[Leica] Forscher's lights

[ricc at embarqmail.com (Ric Carter)]

V34/I4 (2004) of LHSA's Viewfinder had an article about a similarly modified 
M4.

ric



On Nov 17, 2009, at 2:02 PM, slobodan Dimitrov 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
>>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
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> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
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