The following Kodachrome slides were made with a high quality camera during the years 1940 and 1950.
Aircraft
October 1942. A new B-25 bomber is brought for a test hop to the flight line at the Kansas City, Kansas, plant of North American Aviation. Alfred Palmer, Office of War Information.
1942. B-25 bomber final assembly line at North American Aviation works, Inglewood, Calif. Alfred Palmer.
P-51 Mustang" fighter in flight near the Inglewood, California, plant of North American Aviation. October 1942. Alfred Palmer
October 1942. Another B-25 bomber rolls off the final assembly line to join other ships in the outdoor assembly area. North American Aviation Inc. Inglewood, California. Alfred Palmer.
October 1942. North American Aviation B-25 medium bomber 41-12823 over the mountains near Inglewood, California. Mark Sherwood for the Office of War Information.
NC90863 Douglas DC-4 of Santa Fe Skyway, a subsidiary of Sanata Fe Railway. This aircraft was converted to a freezer, transporting deep freezed freight, Santa Monica, CA, 1948. Douglas via Zoggavia Collection.
NC19942 Douglas DC-3 Northeast Airlines after its rebuilt to a civil version DC-3 at Canadair's Cartierville plant in 1946, where refurbishing of hundreds of war-weary C-47s for the airlines took place.
Larry Milberry via Zoggavia Collection.
Aircraft & Human
October 1942. Long Beach, California. Women are trained to do precise and vital engine installation detail in Douglas Aircraft Co. plants. Alfred Palmer for the Office of War Information.
October 1942. Workers installing fixtures and assemblies in the tail section of a Boeing B-17 bomber at the Douglas Aircraft Company plant in Long Beach, California. Alfred Palmer.
October 1942. Installing an engine at the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation plant. Fort Worth, Texas. Howard R. Hollem for the Odffice of War Information.
October 1942. Women are trained as engine mechanics in thorough Douglas training methods. Douglas Aircraft Company, Long Beach, California. Alfred Palmer, Office of War Information.
August 1942. Mechanic Mary Josephine Farley works on a Wright Whirlwind motor in the Corpus Christi, Texas, Naval Air Base assembly and repairs shop. Howard R. Hollem.
Passengers of N18916 Douglas DC-3 of Eastern Air Lines bound for Chicago in 1949. Zoggavia Collection
Other Transportation
March 1943. Santa Fe streamliner Super Chief being serviced at the depot in Albuquerque. Servicing these Diesel streamliners takes five minutes. Jack Delano for the OWI.
December 1942. Locomotives over the ash pit at the roundhouse and coaling station of the Chicago & North Western Railroad yards. Jack Delano, Office of War Information.
Roundhouse at the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad yard, Chicago. December 1942 by Jack Delano.
December 1942. Proviso Yard, Chicago & North Western R.R. A train, or 'cut,' being pushed out of a receiving yard toward the hump. A brakeman rides each train to signal the engineer in the locomotive at the rear. Jack Delano.
May 1943. Nearly exhausted sulfur vat from which railroad cars are loaded. Freeport Sulphur Company at Hoskins Mound, by John Vachon.
January 1943. Indiana Harbor Belt switch engine near Calumet Park stockyards at Calumet City, Ill. Jack Delano.
March 1943. Washing one of the Santa Fe R.R. 5,400-horsepower diesel freight locomotives in the roundhouse at Argentine, Jack Delano.
1949 Mercury Eight convertible coupe." A golden Forty-Niner if there ever was one. Color transparency from the Ford Motor Co. photographic archives.
What are the Benefits of a Large Format Slides?
There are several advantages to shooting with a large format camera, especially when it comes to image quality. The bigger the slide/negative, the sharper the image with less grain and a better tonal range. Additionally, when printed, a large format slide retains an incredible amount of detail. This is because a film print loses quality due to how many times the slide/negative needs to be magnified to achieve a certain size print. For instance, to print a standard 8×10″ photo, a 35 mm slide/negative needs to be magnified eight times, while a 4×5 large format image only needs to be magnified twice.
Therefore, less magnification results in higher quality media output.
A Bit About Large Format Film Photography
Quick size comparison of popular film formats from 35 mm to 4×5
Here, you can see a scaled size comparison for 35 mm, medium format, and large format photography. A large format 4×5 negative is over 2 to 3 times as large as the medium format negatives and over 10 times as large as a 35 mm slide/negative.
The most common size for large format slides and transparencies is 4” x 5”. This format became popular in the 1930s through the 1950s, thanks to various camera models. The film comes in single sheets that have to be loaded into the camera for every picture. Shooting in large format is expensive and time-consuming, so most of these images are captured with much thought and preparation.
Graflex Pacemaker Speed Graphic Large Format Camera
If you’re a fan of history or classic movies, you might recognize the Speed Graphic as the quintessential press camera that every self-respecting, old-timely reporter would sling with a giant flash bulb mounted to the side.
Charlie Chaplin's arrival at Rome witnessed by reporters and their large format cameras in 1953.
Zoggavia Collection.