Edmonton Photographic Historical Society

     Velbon became a company in 1955 in Japan. Three years later—in 1958—their Model VE-3 / VGB-3 tripod became the world’s best selling tripod. This is the Model VGB-3. The VGB-3 is classed as an aluminum tripod, although there are plastic, rubber and pot metal castings.   As shown here, without column extended, it has the camera platform 1.2 m (47 inches) from the ground.      The column adds 33 cm (13 inches), for a total height of 1.5 m (5 feet). If you collapse the legs and column—with legs splayed—the tripod head is 55 cm (21.75 inches) from the ground. With legs collapsed and folded tight the tripod is 58 cm (23 inches) long. It weighs 2231 gm (slightly under five pounds).      The crank is typical of the thinking, engineering and precision of manufacture that makes this tripod an absolute classic. The socket and arm are matt chrome. The knob is knurled plastic and spins effortlessly. When the column is all the way down, the crank...

The Nikon SB-15 is a hotshoe based flash that works well with Nikon film cameras.*   Specifically it works in T hrough T he L ens mode with the Nikon FA, FE2, F501/N2020, F-301/N2000, FG and Nikonos-V (via V-Type Sync cord)— the usable film speed range is ASA/ISO 25-400 with FA, FE2, FG and Nikonos-V the usable film speed range is ASA/ISO 25-1000 with F-501/N2020 and F-301/N2000 usable aperture range for all cameras from f/2 to f/22 (at ASA/ISO 100) For non TTL use there are two auto ranges, depending on film speed. For example at ASA/ISO 100 A2 setting at f/4 gives a range of 0.6 ~ 6.2 m (2 ~ 20 feet) while the A1 setting at f/8 works from 0.6 ~ 3.1 m (2 ~ 10 feet). In addition you have full power in manual (“M”) setting and approximately 1/13 power at motor drive (“MD”) setting.   Guide number of 25 in meters at ASA/ISO 100 or 18 with wide panel installed. Guide number of 41 ASA/ISO 25 and feet, 30 with Wide-Flash Adapter. The flash covers 60º H and 45º V—so lenses 35mm and...

This is an Agfa Silette SL from 1957. McKeown’s Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras (11th edition) says it is a mixture of the body parts of the original 1953 Silette and the 1958 (right-hand sync) Silette-L with the addition of a rapid advance lever.        There were a lot of Agfa Silette models that ran from simple to rangefinder and lightmeter coupled 35 mm versions, and later 126 cartridge versions. To give you an idea of how popular the Silettes were in the first four years Agfa sold a million of these cameras. Silette cameras were also sold by Ansco as Memar and Super Memar cameras.      The Silette Sl has a meter behind a flap next to the viewfinder. This meter has a top display of the lightmeter’s needle and a notch you are to adjust to bracket the needle.  You adjust the bracket by setting the right combination on the EV linked shutter/aperture dials. There is an uncoupling button on the aperture dial so you can change EV combina...

This MC Hanimex Automatic C-Macro f/4.5 80-200mm is a single touch—one ring controls both zoom and focus—zoom built for Canon FD mount lenses. It has a slide-out lens shade built-in. Reading around the lens bezel— MC                stands for Multi-Coated, as opposed to single coated Hanimex      is the distributor—all their lenses were made by suppliers Automatic refers to wide open viewing/metering with auto shut down and re-opening of the aperture Zoom           means the lens can change focal length C-Macro      might stand for macro ability (at 200 mm you have a choice of marked ratios 1:7 , 1:6, 1:5, 1:4.5 and 1:4 with a continuous number of ratios in between) 1:4.5                means f/4.5 is the maximum speed at all zoom lengths f=80-200mm is the focal length range 52∅             ...

The 2002 Kodak EasyShare DX4900 was advertised as— the first print-optimized 4.00 MP point-and-shoot digital camera designed to be one-touch simple able to create prints from 4” x 6” to 20” x 30” has a 6X zoom—(35-210 mm equivalent) Kodak all-glass, high quality aspheric 2X optical zoom lens Exclusive 3X Advanced Digital Zoom has automatic and manual settings for total creative freedom has a CompactFlash memory card expansion slot is compatible with an optional Kodak EasyShare Camera Dock for simple one-touch picture transfer Note the diffuse flash cover and the optical viewfinder.      Now note the 38.1 mm (1.5 inch) TFT colour screen. It leaves a lot of room for the limited controls. For example the round control actually zooms (left wide and right tele) and allows you to move up and down the menu choices. The other two buttons are Menu (Bottom) and Select.      The three buttons next to the tiny LCD screen are flash (top), macro/infinity and self-timer....