Large format Kodachrome - WWII Images

It's amazing how incredibly crisp/sharp those are!

Awesome....thanks for sharing!!!!

Absolutely beautiful. Love the colours produced with that film. But yeah, it would have been great to see the lighting setup!

Jon wrote in post #14135607
Yep, there was nothing like the original (ASA 6, IIRC) Kodachrome. Add in f/64 and . . .
That. But I'll bet they had the Rosies pull out their (rationed) makeup for the shoots.

Chances are they weren't using f/64 here but the LF lenses of the day were super fast if they opened up much beyond f/4.5. According to wiki they made Kodachrome Professional in daylight balance and tungsten Type B (3200k) with an astoundingly low ASA. They must have had a lot of light, the make up and the subjects were in danger of melting.

Kodachrome Professional film (sheets) daylight (ASA 8) and Type B (ASA 10) 1938–1951

really great shots, when i first saw these, I was honestly confused as I wasn't sure if they were authentic 40's pics or just recreated.
great colors, awesome lighting.

I can't pull up EXIF data on any of these

WOW these are AWESOME.

Makes all the 'full-frame vs crop' threads look like little children bickering.

chris_holtmeier wrote in post #14139686
Makes all the 'full-frame vs crop' threads look like little children bickering.

In the day there were those that bickered over things like med or large format. Adams called Hasselblads a small camera. 35mm didn't enter into his mindset.

Amazing, I did not realise this quality of imagery was available back then...

mtimber wrote in post #14140053
Amazing, I did not realise this quality of imagery was available back then...

So you haven't seen some of Weston's silver gelatin prints from Point Lobos in person or Stieglitz's platinum print of O"Keeffe's hands? The one with the thimble?

Adams "Yosemite and the Range of Light" is just amazing.

tonylong wrote in post #14137346
It's amazing how incredibly crisp/sharp those are!

mtimber wrote in post #14140053
Amazing, I did not realise this quality of imagery was available back then...

These are not amazing at all, from a technical perspective. In fact, the screen images don't even come close to rendering all of the detail on those transparencies. Keep in mind that purely from a geometric standpoint, that format will capture about fifteen times as much detail as a 35mm slide.

That's like going from 20 megapixels to 300 megapixels.

What we're looking at is the output from a 4x5 camera, a tripod, posed subjects, and photographers who knew what they were doing.

That last part is underlined for a reason.

Curtis N wrote in post #14140247
These are not amazing at all, from a technical perspective. In fact, the screen images don't even come close to rendering all of the detail on those transparencies. Keep in mind that purely from a geometric standpoint, that format will capture about fifteen times as much detail as a 35mm slide.

That's like going from 20 megapixels to 300 megapixels.

What we're looking at is the output from a 4x5 camera, a tripod, posed subjects, and photographers who knew what they were doing.

That last part is underlined for a reason.

Yep, can't disagree. Most of the time they got it with one maybe two sheets of film and the latitude of Kodachome was not very forgiving.

airfrogusmc wrote in post #14140390
Yep, can't disagree. Most of the time they got it with one maybe two sheets of film and the latitude of Kodachome was not very forgiving.

Film was expensive and Kodak only processed sheet film at one location. It occurred to me that it's possible they were using flashbulbs, and not hot lights. Flashbulbs had some impressive guide numbers, a Press 25 had a guide number of 40 for ASA 6. Some bulbs had even higher guide numbers.

Here's a Navy Manual from 1945 on Flashbulbs.

http://graflex.org/fla​sh/navy/

breal101 wrote in post #14140429
Film was expensive and Kodak only processed sheet film at one location. It occurred to me that it's possible they were using flashbulbs, and not hot lights. Flashbulbs had some impressive guide numbers, a Press 25 had a guide number of 40 for ASA 6. Some bulbs had even higher guide numbers.

Here's a Navy Manual from 1945 on Flashbulbs.

http://graflex.org/fla​sh/navy/

I know a photographer when I first got into it that had scars on his finger tips from changing flash bulbs (burns). He shot most of his career with crown or speed graphics. I think the last time I saw him (20+ years ago) he was shooting with a Rapid Omega.