Several months ago, someone on this list introduced me to the works of Clyde
Butcher, "Ansel Adams of the Everglades." About three weeks ago, I picked up
a copy of the April issue of B&W magazine, where he is featured. His work
is fascinating, both in the nature of the images and the way in which they
are captured, and in the extremely large size that he chooses for their
reproduction. It is in this area that I have some info that may interest
listees that are also interested in large reproductions.
On page 78, there is an article about his remarkable darkroom, where he
produces these wall-sized prints. It shows Big Bertha, a "copy camera" that
has been turned into a horizontal enlarger. I'm sure that there are several
other listees as well as myself that recognize this as what the graphic arts
world calls a process camera. These are the large cameras that were used to
make negatives and halftones from which plates were burned. They were
mounted through a wall between two rooms, light and dark. the large plat
piece of metal with the X on it is the part that fit in the wall opening,
which was then rendered light-tight. The part that held the line art and the
photos, pressed under glass, is missing. On the back of these cameras
usually were two doors, only one of which was closed at any one time. The
first held a large ground glass, usually with a grid, that was used for
focusing. The second back, with a matching grid, was for film, that was held
by vacuum. Most of these cameras were quite large. A big shop would have one
at least 30x40"(maximum film size). A small printer might have one that took
16x20 film.
After the originals were placed in the copyboard, all other work could be
done from the darkroom, with cranks. A reproduction ratio was first set, and
then fine focused. A piece of lith film was put on the back with the vacuum
on, and that door was closed in place of the ground glass. The exposure was
controlled from the darkroom. Most used large quartz lights.
To convert this to an enlarger, one needs to find a way to replace a door
with a negative carrier and a light source. some method of holding paper
also is needed. In other words, not a snap, but certainly well possible. The
bad news is that these things are made of iron and steel, and are REALLY
heavy. The good news, and this is the IMPORTANT PART for our list members,
at least in the US, is that frequently these things are free for the asking.
There is very little use for process cameras these days, as they have been
replaced by scanners. I imagine that they are still used for outsized
originals, or by smaller shops that just can't get with the twentieth
century. In most cases, they are simply taking up valuable space. If this
sort of thing interests you, visit some local printers, or check with
graphic arts professionals, and they probably know where there is someone
that will really appreciate not having to pay to get one of these things
hauled off. Free, that will qualify as a fang!
It's a shame that these things are obsolete. They are like big, old machine
tools. They were universally high precision, well made, and literally bomb
proof. It's certain that scanners are not as well made, and certainly won't
last as long.
Bill Pearce
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