Ansel Adams / W H Jackson 35 mm cameras list and lens serial numbers

Mustafa Umut Sarac

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I want to get a list of william henry jackson and ansel adams 35 mm cameras and their lens serial numbers.

May be this will be a life long hunt. Closer you are ...

Let me start first ,

Ansel Adams
Zeiss Jena Ikon Tessar 5 cm 1: 2.8
Serial Number 1912570
on
Contax

Best ,

Mustafa Umut Sarac
 
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Mustafa Umut Sarac

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ray , i will reply with your british ancestor mountaineer mallorys answer for the questions of his everest expedition
because it is there !
 

papagene

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there were no 35mm cameras when W H Jackson was wandering the planet.
 
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Mustafa Umut Sarac

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I read a long article at national geographic on william henry jackson and he was siting there with a kodak 35 mm.
I want to learn the name of the camera.


-------------
Because it is there !
 

Charles Webb

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I have spent many years researching Jackson, and he indeed used a Kodak 35mm camera and experimented with an early Kodachrome type film designed basically for the movie industry. He was very enthusiastic about the color results he obtained. The camera I believe was a early German imported Retina, later marketed by Kodak. I will try to locate my notes on W.H.J. made back in 1973.

My wife and I retraced his footsteps 100 years to the day and hour of his August 23, 1873 trip to photograph the Mountain of the Holy Cross. He intended the photograph to be a gift to his wife on their wedding day. I have the source for the 35mm camera information stored in a safe place, so safe I can't even find it. I will continue to search, and will post if any one is interested.


Charlie.................................
 
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Mustafa Umut Sarac

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Dear Charles ,

Please post it , I will buy AA Contax and WHJ Kodak and compare , its funnier than to compare and use unknown cameras.
I saw some Contax pictures at google and i believe it is better than my all 4 leicas , 1946 , 56 , 86.
Colors are cooler and this makes image sharper than yellowish Elmar or polyurethane airbrush colors of summicron.

Best ,

Mustafa Umut Sarac
 

dslater

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I can understand why you'd like to know what cameras and lenses they used, but why would you care about the serial numbers?
 

jovo

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Perhaps you can find an auction house that has offered cameras with unique provenances such as one belonging to WHJ. You might start with Christie's or one of the other major houses in NY for instance and see if you can speak to one of their staff whose expertise is in this area. I'd be very surprised if such a camera had not already been the object of a collector's interest.
 

Tom Hoskinson

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TheFlyingCamera said:
Did WHJ ever shoot 35mm? I thought he was exclusively a large format guy. Mostly wet-plate.
Click to expand...

Wet Plates and a portable darkroom that was carried by WHJ's Donkey (Hypo). How many donkeys named Hypo did WHJ have during his photographic career?
 

Tom Hoskinson

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Tom Hoskinson said:
Wet Plates and a portable darkroom that was carried by WHJ's Donkey (Hypo). How many donkeys named Hypo did WHJ have during his photographic career?
Click to expand...

MY BAD! William Henry Jackson had a pack Mule named Hypo - not a donkey. In the 1800s, he was shooting LF and ULF landscapes with wet collodion glass plates that he coated and developed in the field.
 

Roger Hicks

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Charles Webb said:
... early German imported Retina, later marketed by Kodak.................................
Click to expand...
Dear Charlie,

Kodak bought out Nagel of Stuttgart in December 1931, if my German is correct (Helmut Nagel, Zauber der Kamera, DVA Stuttgart 1977) and the Retina I type 117 of 1934-35, 266,000 made, was about the sixth camera to be branded Kodak: the first few appear all to have been 620 models, including the box 'Brownie 620' (27,000 made) and the plain 'Kodak 620' (34,000 made)with art deco finish and a choice of lenses from Kodak (Anastigmat 105/6.3 and 105/4,5), Schneider (105/4,5 Xenar) and Zeiss (105/4.5 Tessar).

The numbers made are quite revealing about the explosive growth of the take-up of 35mm, though Retina I numbers also include the 118 (1935-36), 119 (1936-38), 126 (1936-1938), 141 (1937-39), 143 (1938-39), 148 (1939) and 149 (1939). Then after the war they sold another 387,000 of types 010 and 013 before going to the 015 1a in 1951 (over 137,000 made. This is before you count II, IIa; b, c or C Retinas, or Retinettes.

Cheers,

Roger
 
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Mustafa Umut Sarac

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I read at photo net , WHJ used new Leica at 1940. It was 3C and I owned a 3C also with elmar from 1946.
I think Tessar is sharper better,straight lens. I will look to popular photography annual again.
I am still awaiting Charless research results.
 
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