The Grand Tour 06: Kodachrome Slides from Campania, Venice, and Rome, 1950

 

Continuing his long 1950 voyage back to the USA, my dad took a steamer from Alexandria, Egypt, to Genoa, Italy, with a stopover in Syracusa. He wrote in his diary it was a rough crossing, with many passengers seasick. After disembarking, he took a bus tour along the coast and to Pompeii. The following day, he entrained to Rome. 

 

 Syracuse, Sicily

 

The famous amphitheater was excavated from the limestone in the early Imperial Era (approx. 100 BC).  The superstructure is gone. 

 

Amalfi Coast, Campania

 

The famous Amalfi Coast, at the southern edge of the Sorrentine Peninsula in Campania, is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This view is from the town of Ravello looking south towards Minori and Maiori. The spectacular coast is now horrendously over-touristed.

 

Rome

 

The Arch of Septimius Severus (203 AD), Roman Forum

The Roman Forum - where are all the tourists? (October 27, 1950)

Piazza della Rotondo (Pantheon). The Albergo del Sole is now a boutique hotel.

 

Venice

 

After a few days in Rome, my dad took the train to Venice. He noted that the car was unheated and he had to wear his topcoat in the compartment. Fortunately, Venice was sunny and warmer.

 

View from the top, Piazza San Marco from St Mark's Campanile

Piazza San Marco, November 1 or 2, 1950

Riva degli Schiavoni waterfront

Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal (Nov. 1, 1950). Where are all the tourists?

Venice really is a fantastic destination. The Rialto bridge and the nearby market area is most interesting. I have not been to Venice since 2013 - much too long. By all means, make it a life goal to see the islands, canals, architecture, and the opera - but go off season. Just do it.

Rialto Bridge in 2013 with a few more people (digital file)

  

After a few days in Venice, my dad took the train to Verona and changed to a train heading to Innsbruck via the Brenner Pass. 

My dad took the 1950 photographs on Kodachrome film with his Leica IIIC camera and a 5 cm ƒ/2 Summitar lens. I scanned the slides with a Nikon Coolscan 5000ED film scanner run by NikonScan 4.03 software. On some frames, I corrected color casts with the color correction tool in Photoshop Elements 2024. It is surprisingly effective. 

 Next: central Europe. 

 

The Grand Tour 04: Kodachrome Slides from Thailand and India, 1950

 

On my dad's trip westward, he flew from Hong Kong to Bangkok and then proceeded on to India.

Bangkok, Thailand

 

At the Grand Palace, Bangkok

Unfortunately, I did not see any pictures of the once-famous floating markets. In the last 50+ years, many of the canals were covered and turned into highways. 

Delhi, India

In 1950, India was also in turmoil because the chaotic and terrible 1947 partition between India and Pakistan was only three years in the past. I do not know why my dad chose to fly to Delhi on his grand tour, but he arrived there on October 6 of 1950. Many of his pictures were typical tourist snaps. I will skip the temples and monuments and show street scenes or markets. 

I love the cars in the last scene. A big Chevrolet, a Citroën Traction Avant, some little English cars, and some horses. It is hard to see on this scale, but the Chevrolet has right-hand drive. 

 

 

New Delhi 

 

 

This is the Ritz cinema, possibly near the Kashmere Gate in New Delhi. It took some searching in Google to find the location, but fortunately, people in India post thousands of photographs of everything. 

 

The Old Delhi Railway Station is only a few blocks away. I wish my dad had taken some pictures there of the architecture and of trains. 

 

 

This incredible edifice is the Laxminarayan Mandir, a Hindu temple in New Delhi, India. I thought it must date to the Mohguls, but I was surprised to read that it is modern. It was inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi in 1939. 

Agra

 

Agra is a city on the Yamuna river in Uttar Pradesh. Most tourists go there to see the famous Taj Mahal, a marble mausoleum built by Shah Jahan. My dad took 10s of snapshots there, but here are some of his street scenes, instead.

 

Drum brake repair shop. Note hand-cranked blower

Procession or funeral (?)

 

This ends a short visit to north central India in 1950. In 1958, my dad returned to Delhi with my mom and me in tow, but I do not remember any details. It was another life, another era. 

 

I scanned these Kodachrome slides with a Nikon Coolscan 5000ED film scanner operated by NikonScan V. 4.03, running on WIN 7. I corrected some colors with Photoshop Elements 2014.

 

 Addendum

 

 

My mom and me, somewhere near Darjeeling, north India, April 1958.

 

 

The Leica IIIC Explores Olympia with Ektar 100 Film (Oly 23)

It was time to exercise my 1950 Leica IIIC camera. An overcast morning in May of 2025 provided perfect soft light for Kodak Ektar 100 film. I have found the Ektar to be a bit garish in bright sun, but in overcast, it brings out the colors. Also, my mid-century 50mm Summitar and Jupiter-8 lenses are lower contrast than modern multicoated optics. In gloomy light, the Ektar tends to look blue through the Summitar, so when I scan it, I pull down the blue curve a small amount. 

Gull Harbor Road

I met the gent who owns this funny little electric car. It is a post-1979 Comuta-Car. Sebring, Florida–based Sebring-Vanguard made the original CitiCar from 1974-1977. Commuter Vehicles from California bought the design and manufactured the Comuta-Car from 1979 to 1982. Eight 6-volt lead-acid batteries supply power for the electric motor. The fellow said his purple car does run.

I think Toyota manufactured this little Chevrolet. It did not look too derelict. 

46th Avenue Northeast

Bigfoot is awaiting

This is a nice traditional wood barn. But beyond it is a modern steel building. I like the textures and patina of wood. I might have photographed the elusive Bigfoot.

Shinckle Road Northeast

The little coffee stand at 3525 Shinckle Road has been unused since at least 2022. It was originally on this lot because the street address on the door is correct. The A-frame house has a lot of roof area. This type of design works well in a locations with heavy snowfall, but that does not apply to Olympia.

Lilly Road

Hmmm, I could clean off the mildew and convert this bus into a camper. 

Slightly rough house, Lilly Road

West Bay Drive

Detroit iron in storage shed near Tugboat Annie's Restaurant

Kiddie car at warehouse

Tech Note

I took these photographs on Kodak Ektar 100 film with my Leica IIIC camera and a 5cm ƒ/2.0 Leitz Summitar lens. This is a 7-element coated lens designed before WWII. This lens is a rare one with no haze or scratches in the coating. The camera and lens have been to four five continents and served the family for 75 years. How many other consumer goods can claim such a service life? I measured light with a Sekonic L318 light meter.

Leica IIIC and 5cm Summitar lens in extended position.
The large front glass is known for having a soft coating, but this one is still pristine.

Issue: When I used this Summitar lens on a Leica IIIG camera, the resolution was distinctly better than when mounted on my old IIIC. Also, the right side of each frame is out of focus. It is difficult to see the problem on the scale of internet display. Something is amiss with the lens mount. Some technician a long time ago may have lost some shims, and the mount is not quite correct. But it could take a lot of labor to get it right, so this IIIC will become a glass case display. I have more than enough 35mm cameras to keep me occupied. And I can use the Summitar lens on the more modern Leica M bodies. 

Around Olympia with Kodak T400CN (Abandoned Films 13) (Oly 08)

Introduction

Dear Readers, it happened again. I intended to no longer use expired films because of the risks of blotches or other issues caused by old age and improper storage. But a few months ago, an eBay seller included a complimentary roll of Kodak T400CN film in an order. I loaded it in my Leica IIIC camera and tried it around town. 

T400CN was a 1990s C-41 black and white film. It could be processed in common C-41 chemistry almost anywhere on earth (such as by any 1-hour processing kiosk) and yield black and white prints. I used it a few times in the past. When fresh, it was very fine grain and high resolution for a 400 speed film. Other companies also marketed C-41 black and white films, but today, only Ilford XP2 Super is left. 

Kodak discontinued T400CN in 2004. The Professional Portra 400BW film was similar (or the same?) and was discontinued about the same time. Kodak replaced them with BW400CN, which I have used in my Abandoned Films series. The last few rolls were more grainy than when they were fresh, so possibly the BW400CN changes chemically when old. Of course, other factors, like the brand of C-41 chemistry, may affect the appearance of the film. Has this T400CN aged more gracefully? 

Because of the age, I decided to expose it at EI=120 rather than the original specified 400. I took the film to Photoland at The Evergreen State College. They called me after 3 hours to report that it was ready! I scanned it on my Nikon Coolscan 5000 scanner. The advantage of a C-41 film, either color or B&W, is that the infrared ICE function can identify scratches and correct them. It is a convenience because you do not need to touch up as many flaws on the film with a heal tool. Unfortunately, this does not work for traditional black and white film. 

This was also a test of my Leica IIIC camera and its 5cm ƒ/2 Summitar lens. In the past, the IIIC suffered from a zone that was out of focus on the far right. I suspected that the film was buckling or not lying straight in the rails. I added another nylon washer on the post that pushes the film canister up into the body. The reloadable Leitz film canisters, which were common in the 1940s, may be marginally taller than modern commercial 35mm film canisters. Even if the film lay perfectly flat (which never happens in any 35mm camera), the Summitar has field curvature, so the best focus curves towards you at the sides of the frame. 

Yes, I know, this experiment had too many variables. There were too many degrees of freedom to be able to isolate contributing factors. But you readers can decide if it all worked out. Here are some random scenes around Olympia, Washington. Click any photo to see it at 1600 pixels wide.

Olympia

Impending storm, East Bay, March 2, 2024. The Capitol is in the distance. 

Farmers Market, Olympia, March 2, 2024

Where did all the hail come from? Olympia certainly has interesting weather. What happened to spring?

Unused tracks off Olympia Avenue in the drizzle - where did spring go?

Former Golden Gavel Motor Inn, mid-century architecture at its finest. The unit is being renovated. (5cm Summitar with light yellow filter.)

Traditional wooden houses, view from Legion Way (with medium yellow filter)

Gas meters, Olympia Avenue

Gas meters scanned in full color RGB

I scanned most of this roll using 16-bit grey scale. But my Nikon Coolscan 5000 occasionally shifts to the default setting of full-color RGB (meaning 3×16-bit). I like the effect. It resembles selenium or one of the red toners. I may use this more with this T400CN film, but it would only be effective for certain subjects (artsy-fartsy stuff). 

This is a crop of the scanned file. It shows how much detail this film can capture. And this is from a lens designed before World War II! Note how this film does not have grain in the same way as a traditional black and white film. This, and all C-41 films, have dye clouds, instead.  

Door at 215 Thurston Avenue

Emerging from the 7th Avenue tunnel

Nature

How does this film work with nature topics?

Spurgeon Creek from the Chehalis Western bicycle trail south of Olympia

Olympia Avenue tree (with light yellow filter)

Industry

Foss Waterway, Tacoma

Tacoma is full of interesting topics. I will be returning!

Summary

T400CN film: I am pleased. This long-expired film was fine-grained and recorded a large exposure range. It does not look like traditional black and white film, and it may be less contrasty than Fuji Acros. But T400CN is more convenient to get processed if you have access to a photo lab nearby. Next time, I will expose at EI=100, so two stops more than the original 400. 

The Nikon Coolscan 5000 film scanner: It is higher resolution than my Plustek 7600i. And the Coolscan has a higher dynamic range, meaning it extracts more data from the film. Also, the Coolscan does a focus adjustment with each frame. But the Nikon Scan software is clunky in a 1990s manner and needs a computer running WIN XP or 7. I will test Silverfast 9 on my Mac for future use, or may try a Windows emulator and load the NikonScan on my Mac. The native Mac versions of NikonScan will not run on the Intel chips. 

My 1950 Leica IIIC:  The extra washer on the bottom post may have solved the problem of the buckling or curved film. It is nice to keep this old family friend in operation. The 5cm Summitar is an impressive lens, especially considering that it was designed in the 1930s.