Press photographer gear in the 40's and 50's?

When I was a teenager, A.B. Miller used to tell me about shooting the delta floods for The Jackson Daily News with a 5x7 Graflex. "The only Goddamned thing I liked about that camera was you could fold it up and sit on it."

A Speed Graphic 4x5 w/127 and film holders (sometimes we had filmpacks) was standard US Army issue in Germany in 1968. Olive-drab, of course.

He was just a tad on the crusty side.

Press photographers had the novel concept of using their feet to get closer to a subject. There was usually no time to fiddle with changing lenses even if one were available.

chip j said:

A Speed Graphic 4x5 w/127 and film holders (sometimes we had filmpacks) was standard US Army issue in Germany in 1968. Olive-drab, of course.

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I'm surprised by that. I thought it would have been a warehouse item by then.

In the good old days...

AgX said:

I'm surprised by that. I thought it would have been a warehouse item by then.

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There was a long standing requirement that military procurements had to come from companies manufacturing in the US.

mopar_guy said:

There was a long standing requirement that military procurements had to come from companies manufacturing in the US.

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That's still true, that's why most police and military vehicles are US branded, which is why certain factories have to be in the US, to cover the "what if we go to war and they stop supplying parts" concern.


~Stone

Mamiya: 7 II, RZ67 Pro II / Canon: 1V, AE-1, 5DmkII / Kodak: No 1 Pocket Autographic, No 1A Pocket Autographic | Sent w/ iPhone using Tapatalk

mopar_guy said:

There was a long standing requirement that military procurements had to come from companies manufacturing in the US.

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I have a US Navy Photographer's Mate manual from, I believe, the 60s. It covered standard issue cameras, their use, and general technique (a pretty good reference btw). I don't have it handy but as I recall the cameras covered were:
Graphic View
Speed Graphic
Mamiya TLR (I don't remember which specific model)
Leica M (again, I don't remember which specific model)

But definitely not all US made. Although I suppose it's possible the the imported found a way to have these assembled in the US to satisfy the letter of the law.

It also could be that the Mamiya and Leica were acceptable because there was no domestic alternative.

lxdude said:

It also could be that the Mamiya and Leica were acceptable because there was no domestic alternative.

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Could also be because both Germany (part of) and Japan were under US Occupation when the initial contracts started.

Ian

StoneNYC said:

That's still true, that's why most police and military vehicles are US branded, which is why certain factories have to be in the US, to cover the "what if we go to war and they stop supplying parts" concern.


~Stone

Mamiya: 7 II, RZ67 Pro II / Canon: 1V, AE-1, 5DmkII / Kodak: No 1 Pocket Autographic, No 1A Pocket Autographic | Sent w/ iPhone using Tapatalk

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As if any "real" war would last longer than a week.

premortho said:

If I was more than a half hour from the office, I loaded an old Kodak film pack developing tank in a daylight changing bag, pre-rinsed for 2 or three blocks, pulled over, dumped the water into a can, filled the tank with developer, and drove to the office. When I parked at the office. I dumped the Rodinal dilute developer, water rinsed for 2 minutes, poured out the water (into the bucket) put the hypo in and carried the tank to the art department editors desk. I'd have to leave it on his desk for a minute or two, while I described the action, then dumped it out in the darkroom, put rinse water in it and went back to the editor, and we pulled the photos out to see if they were any good. Well, that was the news racket when I was young!!

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No fixer?

Very recently we had an old press photographer do a talk at our Photography Club. He started out in the mid 50’s, with a Speed Graphic and finished in the 00’s with digital and had to deal with every change in between – he actually still does a bit of freelance work here and there and has had iPhone shots accepted and published of late (that comes with having a name).

In the discussion, he told a story of one of the worse scene’s he had to report on – it was a massive bus crash where just about every occupant had died. The incident happened out in the countryside, about 20 minutes from the closest town. When he got out there, it was quite late in the night and he found that his flash wasn’t working. He had to race back to the closest town, find the proprietor of the local pharmacy and bought himself an instamatic and a pocket full of flash cubes. He still made do with what he had and still managed to get sufficient photos that were published in the paper.

He also said that when they were sent out with the Graphic, they were only sent out with 4 holders – 2 for the scene and 2 just in case they saw something on the way there and back. More times than not, he would often hand back 3 of those slides un-used.

One thing I did notice about a lot of the older photos that he did display, that they were not always necessarily 100% in focus. Sure, they were close enough and probably good enough. It appears that it was more about getting the story then technical perfection each and every time (& a constraint of shooting pre-focused).

He also used to carry his gear around (for his entire career, mind you) in an aluminium case. He told us that it wasn’t necessarily about transporting his gear, it was more about having his own portable platform to get just above the crowd if needed.

Not that it is about the thread, I think he said it was during the late 60’s that they moved to 35mm equipment, which was Nikon all the way till his retirement. I do notice when I see the press togs around town now, they generally use Canon DSLR’s.

If you ever get a chance to chat with these old press guys, it is most certainly worth-while.

viridari said:

No fixer?

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"hypo" = fixer.

MattKing said:

"hypo" = fixer.

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Ah! I'm learning more and more with this thread. I'm really loving the stories here, very enlightening.

http://www.cameramanuals.org/prof_pdf/b&j_press_cameras-1.pdf
What Weegee had to say about his gear.

mgb74 said:

I have a US Navy Photographer's Mate manual from, I believe, the 60s. It covered standard issue cameras, their use, and general technique (a pretty good reference btw). I don't have it handy but as I recall the cameras covered were:
Graphic View
Speed Graphic
Mamiya TLR (I don't remember which specific model)
Leica M (again, I don't remember which specific model)

But definitely not all US made. Although I suppose it's possible the the imported found a way to have these assembled in the US to satisfy the letter of the law.

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Took a look at the manual, dated 1966. (BTW, still a very good reference.) Standard issue cameras were:
Pacemaker Speed Graphic
Graphic View II
Leica M2 (with 35, 50, and 90mm lenses)
Mamiya C3 (with 65, 105, and 180mm lenses)

Also, under the aerial section, included the "KS-80a", which was a Nikon F with 43-86mm lens and pistol grip.