A few weeks ago, someone asked about the set of View-Master reels with photos of the 1969 RBBB Red Unit. (Gunther’s first year with the show.) Here they are. From a technical standpoint, they are not up the usual View-Master standards. The photographer was too far back when he took most of them, resulting in shots similar to what an amateur could have obtained using an Instamatic camera. Most of the photos were taken when the arena was in darkness, giving some of the photos a dark, murky quality. And it appears that the color film the photographer was using was not properly matched to arena’s lighting, resulting in some harsh, unnatural-looking colors. None of the performers are identified in the reel captions or in the little booklet that was included along with the reels. This set never became a classic like View-Master's set on the 1951 RBBB show. I can recall how disappointed I was when I bought it in 1970 and it is still a disappointment today. Even so, these photos now have a certain historical value, so here they are. (Your comments on who and what is shown will be appreciated by the rest of us.) |
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
1969 RBBB #1 (From Eric Beheim)
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16 comments:
Eric,
These reels were probably taken with Ektachrome slide film with a asa rating of 125 for available light shooting.
And this type of film will fade through the years and some of mine now are blue as a goose.
Ektachrome always had a blue tint to it but for color you had the speed to shoot in dark places.
Your package had gaf on it and this also could have been shot on Anscochrome film that gaf made.
I never used this type of film so cannot comment on it.
I used the worlds best good old Kodak in the bright yellow box.
Harry in Texas
When these reels were produced, View-Master was still using Kodachrome for its release prints, so the colors haven't faded. (They looked this bad in 1970, too.) I'm guessing that the photographer was using film color-balanced for tungsten (indoor)lighting and that the carbon arc spotlights skewed the color to what it is. Or maybe the arena where they were taken had halogen lighting with a difference color temperature than regular tungsten bulbs.
Eric,
Kodak had Ektachrome type B that was blanced for tungsten and at asa 125 that was about it back then for available light shooting in color.
You could do Ektachrome at home and you could push it in the first developer and get asa 400 back then or more if you wished.
Yes when viewmaster first came out they used good old Kodachrome the best ever and then when gaf and sawyers came along and took over viewmaster they used a cheaper film that turned red.
I have many of the Kodachrome viewmaster reels that look as good as when they were made. I still even have my 1950's reel of little black sambo that is real rare.
The photographer that took those shots ought to be ashamed as like you said bad framing and soft focus for the sale to the public, BAD.
Jim Cole, ought to have took those pictures.
Harry in Texas
Compare the detail of the audience in the background in the Gunther elephant photo in the upper right with the same image from the reel in 1969 RBBB #6. Clearly, a difference from what the photographer did capture in his shot. Whether this is fading or deliberate editing by View-Master to drop out the busy background and so help focus the viewer's interest on the central action, we don't know but clearly something happened to the quality that was once there.
For those of us who used Ektachrome Type B, perhaps we need to digitize to capture what color is left (and perhaps do some color enhancement!). But digital images have a shorter life than film.
Dick Flint
Baltimore
There is a very excellent history of View-Master titled VIEW-MASTER MEMORIES written by Charley Van Pelt and Mary Ann & Wolfgang Sell. According to them, GAF stopped using Kodachrome in the fall of 1977, switching over to an inter-negative film. (Plant engineers protested that the grain of the inter-negative film was poor and that fine detail would be lost. And even back then it was known that any non-Kodachrome film would eventually turn red with age.) When viewed today, the images on some GAF V-M reels have good color while others have turned red. (The images on my GAF V-M set on Circus World, which Buckles posted a year or so ago, suffer from faded colors.)
Only the followspots were very
high color temperature as they
were carbon arc as you mentioned
ALL of the other lighting even
the halogen (quartz) are warmer
as in aprox 3K degrees
Mr Flint,
When I take photos at a circus I use my digital camera, plus a film camera for prints and another camera with my Kodachrome slides.
I have several freezers full of film as this stops the experiation date.
And as of Dec 31st DeWaynes lab the only lab in the world that still peocesses Kodachrome will stop the processing of the film. BOO HOO
I highly advise to get the Ektachrome slides put on digital before they go blue and very little color is there.
Many years ago I shot a roll Anscochrome 500 and now it is gone with the wind. This is why I use only Kodak film.
But black and white if done right will last forever.
Harry in Texas
It is indeed a shame that these now historic photos came out so poorly. My last season with Ringling was on return from Europe in 1964, so except for Otto, I am not familiar with the acts that were there. Jackie LeClaire
Shannon/Buckles and Eric how the heck do you get tiny viewmaster -sized photos from a disk onto the internet, or anywhere else.
Thanks,
Paul Gutheil
PS Eric many thanks for all the great "old" photos.
I should have said upper left referring to the packaging shown here in "1969 RBBB #1 (from Eric Beheim)."
Dick Flint
Maybe the photographer wasn't using Ektachome but one of the GAF film stocks.
Scanning View-Master frames is not easy! Basically, I used the 35mm slide-copying feature that is built into the lid of my scanner, masking it down to the size of a single View-Master frame (which is about the size of your little fingernail.) I center the V-M frame and then tape the reel to the scanner lid with masking tape. The frame is then scanned just like a 35mm slide. The resulting images are quite small and Shannon did yeoman’s work enlarging them so that they could be seen.
MANY THANKS TO ALL OF YOU MOST ACCOMPLISHED AND KNOWLEDGEABLE GENTLEMEN.
Paul Gutheil
Buckles -
Does Shannon realize just how good he REALLY is? ~frank
He certainly does.
As a little kid he constantly piddled with electronics and as we speak, he is home seated at a Brigthouse Computer, receiving calls from people with TV or computer problems.
The first question he asks is, "Is your machine plugged in?" and it's surprising how much time this question can save.
Who knows? some day he may become another Chic Silber.
NOW you're scaring me. ~frank
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