Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/11/17

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Subject: [Leica] Forscher's lights
From: rhart76 at gmail.com (Roger Hart)
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:48:37 -0500
References: <6a7544a60911161524r202c7413nc5e00b9ebddf712e@mail.gmail.com> <bcbe6fd0911171055s50a8a8cfod91f012ef817eae9@mail.gmail.com> <BB548923-7602-44FB-AAA5-A9A5A883F13E@charter.net>

No really sure about that. But I do know Marty modified several long Canon
lenses to Nikon mount. Stop-down metering...I took one of my more famous
photos with one of those lenses mounted on a motorized F2.


Roger Hart
Detroit

On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 2:02 PM, slobodan Dimitrov
<s.dimitrov at charter.net>wrote:

> I seem to recall a Popular Photo article from the 70's that talked about
> Nikons being modified.
> Wasn't there some connection to the photography of an "eyes only" document
> in Kissinger's hand with those cameras?
> S.d.
>
>
> On Nov 17, 2009, at 10:55 AM, Roger Hart wrote:
>
> The Associated Press hired Forscher to modify a bunch of long Canon glass
>> (like the 800mm F/5.6) to Nikon mount. I believe the lenses were modified
>> for shooting the 1980 Olympics, and then were put into the equipment
>> locker
>> in New York and shipped out for various assignments. I used the 800
>> several
>> times shooting auto racing in the 1980s.
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 6:24 PM, Lawrence Zeitlin <lrzeitlin at gmail.com
>> >wrote:
>>
>> Slobodan writes:
>>> "Didn't Forscher modify a Nikon with lights, in order irradiate the
>>>
>>> elmusion for low light shooting?"
>>>
>>> -------
>>>
>>> I don't know if Forscher was the first to do this but pre-exposure and
>>> latensification used to be old tricks of available light photographers
>>> and
>>> cinematographers to eke out the last residue of sensitivity of films.
>>> Pre-exposure involved exposing the film to low light levels either prior
>>> or
>>> after exposure. The idea was to get the image exposure over the toe of
>>> the
>>> sensitivity curve. It effectively provided an increase in apparent
>>> sensitivity of 1/2 to a full stop. Latensification involved exposing the
>>> film to mercury or ammonia vapors prior to exposure. It could also gain a
>>> one stop increase in sensitivity. These techniques are rarely used today
>>> in
>>> this era of ultra high speed films. You can find more about them by
>>> looking
>>> through old photo books and magazines. The use of lights in cameras was
>>> described in 1950s era magazines such as "35 MM Photography".
>>>
>>> One construction article suggested gluing 4 grain of wheat incandescent
>>> bulbs on the inside of a Leica M camera near the corners of the frame.
>>> The
>>> lights would be illuminated briefly by a battery switched on by the flash
>>> contacts. The article suggested that this would work well with B&W film
>>> but
>>> might give problems with color film because the lights would upset the
>>> color
>>> balance of daylight emulsions.
>>>
>>> I never tried gluing bulbs to the inside of my camera but I did
>>> experiment
>>> with pre-exposure and latensification. Both worked but there was too much
>>> variability in the process and it proved to be far more trouble than it
>>> was
>>> worth.
>>>
>>> Larry Z
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Leica Users Group.
>>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>>>
>>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Leica Users Group.
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>>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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>


In reply to: Message from lrzeitlin at gmail.com (Lawrence Zeitlin) ([Leica] Forscher's lights)
Message from rhart76 at gmail.com (Roger Hart) ([Leica] Forscher's lights)
Message from s.dimitrov at charter.net (slobodan Dimitrov) ([Leica] Forscher's lights)