Camera Museum

FORWARD:

This page is a virtual camera museum....

Pictured, below, you will see a few of the cameras that I have owned since the early 80s.

All of these cameras have been put to use to document the stories of the people in the world around me and to tell their stories — alongside the passing of time, itself.

Take a look back and appreciate just how far along camera technology has progressed in a few decades. Remarkable!

PURPOSE:

The purpose of this page is not for horn-blowing. Obviously, there are — and there have been — and there will be — better even more fancy cameras around the world than the cameras that I have pictured here, on this webpage. For example, the Hasselblad that went to the moon on Apollo 11.

And personally, I have seen more fancy cameras than mine. A few of these were video cameras put to use on-site with commercial film producers during an advertising internship that I had the privilege of being a part of, during the early 90s.

I'll call these Hollywood cameras - the type of cameras that producers use to film television ads. Yes. The television ads still work and can be quite compelling if you get the right creative behind the ad.

Then, I could tell you stories about the production houses where the video ads are created. Each resembles the studio that appears at the start of that Bruno Mars video.

So, then, there were the newsroom still-frame cameras and cameras for photojournalism. Some were designed to picture sports events from the sidelines and those cameras have the giant lens: "Now, here's one I use on the football field - down at the stadium...."

Anyhow. My cameras are fairly simple, compared to all of those cameras.

Again, the purpose of this page is not for horn-blowing. Rather, this page was created to show the capabilities of a few cameras that make storytelling possible. And to explain what went into my understanding of how a camera works.

I bring all of this equipment to the table, alongside a Bring Your Own Device program that I had featured about the existing tech capabilities that I would bring with me.

In other words, the equipment is already sitting here in Cleveland. And I can bring it to work, for you, along with the know-how that goes along with decades of working with cameras of all types.

THE EVOLUTION OF CAMERA DESIGN ALONGSIDE TECHNOLOGY:

1980s

The Minolta X-700

Inception: Mid-1980s

Type of camera: Single-lens reflex (SLR) that shot to 35mm film

Link to Wikipedia article at: Minolta X-700

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Notes and memories: Between the years of 1985 to 1989 I had attended the Riverside High School that is located in rural Painesville, Ohio / Lake County on Cleveland's far east side.

At that time, RHS had offered an introductory photography course in a classroom complete with both a lecture area and a darkroom.

I was absolutely thrilled to enroll in the class and to have the opportunity to learn about photography! My parents purchased this Minolta camera for me sometime before 1989 so that I would have a first camera to learn on, both in high school, and later in college. Even back in high school, I was leaning toward a career in some type of journalism and/or sales and marketing. Everything on this camera was able to be adjusted so that the user would learn things like focus, depth of field, shutter speed, aperture, etc.

Above: A reusable film canister, which could be loaded and reloaded with 35mm film, time and time again.

When transferring 35mm film, one thing was an imperative: The entire film transfer process had to be conducted in complete darkness from start to finish.

Even a moon beam or the smallest amount of light would expose the entire role of film - meaning that you've ruined the film and lost everything on it.

For example, let's just say, hypothetically, that you had recently pictured a UFO flying over the Student Center at Kent State.

Pictures have been recorded, and now, it's time to develop the film. You're there in complete darkness transferring the film to the developing cannister.

Then, "Oh Fiddlesticks!" Somebody walks in and switches-on the lights.

Chances are you've lost nearly all of your UFO photographs.

The transfer of film was usually done in a darkroom like the one at Kent State that had been - until recently - in the basement of Taylor Hall.

I walked through the basement of Taylor Hall the last time I dropped my son off next door and I did not see any darkroom there, anymore.

The lecture hall is still there. It appears mostly the same as it did back in the 90s.

As I recall, the lecture hall was tiered and stair-stepped. Each level had a long writing surface across each aisle that formed a desk for each student. There were some cool chairs - and didn't the chairs spin round and round? I can't remember.

Meanwhile, there is a new museum in Taylor Hall and it's all about the May 4th riots at Kent and the events that happened during the era of the Vietnam War.

It appears that most of Taylor Hall has been upgraded.

During the early 90s, most advertising, public relations, journalism, and photo journalism classes had been taught in the Taylor Hall. (Keep in mind, this was way before Taylor Swift. This hall was named for some other Taylor.)

It was during the early 90s and with some help from our advisor that we students had put together an Ad Club at Kent State.

We'd meet almost every week in Taylor Hall. It was here that we planned the Kent State University Ad Club trip to New York City for the "Your Future is in Advertising" Symposium at NYU.

Anyhow, you can see Taylor Hall (pictured over my shoulder) in December 2023 when I was transferring my twenty year old home from his break from the Kent State University.

The era of film and darkrooms:
vats of developer, vats of fixer,
contact sheets, and special photo papers of a bygone era.

Notes and memories: Throughout the 1980s, the high school that I attended had a photo lab and a darkroom setup, complete with the chemical vats and trays of developer, trays of fixer, and the enlargers. Students could process black and white film from each of their cameras into negatives.

Then, after that first step, students would project light through plastic negatives onto photographic paper in a device called "an enlarger." In this way, the students were able to to produce photographs on paper.

Thinking back, it makes my head spin to ponder how labor-intensive all of this was. And all of this was only for black and white film and photographs - not color. Nobody that I knew personally, back then, had the ability to work with color film.

Working with color film required the machines and processes of a commercial photo lab.

Then, in autumn of year 1989, when I arrived at Kent State University, I enrolled in photography courses at the college level. Again, at that time, everyone at Kent State was shooting to film as well.

After graduation from college, when I landed a job in newspaper, most everyone was still shooting to film - throughout the first quarter of 1993. Adoption of digital camera technology would begin slowly, within the coming years and decades.

Initially, the technology of the first consumer digital cameras would often produce results that were less than ideal. In other words, the photos produced on the first digital cameras were not comparable the results of the old film cameras. In comparison, I speak of the cameras that were the same price points.

At first, the digital camera was a bit of a novelty. Admittedly, early adopters would discover that the first affordable digital cameras would produce photos that would become "pixelated" when enlarged. Early on, folks were concerned with the question "How many megapixels is this camera?"

Some of the first digital cameras employed a small floppy disk. The drive would spin the disk in order to store the first pictures in .jpeg format.

For all of these reasons, most people held on to their film cameras for decades.

Even after the first digital cameras arrived on the scene, film processing was still quite popular for decades at dozens of local photo labs. Folks would continue to shoot photos to traditional film, even after the advent of the first digital cameras.

In short, the quality of the pictures produced by many of the first, affordable digital cameras was just, plain lousy - and pixelated, too. I'll illustrate more about that in the section, below....

A few pictures from our first digital camera:

Posted below are pictures from a January 2003 trip to the Henry Ford Museum, near Detroit. These photos were pictured using our family's very first digital camera - the Sony Mavica . Note the pixelation. The output almost had to be this way - if you were going to save a bunch of pictures. Why? Because this digital camera of year 2003 saved the photos not to a SD card, but rather, photos were save to a spinning floppy disk! That's right. The camera had a disc drive built in.

Anyhow, the Henry Ford is an amazing museum. If you visit the Henry Ford, do bring a modern camera. We've been back to the Henry Ford countless times since 2003 and it's always a thrill - especially with the new exhibits and feature programs that are brought in throughout the years.

Museum photos pictured on a Sony Mavica in year 2003:

Henry Ford's Office

It's my understanding that along with the assembly line, Ford was credited with putting in place vertical integration at the Rouge factory.

Generally speaking, and in my understanding, coal, ore, and raw materials are rolled into one side of the factory. There, all of the casting, fabrication, and assembly takes place under one roof. Here, the manufacturer has control over each step of the process.

Then, on the farthest side of the factory from where the ships are dumping off the ore and the trains are dumping off the coal, you might see, there, at the conclusion of the process, a worker who wears a very clean jumpsuit. Maybe it's a white jumpsuit like they wear now at Honda down in Marysville, Ohio.

Anyhow the apparel is different from the people in say, the engine casting plant where the hot liquid steel is poured into a form. Different from the guys who hold that big sheet of steel and feed it into the stamping press. BAM! - and after that you have say, a car fender. My dad was a mechanical engineer and I went to many of these SAE tours, so I've seen this!

Anyhow, the man or woman in the white jumpsuit opens the door of the assembled vehicle, sits down, and turns the ignition key. The engine starts. And that person drives a finished car or a finish truck out the factory door - the farthest door located on the other side of the factory from where the coal and the ore hoppers are located. Remarkable!

Interesting to ponder the magic of vertical integration. There are stats to explain how long the process takes from the lump of ore and coal phase to those taillights driving down the ramp.

Obviously, there are many moving parts to manage the process. And pictured above, you see the desk where Henry Ford had kept all the plates spinning at the helm of the operation.

Also, there is a picture of Thomas Edison on the wall. Edison and Ford were best friends. They'd picnic together and go places where titans of industry would hang out during that era.

Pictured at the Henry Ford Museum near Detroit, MI.

Examples of the first handheld digital toys from the 1980s

While growing up, my parents had gifted to me for Christmas and for birthdays, several of these toys including the Little Professor, pictured there in the yellow case. The Little Professor would would quiz the user about math problems. You could think of the Little Professor as a set of digital flash cards. The device could help your child learn times tables, quickly.

Meanwhile, mom or dad could go cook dinner, engineer the mast of an electric lift truck, or telephone family who lived back on the family farm, up in Wisconsin.

The Little Professor was today's equivalent of handing your kid an iPad or a Galaxy Tab with a math app loaded onto it - yet less exciting. There was no YouTube.

For example, on the screen, the algorithm would display "2 + 2 = " and the user would key in "4" and so on.

Pictured at the Henry Ford Museum near Detroit.

Year 2001

The Sony Handycam - Hi8 system

Model: CCD-TRV58

Inception: 2001

Type of camera: 8mm video camera that records to SONY Hi8 video tape.

Notes and memories: My first video camera and a gift to our family from my father-in-law when my wife and I were expecting the arrival of our first child.

The technology within this video camera was a remarkable leap forward. With the roll-out of the Sony Handycam, now video recording technology that would become compact and portable for home video enthusiasts.

The predecessor to this Hi8 unit would have been the type of camera that fictional character Marty McFly would put to use in the movie "Back to the Future." Note how previous cameras were more bulky than the Sony Handycam as manufacturers wrestled with various tape sizes, VHS adapters, and large batteries.

Certainly, battery technology had improved during the SONY Handycam years with the invention of the Sony Infolithium battery pack.

It's easy to forget how improvements in battery technology happened over several decades. This improved technology has made possible inventions such as today's smartphones that run for days on a single charge. Remarkable!

More details about this camera at

https://camcorderpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Sony_CCD-TRVx8_Series

Year 2010

Canon Vixia

Model: HFR-200

Inception: 2010

Type of Camera: Digital Video Camera recording to SD Flash Memory Card

Notes and memories:

Here's a bit about the tripod used with this one:

Oldie, but goodie. The camera, that is. Tom Wible shooting on a Canon Vixia HFR200. Admittedly, these days, most folks just use their smartphones.

The tripod, above, was found at local garage sale by my brother-in-law. He had gifted the three-legged camera support gear to his sister / my wife. She (and I) had been looking for a good way to steady our high-powered astronomy binoculars that we use for stargazing, out in the back yard.

One afternoon, my retired brother-in-law appeared in our driveway. He drove-in directly from a garage sale and exclaimed, "Look what I found for your binoculars!" He is pretty cool to us. Thoughtful too.

The tripod was culled from the sale of an estate - of a bygone era. Perhaps the tripod was used at Cape Canaveral, back when America was first shooting for THE MOON! I'd like to think so.

As you can see, the old tripod still works great. You can fidget with the antique screws, the antique levers. You might note the position of the old spirit level . The camera operator discovers that the 1960's industrial design seems to carry with it a history all of its own.

Moving on...

July 2023

The Canon EOS Rebel T7

Inception: July 2023

Type of camera: DSLR. Digital single-lens reflex camera with interchangeable lense.

Link to Wikipedia article at: Canon Rebel T7

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Me, holding the new Canon Rebel T7 camera. Photo credit goes to my 18-year-old son. He pictured this shot using his camera phone.

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Notes: In mid-July 2023, I took the plunge and upgraded my camera to the first single-lens reflex camera (SLR) that I've purchased since the 1980s. Back in the 80s, cameras shot to film. Obviously, in 2023, there is no film required in this camera.

Granted, we are now living in the era of the camera phone. Friends and those in my social circles now use their iPhone cameras for all of their photos, however, I was never on board with the idea that a camera phone would completely replace full-size cameras - especially when you consider the detachable lens.

Then, along with the camera phone arrives the cloud-based subscription model in order to store all of the pictures captured on today's smartphones and tablets. While I am not faulting the camera designers wanting to make a living, the interface is designed to have the user hooked on storing all photos in a cloud-based subscription model, forever.

While this is all debatable, I went to school for among other things, photography.

Today, computer algorithms designed into camera phones create pictures that look good from a small lens - or from a few small lenses.

When my point and click camera failed, I had to make a decision. Meanwhile, I had been using the camera on old, burner Droid phone, on occasion and the picture quality was just okay. And I was running low on cloud space and would soon have to pony-up for more storage.

Admittedly, in some ways, it's not the quality of the camera, but rather, it can be how you use the camera and if you capture the picture at all.

In other words, do you have a camera along with you when that UFO appears in the sky?

For example: "Hey! There is a UFO in the sky right there. I don't have my camera case that has my giant digital camera. Rats!" And just like that, the shot was missed.

Obviously, there are situations like this when a compact camera saves the day. A camera phone fits in your pocket.

So, for a long while, I hemmed and hawed about an upgrade.

Meanwhile, life was going by. And I was missing the recording of good pictures of big events because I, personally, had no decent camera to record these memories to.

Finally, I felt that it was time for an upgrade. And this Canon model did not break the bank.

Besides, it has been my experience that I usually drop the camera into Lake Erie a few months into owning the camera - which is why I didn't go with the super- whiz-bang model of camera.

Besides, the technology keeps changing. It appears that mirrorless technology may be the next big thing in digital cameras - or is it?

Anyhow, this Canon is good enough for what we need it to do, for now. Plus, the new Canon will allow me to further build-out my portfolio.

Memories - to be created with this camera, God willing...

Now in the making....

Details to follow....

I quote John Cougar Mellencamp

"Your life is now..."

Go live it.

Return link to portfolio:

Photojournalism & Photographs