Amazing Warship Photos

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

I saw this link on ModelBoatMayhem.

Some extraordinary photos of old and more recent warships – you could almost be there!

**LINK**

Colin

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Hi Colin Those pictures are some of the best I have seen, considering much of the early material was taken with plate cameras. As you say it's almost 3D , in some respects better than what we can do today with DSLRs .Thanks for posting

Dave Wooley

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Yes, the photography is certainly on a par with anything today, even more creditable when you consider the exposure times and that several of the subjects were moving. It would be interesting to have more technical information about the exposures. You do have to wonder just how they achieved that sort of quality back at the turn of the last century even allowing for the fact that the images have been cleaned up using modern techniques.

Colin

[Kev.WParticipant @kev-w]

Posted by David Wooley on 25/11/2014 22:38:15:

Hi Colin Those pictures are some of the best I have seen, considering much of the early material was taken with plate cameras.

Dave Wooley

Not really, the first pic states it was taken in 1920, & if around the same time, the others being German, you have to remember that the first Leicas were built in Germany in 1913, so I would think that any photos taken by the German navy after 1913-14 would have been taken using a Leica, as the Germans would want to show off their superior engineering skills to the rest of the world. Leica is still held by the 35mm film photography world to be the best in the field.

Edited By Kip Woods on 26/11/2014 17:39:39

Edited By Kip Woods on 26/11/2014 17:40:26

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

According to the captions the first photo was taken in the 1890s and there are three taken just after the turn of the Century plus HMS Monarch in 1911 all of which pre date the Leicas.

Colin

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Hello Kip . Pictures of that quality where probably taken with a large format camera to provide good depth of field . The US Navy where using large format 4×5 and larger for their dock yard shots right through to the 1950s I'm not sure as to the time period when the Leica camera using a 35mm format was first introduced but as you say it was before WW1. Whether these first 35mm where as good as the large format cameras of the day such as the well established Graflex is a mute point . Around the turn of the 19th century and into the beginning of the 20th plate or large format cameras where the best available for quality photography . I must confess I longed for a Leica camera in the pre digital age as they where always considered along with Hasselblad and another German camera icon the Rolleiflex to be the best available ,

Thanks for taking interest

Dave Wooley

[Kev.WParticipant @kev-w]

Colin, if you look directly above the first photo, it distinctly states :-

"Imperial Japanese Navy armoured cruiser Asama, Wellington, New Zealand, 1920s."

Sorry if I'm wrong, but I took this to be the date it was taken.

Others also have captions with later dates :-

Courbet-class French battleship Jean Bart, early 1925.

.. is another example.

 

Edited By Kip Woods on 26/11/2014 21:48:50

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Kip,

Yes, some were later. but some are clearly dated as I stated, assuming the captions to be correct. When I mentioned first photo I meant chronologically.

Look at the captions for Monarch, Orel. Bremen, Dupuy de Lome, Russian Port Arthur Fleet. All were prior to 1914.

Colin

[Author]

Posts