60-year-old Leica negatives discovered

[tbm]

Three years after my father died, my sister discovered a bunch of World War II negatives in a box, all exposed with my father's screw-mount Leica and three lenses while he was stationed in Italy. I printed all those that were in good condition, scanned some of them, and posted some at the following link. It is so interesting seeing what old Leica lenses could successfully capture in terms of sharpness, definition, and tonality as well as what films from that period could do!

http://flickr.com/photos/21652620@N08/

 

[Dinesh]

Congratulations on a wonderful find. A truly magical Christmas present for you and your family.

 

[tbm]

I forgot to mention that Flickr requires clicking on each image to enlarge them for viewing; otherwise they are too small to see.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Aside from the camera he used, your father had a good eye. Great stuff!

 

[copake_ham]

Since many of the negs were in good shape; I'd be more curious to know which film he used?

 

[Fintan]

Thanks for posting this, its a great story and to be honest a little bit emotional

 

[JBrunner]

Wonderful!

 

[tbm]

Re which films he used, click on each photo. That will not only enlarge them somewhat, it will also display my comments re each one that include the lens used and the film that was used as well.

 

[John Simmons]

Incredible images. Well Done.

 

[copake_ham]

Re which films he used, click on each photo. That will not only enlarge them somewhat, it will also display my comments re each one that include the lens used and the film that was used as well.

Thanks.

Yes, great shots. Some of the pics of the local population etc. really capture a time and place. They remind me of scenes in early-1950's Italian cinemas.

 

[Pinholemaster]

Very cool.

 

[Rombo]

Great photos. Wonderful portrait of Your father. Thank you for sharing these documents!

 

[RoBBo]

Couple of odd ones mixed in?
Don't know what the deal is with those.
But those ones out of Italy are beautiful.

 

[msloane]

Three years after my father died, my sister discovered a bunch of World War II negatives in a box, all exposed with my father's screw-mount Leica and three lenses while he was stationed in Italy. I printed all those that were in good condition, scanned some of them, and posted some at the following link. It is so interesting seeing what old Leica lenses could successfully capture in terms of sharpness, definition, and tonality as well as what films from that period could do!

http://flickr.com/photos/21652620@N08/

Truly awesome. Some great shots. Also a testment that 60 years later you can still print the negatives.

 

[Frank R]

The one of Benito Mussolini may be historically significant. Has a similar picture ever been taken?

 

[Jedidiah Smith]

Some of these are amazing. Makes one wonder if "progress" has really been made in the modern era with regard to imaging.
Thank you for sharing your find.
Sincerely,
Jed

 

[tbm]

I forgot to mention that all the other images on my Flickr pages 2 through 4 (those not labeled 'WW II" and other than the studio image of my father and the park image of my mother holding my father's Leica) are mine, captured with my Leica equipment since I bought M and R bodies and lenses.

 

[johnnywalker]

Beautiful. Your dad had a great eye! What a find.

 

[Rob Skeoch]

Wow, what a great find. Very lucky they were saved.
-rob

 

[tbm]

The box the negatives were found in had no contact sheets, so when I printed each negative it was like opening individual treasure chests! Additionally, my dichroic enlarger performed beautifully in terms of holding back dust and scratches! Also, today's darkroom chemicals printed each neg so easily compared to the chemicals my dad used in the 1950s, when it was hard to get dark blacks. What a joy it was printing all 30+ negatives!

 

[pentaxuser]

Great negs. Shows at least two things: 1. If this is the deterioration(none that I could see) after 60+ years there seems little reason to believe that the next 60 shouldn't see another set of top class printable pictures from them.
2. There isn't much that can't be captured with any slight wide angle to normal prime lens. Like another poster I also wonder about the possilble historical significance of the body of Mussolini. Everyone assumes that there must be several of such negs but are there?

pentaxuser

 

[tbm]

Re Mussolini

There was no corresponding negative for the Mussolini print; there was only a print in the box. All I could do, therefore, was scan the print.

 

[nick mulder]

top find! I'm with the others on the Mussolini pic - very haunting

 

[eddym]

Absolutely wonderful photos! What a treasure!

 

[Frank R]

A brief search found plenty of dead Mussolini photos, but not this one.