The dreary weather we’ve been getting these past few weeks has been preventing us from doing any restoration on some of the outstanding projects on our plates. Not to be deterred, I pulled out something I bought last fall, a vintage Mole Richardson Fresnel light during one of the rare clear days last week.

For those who don’t know about Mole Richardson, they are an American  lighting company that started in 1927. Mole’s claim to fame is their innovation for using the Fresnel lens from lighthouses and adapting them into smaller portable lights.

During the war, Mole used this technology on boats and tanks. From the 50’s through to the 80’s, Mole Richardson lights were a the main staple for many types of films such as Star Wars.

I bought my light off eBay which is a great place to start if you’re looking for one. This one is probably from the 50’s. It’s the size of half a garbage can and extremely heavy.

It’s in decent shape and has its share of dings and dents. It makes me wonder what films is was formerly used for. I’m planning to pair this up with the desk I bought last summer. I’m undecided about how to restore it as the paint is not the original Mole Richardson red.

As for making it work, the light itself draws over 2K in power which creates some extremely bright light and insane heat. I’ll probably be converting it by stuffing it with LED’s and 110v power. I’ll do another update post later this summer on this project.

Tune Tuesday will now become a bi-weekly feature on our blog starting with this song, Skywriter, played by the Band of the Irish Guards. I don’t know when this recording was made but it appears to date back to the 40s or 50s. The group was formed in the 1900s by Queen Victoria. According to Wikipedia:

“The Irish Guards (IG), part of the Guards Division, is a Foot Guards regiment of the British Army. Along with the Royal Irish Regiment, it is one of only two purely Irish regiments remaining in the British Army. The Irish Guards recruit in Northern Ireland, the Irish neighborhoods of major British cities, and in the Republic of Ireland (which permits its citizens to enlist in the British or any other forces, but forbids active recruiting.)”

If this song doesn’t get you marching, I don’t know what will. Enjoy!

Lately, we’ve been playing a lot of American Jazz and Big Band. I thought we’d change it up today and put on this old opera record from Russia.

I love the typography on this Soviet Union made label. Unfortunately, I can’t read Russian so I wasn’t able to find much online about it. In any case enjoy!

What is the Museum of Vancouver? The Museum of Vancouver creates Vancouver-focused exhibitions and programs which encourage dynamic conversations about what was, is and can be Vancouver – basically it’s an awesome walk down memory lane with realistic displays of what life was like during different decades over the past 100 years.

This is one of those great places to visit on a rainy day. It really feels like you’re walking down the streets of old-school Vancouver and a great history/education lesson.

One of my favorite parts of the exhibit was looking at the old swimsuits from way back when. Can you imagine swimming in itchy wool outfits? It’s also really great to see the back story behind certain buildings/areas of the city. Who knew that converted loft I walk by every day used to be a sugar refinery or a shipping depot?

Off topic – the Olympics are coming, the Olympics are coming! The city is currently in countdown mode for the start of the Winter 2010 Vancouver Olympics and the buzz is really getting crazy. People are concerned about what it’s going to be like getting to work downtown (myself included) and just going about their daily activities during those two weeks.

Has anyone been a host city for the Olympic games? What was it like?

What better way to wake up to a Christmas morning then to listen to a tune from our 78 collection?

I’ve pulled out from the record stack a 1950s Christmas album by Peter Pan Records.  We wish all our readers a safe and happy holiday, enjoy!

It’s nearing the end of December and while the weather conditions certainly aren’t ideal for riding a bike, I can’t help but to think of what bicycle I should get to ride along with Naomi in the Spring.  I recently bought her a 1960s Dutch Bike. Wanting a matching one, I spent weeks searching but couldn’t find anything within my budget. Dutch bikes from Batavus and Jorg & Olif usually run between $700-$1500. Researching some more, I stumbled across a phenomenal blog by Jeff Stracco, an American Expat, who writes about bicycles in China.

Jeff’s blog documents the wonderful details of traditional bicycles in China. His bicycle in these photographs, The Flying Pigeon, is the most influential bicycle ever made. Designed in the 1950’s in the city of Tianjin, the PA-06 and PA 02 were designed to help transport billions of people across China under the Mao regime. Flying Pigeons have even been given as national gifts from the Chinese government to notables such as American President Bush, Cuban President Fidel Castro and Italian Prime Minister Prodi.

On Ebay, prices for imported Flying Pigeons are $200-$300 dollars. If you’re lucky enough to be living in Los Angeles, you can check them out at Flying Pigeon LA.

The Flying Pigeon Project
Jeff Stracco
http://www.flyingpigeonproject.org/

Flying Pigeon LA
3714 N. Figueroa St.
Los Angeles, CA 90042
213-909-8986
http://flyingpigeon-la.com/

*Photographs by Jeff Stracco

I came across a pair of interesting opera glasses on ebay that I thought Naomi might like. I bought it for $9.99 along with an old Russian camera lens that was shipped all the way from Belarus.

The binoculars look like they could be from the 50’s and the only markings on them are “ROW Rathenow Theastar Opera Glasses”. There isn’t much information online about the glasses except that they are made by Busch Rathenow in Rathenow, Germany. They were a company which was renowned for making tank binoculars during WWII. These glasses, however, are on the opposite end of the spectrum. It makes me wonder what operas or theatrical plays these might have seen and who they belonged too.

A few weeks ago I picked up an interesting vintage camera lens designed by the Ichizuka Optical Company. This lens, the Telinar 105mm F/4.5, originates from Japan, dating back to the mid 50’s & 60’s. Very little is known about this lens and its manufacturer. The only information I could find online was on the Camerapedia website. Drawn by its aluminum build, quirky shape, m42 mount and $20 price tag I was curious to see what sort of images it could produce.

The lens arrived through the mail in average shape. All the aluminum had tarnished to a dull flat silver and the inner lens element was coated with a film of fungus/haze.  After fully restoring my first camera lens, the Jupiter 11 135mm F/4, I thought I’d give this lens a try. To start, I had to figure out how to pull out the rear element to see if I could clean the haze. I purchased a compass from Home Depot to use as a spanner wrench but soon realized this was a mistake. Using a compass as a spanner wrench is a terrible idea as it warps with pressure when you unscrew any part of the lens. I bit the bullet and purchased proper spanner wrenches off eBay for $45 which were much more efficient at taking apart the lens.

Dismantling the lens was fairly easy. I managed to get to the hazy glass within 20 minutes. Luckily the haze wiped off easily, so I put everything back together and polished the aluminum with Autosol. After re-greasing the focusing helix with white lithium grease it was good as new! So how did it perform?

Mounted on a Canon 5D, the Telniar 105mm is surprisingly sharp. At F/4.5 images in the center are very sharp, but soft around the edges with low contrast. Ironically enough, these are exactly the sort of qualities I like in a vintage lens. If you see one of these lenses, don’t hesitate to pick one up!