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Kodak At The World Trade Center
A New York Times item noted that Kodak had a presence at the World Trade Center with it's Colortek Kodak Imaging Services, located on the first floor of one of the towers. We have been unable to obtain any additional information. Is anyone familiar with Colortek?

The Leica Historical Society of America HQ Now In Louisville, Kentucky...
After many years in the Lone Star State, the Leica Historical Society has moved. It's new address is: Leica Historical Society of America, P.O. Box 7607, Louisville, KY 40257-0607

Also the LHSA 34th Annual Meet Will Be Held - October 3-6 in Portland. OR.
A city famous for roses and other flowers and for being a walkers and bicyclists paradise. It has been rated as one of the 10 Greatest Places To Live, and we assume, to hold a convention of camera fans. The banquet speaker is Gerald Robinson. Others on the program include George Gilbert, Robbie McClaran, Lawrence Shlim and more.

Get 20% Off New Photographic Books.From Our Friends In Grantsburg, WI.
Jim McKeown's Centennial Photo offers 20% Off new Photographic Books if you join their Pre-publication Club. Send name, address and E-mail address if you have one, to: Centennial Photo Pre-publication Club, 11595 State Road 70, Grantsburg, WI 54840

For Other Discounted Books...
The following books listed as related to photography are available from Edward R. Hamilton Bookseller, Falls Village, CT 06031-5000 Their large catalog is free & returns are accepted if not pleased. Postage & handling  is $3.50 per order regardless of books purchased. A sample of books listed in their latest catalog:
 

The Official EBay Guide To Buying. Selling & Collecting Just About Anything
297 pages List $13, Discount Price $8.95
Warman's Flea Market Price Guide; Discount Price $6.95
National Geographic Society 100 Years of Adventure and Discovery
525 pages, 300 in color 9"x 11 1/4" Discount Price $7.95
The Official EBay Guide To Buying. Selling & Collecting Just About Anything
297 pages List $13, Discount Price $8.95

Congratulations To Lew Regelman...(The new co-editor of PHSNYms newsletter)

This Issue's Mystery Questions (Answers at end of the Newsletter)

1. In December 1957 what company introduced 38mm Super Slides along with a new 2 1/4 slide projector which used a horizontal burning 300 watt lamp?

2. The Cigarette Lighter camera was slightly larger than a Zippo, because it was also a camera with an f/ ___ lens, it weighed  ____ oz., and held daylight film for ___ exposures.

3. 42nd Stree in New York City is still famous for lights and camera stores, but no longer for (P---O-R---)

Dr. Edwin Land.The Remarkable Man Who Invented Instant Photography:..

It was a bright night in 1926 on Broadway, New York City. The Great White Way was in it's full glory and Edwin Land was taking a walk. The street was truly fulfilling its publicized promises. Huge, brightly lit, billboards, movie and live theater marques, plus the blinding
glare of cars and taxis. Suddenly, the glare all but overwhelmed Land. Still, In that same instant, he knew a way to reduce the glare. What Land's mind told him was that light waves vibrate in several different planes and produce the scattered light that eyes perceive as glare. His mind also said there was a way to use filters to "channel" or "polarize" light waves into a single plane of vibration. The basic idea had been around since the seventeenth century, but Land was the first to imagine embedding polarizing crystals into a plastic sheet which could be shaped into lenses. Land became so consumed by the idea that he took a leave of absence from Harvard to do experiments. Not having his own lab he was known to work all night in one at Columbia University which he would enter secretly through an unlocked window. Later he would say that at that time he reasoned: "If you can think it, you can do it. By 1928, Land had developed, and patented, polarizing sheets of plastic.

Dropping out of Harvard in 1932, he set up the Land Wheelwright Labs, and shortly thereafter, the Polaroid Company of which he was president, chairman of the board, and director of research.

Reclusive and reticent, Land had a strict policy of never borrowing money and plowed his profits back into research. He was also noted for never sending and seldom answering mail.

Continuing to experiment with polarization, Land had hoped that what he called Polaroid sheets would be used in car windshields to cut glare of oncoming headlights. Auto makers wouldn't buy the idea. However, he found markets for photographic filters and lenses for
sun glasses. The latter sold well to the military, especially the air force, whose satisfaction helped his being awarded other highly profitable military contracts during WWII. `.

As the war wound down, so did military contracts. The demand for sunglasses of all kinds also had a major decline. By 1943 the company was in critical financial shape, but he and his family decided to take a much needed vacation to New Mexico. While there he had another of his "scientific flashes". His wife Loans and daughter Jennifer, had been out taking pictures. Upon their return, Jennifer turned to her father and asked why she couldn't see the picture right away. Land would say later that the question created in his mind a "conceptually full-blown" idea. And that he "...pounced on the notion" of linstant photography". He also recalled that within an hour "the camera, the film, and the critical chemistry" had become crystal-clear to him.

It would be 1947 before Land's vision became a reality. The Model 95 Polaroid Land Camera went on sale the day after Thanksgiving,  at Boston's Jordan-Marsh Department Store-. The camera weighed five pounds and took eight sepia-colored prints which developed on the spot  in sixty-seconds. It wasn't exactly a clean process and demonstrators had wet towels beside them to wipe off their hands. But it was an immediate success. By 1958 Polaroid sales had reached $59 million.

In 1982, Edwin Land would retire from Polaroid. By then he had received honorary degrees from at least fifteen universities and held 533 U.S. Patents.

Much of the information in this article is from the Inventive Genius volume of The Time-Life Library of Curious And Unusual Facts. The volume is now out of print.

Did Dr Land Have Any Failures? Do You Remember "Polavision" Instant Home Movies? Not Many Do...

The Polavision Land Camera was rather short lived, not well remembered and probably few, if anyone's, favorite Polaroid product. Introduced in 1977 on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, Polavision was manufactured for Polaroid by the Bell & Howell company.

Regardless of the financial situation, on August 27, 2002, at the huge Photokina 2002 Photography Polaroid is still alive and giving it the old Land try. One of the more interesting announcements was that Polaroid would license their name to Concord Camera of Hollywood, Florida. Concord is a contract manufacturer which will supply usually lowend cameras with any name desired on them. None of the cameras for Polaroid will be instant or digital. Polaroid has sold single-use cameras before, sometimes bundled with an instant camera. It will be interesting to see where the cameras are made and what brand, if any label at all, is on the film inside them. Concord has a long history of supplying singleuse and other inexpensive 35mm cameras. Some took fair pictures. Others didn't.

Polaroid Photo Collection Declared Part Of Company Assets - May Be Sold As Part of Bankruptcy...Every Dollar Counts...

While the news release is not clear, Polaroid's huge photography collection was recently declared a part of the company's assets and will probably be included in its bankruptcy proceedings. What wasn't detailed in the press release was if some, or all, of the collection was made using the Polaroid process for reproducing fine art. The process gives exceptional depth and the illusion of brush strokes and other features of classic and modern fine art.

Why Are Movies Shorter Than They Used To Be? Surprise! It's For Money!

The movie Men In Black II is close to making box office history even if it's running time is not very long by previous movie standards. At 82 minutes, it runs less than the 90 minutes  typical of most live action films. As you watch the film, it may not seem much shorter until you suddenly realize that the fllm has ended and you are reading the endless list of people involved in its production.

Actually, fllms have been getting shorter since 1997 when the average film ran 109 minutes. This year the average is 103. One of the factors shortening running times is the increase in children's fllms, especially animated releases. Animated flIms are usually shorter than live action because they are more expensive to make and also their younger audiences have a problem sitting still for long periods of time. Another, and probably more honest reason is that shorter films such as the 82 minute Men In Black allow a theater to add an extra one or two showings during prime time. Even Columbia Pictures Director Barry Sonnefield says he gets bored with his films if they are too long. He also thinks speed is important to making people laugh. He sums up that it never hurts to leave an audience hungry for more and perhaps they will come back again in a day or two. `.

Popular Photography's New Eguipment Guide-Close To Their Golden Oldies Also Proof Of Digitalms Impact

In the "good old days" Popular Photography's yearly equipment issue was a must own with photo enthusiasts, collectors and potential purchasers of almost anything photographic. It listed and illustrated almost every camera sold in the USA plus accessories from lenses to darkroom equipment and often some items you didn't even realize were available. While not as inclusive, in content as Pop's was, the yearly photography catalog from Montgomery Ward was better with outstanding illustrations and camera descriptions. Sears Roebuck also had a photographic catalog, that while it had fewer pages than Ward's it still provided a worthwhile reference. Ward's was simply designed better. When an economic recession hit the camera business both Ward's and Sears' photo catalogs became smaller and less informative. As time marched on, Wards displayed fewer cameras in their stores, and soon quit their entire mail-order business. Sears did much the same. Still their last camera catalog was primarily interesting because of one thing. It featured home movie cameras that used film, just as home video cameras entered the market.

Of course, it wasn't just the large general retailers that had photo catalogs. Many camera dealers, large and medium size, had them. There was Central Camera in Chicago, Peerless, Willoughby's, Minifilm and others in NYC and on the West Coast, all published interesting catalogs. Those and even more large and small photo stores that did mail-order business, just as today, relied primarily on ads in Popular Photography .

But there has been one dramatic change. Even a quick look at your favorite book store's magazine racks and you can't miss the fact that digital has become the photographic word of the moment. We counted 12 photo magazines, US and foreign, with either digital as part of their masthead or with a cover emphasizing the digital articles inside.

One British publishing company Country and Leisure Media, has formatted its yearly cameras and equipment guide to look somewhat like the early Popular Photography issues, but with a total emphasis on digital. If you flnd a book store or newsstand that carries foreign  magazines they may still have the latest issue. `.

Knight Ridder Offers Five Tips From The Pros That Make Home Movies Worth Watching...However. Read Carefully Before You Count On It...

A recent item from the Knight Ridder News syndicate quoted flve tips from Corporate Film Arts, a production company based in Houston, TX, that has designed a tip sheet of flve points to help travelers, and we assume, also those who stay at home, make their home movies more memorable for generations to come. Even if you don't make home movies, you may possibly learn (or chuckle) at some of these suggestions:

(1) Zoom with your feet, not your camera. Zooming the camera during a scene can be distracting and annoying. If necessary, lean on something to steady the camera, and be sure to adjust the focus before filming to produce more dramatic and interesting results.

(2) If you shoot from an angle for more than 10 seconds, there should be a good reason. To wake up your audience, try a series of short scenes to make things more visually interesting.

(3) A bad case of camera jitters is distracting. If there is a steadying feature built into your camera, use it. If not, a good tripod is a worthy investment.

(4) Shoot from different angles. Variety creates greater interest for the audience. Don t be afraid to go in for tight shots. "The tighter the shot, the more emotion that's conveyed." says three-time Emmy winner cameraman Beryt Nisenson. A typical approach is opening with a wide shot to establish the scene. Move in for a medium shot and then a close-up.

(5) Be heard. If the sound isn't good enough, you aren't close enough. Audio is usually the weakest part of of amateur productions because the mike is on top of most cameras. "For better audio, zoom wide and move closer to the subJect," says Doug Legore, cameraman at WHTM-TV, Harrisburg. Penn.

Follow-up: We made a small survey of people known to have made home movies during their lifetime and asked for their experience, suggestions and comments. Here are some of the more interesting replies. Note emphasis on babies.

1. "Bought a VCR camera and twelve 6 hr tapes. when the baby arrived. Recorded lots of a baby cooing, diaper changes, and a baby crawling. We weren't very original.
2. Had lots of relatives wanting to hold the kid. Result: recorded hours of smiling relatives holding kid who seemed unimpressed with whole idea.
3. The twins first walk, with, and flnally, without, help. Took weeks to fllm.
4. The cereal throwing scene is quite popular-and messy. Wouldn't recommend fllming especially with women around who just had their hair fixed.
5. During the the second tape, kid knocked camera on floor. Did not buy another.
6. Camera was a gift from grandparents who also bought one for themselves which they never learned to use. Postage costs for mailing tapes were substantial for first year. Three years later no one could flnd either camera or very many many tapes. Did not detect much disappointment..
7. Had family reunion. Four couples brought tapes to play or loan to relatives to play at home. No one knows what happened to most. Some were recorded over "accidentally" when a long awaited TV show came on and no other tapes were available.

The Wall Street Journal Tests Digital-Photo Printing Services...

The recently reformatted Wall Street Joumalhas frequent feature stories based on tests of various goods or services. Recently they tested Digital-Photo Finishing Services. The testers sent digital media and print orders to flve processors: Kodak's Ofoto.com, Shutterfly. com, Snapfish. com, Wall-Mart.com, and PhotoAC-cess.com. Each finisher was judged on five aspects: 1. Cost per print, 2. The pitch or slogaq used by the company, 3. Site Features, 4. The Human Touch and 5. the Final Product.

While overall, prices were close, you still get what you pay for in most cases. Example: the least expensive was Wal-Mart. It was also next to sIowest and the prints had a grayish cast. While not stated, Fuji, is one of Wal-Mart's major photofinishers and may have done these.

1. Ofoto.com.(Kodak) fastest. Three day return with sharpest prints arriving in a "snazzy pack" $.49 per print, same as Shutterfly and Snapflsh

2. Shutterfly.com Excellent service, three day arrival, $.49 per print, good quality prints, spiffy package

3. Snapfish.com Three-day turnaround but photos not as sharp as Ofotos and paper flimsy

4. Wal-Mart.com Least expensive, hidden editing feature. Prints had grayish cast

5. PhotoAccess.com Same price as Snapflsh, nbefuddled customer service rep." Arrived ten days after ordered, looked fine except for redeye

ANSWERS TO THIS MONTH'S MYSTERY OUESTIONS

1. In December 1957 Realist, Inc. introduced a new 2 1/4" square slide projector using a  horizontal 300 watt lamp. along with a new 38mm Super Slide .

2. The Cigarette Lighter/camera was sold by Silverbells, Ltd. 600 16th St. Oakland, CA. It had an F/3.5 lens, Weighed 3 1/2 oz and held film for 20 B&W or color.exposures.

3. 42nd Street in NYC is famous for lights, and camera stores, but no longer Peep-O-Rama which was closed down by police as of August. Complaints are still being received. And don't ask us who was peeping at what!