Traduction de Sylvain Halgand

I think I am Weegee!

The photographers of black films of the 40s and 50s made me dream when they photographed Lauren Bacall (finally, photographers not so much, but their cameras… and… especially Bacall).

It is here about the miniature version of Speed Graphic.Admittedly miniature, but so heavy that the shooting resembles of body building meeting ! Therefore, miniature, because the format of the photographs is 21/4 X 31/4 " is the equivalent of the 620, whereas the format of certain Speed Graphic is 4x5 ", even 5 X 7 " for old models.
The oldest models of Speed Graphic go back to 1912 and most recent of 1968. The “miniature” model was manufactured between 1938 and 1947 (perhaps that mine was with the marriage of Bacall and Bogart).
This camera is provided with a coupled rangefinder whose finder is the small visible tube on the left side of the camera. The rangefinder is protected by a reinforcement on which comes to set the flash, whose cord will have to be fixed at the back of the camera.
Two finders coexist. An iconometer finder and an optical finder. The optical finder has a correction of parallax and interchangeable masks according to the focal length of the lens, to slip in front of the window of this finder. The former small plank, the lens and the shutter which it supports, can be easily removed to change focal distance. On the model of my collection, the lens is Kodak Ektar 4,5/101 mm and the shutter is Kodak Supermatic.The camera is provided with a second shutter with curtain. Release can thus be done either on the lens, or on the body of the camera following the use of one or the other of the two shutters. To use the curtain of the camera, it is necessary to regulate its tension as a preliminary (side button low) and the width of its aperture (button located a little higher). Between these two buttons, is the “shutter release”. To use this shutter, it is necessary to position that of the lens in “T”. The setting the speed of the shutter of the camera is done by exploiting the two parameters “width” and” speed”. To use the former shutter, it is advisable to position that of the body suitably.
On the second photograph, we can see the reversible charger who contains two plan-films, as well as the handles of the panels of protection which they is necessary to release before the shooting and to give then. Between the two photographs, it is necessary to leave the charger, to turn over it, then to give it. Snapshot !