Automation is coming! In the decade after World War II, many of the world’s biggest economies were advancing technology at a fast pace. The United States and the Soviet Union were deep entrenched in a space race to explore the moon and our solar system. People fantasized about flying cars,…
A common question I often see asked in classic film or vintage camera discussion groups like Vintage Camera Collectors on Facebook, is for advice on what is an inexpensive way to get into medium format film. Like most questions asked by people new to the hobby, the correct answer usually…
Ernst Leitz has been making Leica cameras for nearly 100 years and in that time, countless articles have been written about their many products. It’s unlikely that today, in 2019, I could dig up anything that you haven’t already seen before. So, it probably comes as no surprise that this…
This week, I bring to you the third in a series of articles that were published in the mid to late 1950s about the state of the German Camera Industry. The first two parts were part of a large 42 page special section in the May 1956 issue of Popular…
This week, I bring to you the second part of a large 42 page special section in the May 1956 issue of Popular Photography where they took a look at the state of the German Camera Industry. You can read the first part here. Like the previous part, this entire…
Last May, I posted a three part series covering articles about the Japanese Photo Industry in the 1950s, and then again in October I re-branded the site for “Red October” where I posted a series of Soviet related articles. Now, it’s Germany’s turn. This will be the first in a…
For much of the world, Christmas is a time spent with family, decorating trees, baking cookies, and watching corny movies. For those of us with one (or hundreds) of cameras, we spend at least a portion of this season taking pictures of it. Yet, photographing holiday or wintry scenes isn’t…
One of the thrills of shooting old cameras is stepping back in time and experiencing what a photographer likely experienced years ago before the widespread use of plastics, LCD screens, and microprocessors. Cameras were made of metal and glass, and used springs, gears, and levers to accomplish the same task…
Last week’s Keppler’s Vault featured two different Russian Lens articles, so this week I thought I’d include a couple articles I’ve found that talk about 1950s and 60s Soviet cameras. On a side note, it’s interesting to me that every one of these articles refers to them as “Russian”, rather…
In the last couple of decades, Soviet era cameras and lenses have enjoyed a generally positive reputation, making lenses like the Jupiter-8 and Helios-44 sought after by people searching for cost-effective alternatives to German or Japanese models. Even the lower end Industars can be good options for people looking for acceptable…
Unless you have a strong interest in history, specifically the US/USSR Cold War, most people under the age of 40 will never remember the back and forth competitiveness of the American and Soviet space race. Both countries realized after World War II that the space beyond Earth’s atmosphere was a…
The first 5 words of the article below from the February/March 1962 issue of Camera 35 magazine are: The Alpa Reflex is expensive… Talk about the understatement of the year! According to this article, in 1962 an Alpa 6C with 50mm f/1.8 Macro-Switar Apochromat lens retailed for $469. When adjusted…
