In 1900, when the Chicago and Alton Railway wanted to promote their brand-new Chicago-to-St. Louis express service, photographer George R. Lawrence knew the whole train wouldn't fit in one picture. He knew he needed a bigger camera - really, really big. He designed a camera that held a glass plate measuring 8 feet by 4 1/2 feet. The camera alone weighed 900 pounds. With the plate holder, it reached 1,400 pounds.
http://www.openculture.com/2018/09/1900-photographer-create-enormous-1400-pound-camera-take-picture-entire-train.html
Most of the long black and white pictures you see in museums were made with the Kodak Cirkut camera. (I have 7) They sat on top of a lazy susan affair with a bull gear, and the camera itself had a clockwork motor and pinion gear that engaged the bull gear and drove the camera around the top of the 'lazy susan'. Film was pulled past a slit in the back of the camera at the same speed it was traveling on the tripod, so the picture literally gets painted onto the film while it's rotating. You end up with a giant exposed piece of film, many times like 10" tall and 72" long from which the final image was printed. We had this technology 115 years ago. Many of the cameras are still quite usable but you can make a panoramic with your cell phone these days, so it's left to us sadistic types to insist on using a giant roll of film.
ReplyDeleteHere's a link to one I made last weekend that has my '39 one ton included in it. This one is 5" tall by 47 inch long.
http://tonopahpictures.0catch.com_CirkutStuff_5Cirkut_ShellBulkPlant01-14-19_ShellBulkPlant5Cirkut01-14-19s1.jpg
There's a lot to read on line about the Cirkut cameras.
that seems like a simple, elegant, and ideal invention for making a panaoramic photo! I hadn't heard of that before, thanks!
Deletethat link doesn't work, tonopahpictures.com isn't a website, nor a http format I've ever seen
Deletehttp://tonopahpictures.0catch.com/CirkutStuff/5Cirkut/ShellBulkPlant01-14-19/ShellBulkPlant5Cirkut01-14-19s1.jpg
ReplyDeleteMy bad. I was at work computer trying to do it from memory. Hope you'll try again. Love this place of yours. The firehose through the car windows bashed out by a fireman's axe was to die for. Thank you.
Thanks! Love your flatbed 39!
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