveness charmed me immediately, as did the ancient, uncoated Zeiss Biotar 40mm f/2.

I've since acquired two 1970s era Robot Star 50 models. One with a Schneider 40mm f/2.8, the other with a Schneider 75mm f/3.5. Can't wait for them to arrive. They're a little less demanding to work as they take standard 35mm film cassettes, have a rewind knob (no unloading and re-loading film into Robot's dedicated feeder and take up cassettes in a changing bag), and a much more modern viewfinder. The spring motor on the Star 50 will expose an entire roll of 135-36 film on one full wind up (53 square 24x24 frames).

There's something truly charming about this stuff. I've got the Bessa III loaded up with ACROS 100, and the Minox EC has been in my pocket taking the occasional snap for the past two weeks. There will be a whole lot of scanning going on real soon... ;-)