johnbailey Posted June 24, 2006 Share #1 Posted June 24, 2006 Advertisement (gone after registration) Did anyone catch Channel 4 news last night? There was a report on the retirement of the RAF's Canberra's after 60 years of service. These planes have been operating as photo reconnaissance aircraft. I mention this because there was a shot of Central London - Canary Wharf taken from the plane. I still can't quite believe the quality of the photograph considering the planes altitude and position. The link is currently : http://www.channel4.com/news/special-reports/special-reports-storypage.jsp?id=2636 The link seems a bit intermittent but there is also a link on the home page (towards the bottom right) at the moment: http://www.channel4.com/news/index.html Not strictly Leica - but well worth a look and perhaps they used a Leitz lens? John. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted June 24, 2006 Posted June 24, 2006 Hi johnbailey, Take a look here RAF Photo Reconnaissance. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
MrEd Posted June 24, 2006 Share #2 Posted June 24, 2006 Large format is the answer. Ed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
elansprint72 Posted June 25, 2006 Share #3 Posted June 25, 2006 Thanks for that link, I missed the news. Judging by the number of aerial camera systems which have been on the market in the last couple of years it looks like digital resolution has won that battle already! Cheers, Pete. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gberger Posted June 25, 2006 Share #4 Posted June 25, 2006 The Canberra was an excellent high-altitude bird for its day. The USAF bought a squadron of them, extended the wing length and used them for photo recce until the U2 became operational. (RB57D) Later, small external jet engines were added to increase the altitude, and the RB57 became a "Weather" recce bird, used for high altitude "sniffing" missions to detect nuclear explosions as well as for unusual weather recce. Long since retired to the Tucson boneyard. George (The Old Fud) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lambroving Posted June 26, 2006 Share #5 Posted June 26, 2006 http://gelegenheiten.photodose.de/popup_image.php?iID=9185780 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhsimmonds Posted June 26, 2006 Share #6 Posted June 26, 2006 The Canberra was a great aircraft for it's day, incrediby reliable and all who flew her commented on her nice manners and sleak profile.....all in all a lovely lady! The Canadian built Leitz lens is almost a certainty I would say for this lady's photography. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyj Posted June 26, 2006 Share #7 Posted June 26, 2006 Advertisement (gone after registration) I remember the Canberra also. She had some missions that will never see the light of day. I was on Shemya when I met her. It would be fun to see if there is anyone out there who also knows what that was about. I bought my first Leica while on Shemya. The shots taken were all for the command. There are a lot of unsung heros in this world, and the pilots for those missions were some of them. That brought back some memories! Thanks for the post John! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pilot Posted June 27, 2006 Share #8 Posted June 27, 2006 Can't get Channel 4 here unfortunately. Many years ago when I lived in the UK I used to work with a Canberra pilot. He was in the reserve and had to go off every year for some flying. I could never get him to talk about it though. Bryan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lll Posted June 27, 2006 Share #9 Posted June 27, 2006 William, the lens you posted is from a 16mm movie "Zielkamera", not for high resolution reconnaisance. Maurer, New York, built one of the smallest rec. cameras, the KE 28B. 6x6cm on 70mm film with mechanical pneumatic vacuum pressure plate and, most important, a Leitz Canada 6in/f2.8 lens. Superb lens and one of the very rare lenses built by Leitz / Leica for a format bigger than 35mm. Actually I don´t know any other, not counting the projection lenses for epidiascopes and medium format Prados. The camera was used by US Forces since the war in Korea and especially in helicopters during the Vietnam war. Kodak developed its "Wrong colour" IR Ektachrome High Speed Film for this camera too in order to have a tool to divide camouflage from natural green. If You want to have a look on one of the last working examples, complete with filters, grips and original transportation box join us at our Forum meeting at Gotha / Thuringia from 18th to 20th of August :-) Ronald will show you the way... Greetings Friedhelm Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest user8952 Posted June 27, 2006 Share #10 Posted June 27, 2006 the pictures in Dresden were probably made with Leitz lenses..... I'm sorry, but my fascination for WMDs is limited, no matter who uses them.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wda Posted June 27, 2006 Share #11 Posted June 27, 2006 The venerable Canberra started life as a private venture project without any Government funding. Eventually it was realized what a marvellous aircraft it was with so much potential. There cannot be many warplanes with such a long continuous service life as that of the Canberra. David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ed_oneal Posted June 27, 2006 Share #12 Posted June 27, 2006 There cannot be many warplanes with such a long continuous service life as that of the Canberra. David How about the Douglas DC-3. There are some of them still flying. Ed Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wda Posted June 28, 2006 Share #13 Posted June 28, 2006 How about the Douglas DC-3. There are some of them still flying. Ed Is the DC-3 still flying as a 'war plane'? David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gberger Posted June 29, 2006 Share #14 Posted June 29, 2006 The Canberra begin as a medium bomber. It morphed into a highly reliable reconaissance aircraft in its time. The USAF B-52 came into being in 1952 (B-52A) and went out of production in around 1963 (B-52H), and they are still with us, with our Grandsons and Granddaughters making up the Combat Crews on these birds. The B-52 - - known among its pilots as the "BUFF," is still flying, and willl be in the USAF inventory for quite a few more years. It has been modified, remodifided, remodified, and remodified since then. It's still an "interesting aircraft" to fly. Refueling the B-52 in flight, along with today's fighters and bombers, the KC-135 entered service in 1955 to replace the prop-driven KC-97s. They refueled my B-47, many times, enroute to interesting parts of the world, or on Unit Simulated Combat Missions, where we flew profiles of the equivalent of how far and how where we would have to fly if launched after a Soviet Union Attack on the US. The Canberra may now be in the "boneyard," along with my ancient B47, but a few oldies are still arund. George (Who flew the T6, P51, F80, B25, B29, B50, B47, B52, T33 - - and a big mahogany desk in the Pentagon (yuck). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkCambridgeshire Posted June 29, 2006 Share #15 Posted June 29, 2006 Talking about photo reconnaissance ... I have Pacific Optical 18inch f4 lens which I hope to adapt to medium format Pentax 67 body ... the lens was used for Desert Storm reconnaissance missions ... but I believe that film reconnaissance is now almost obsolete now .. it has all gone digital . The lens is very heavy (18" f4 is 457mm f4)... will be a case of mounting the camera onto the lens rather than vice versa. Dunk Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Cole Posted November 2, 2018 Share #16 Posted November 2, 2018 Can anyone viewing this thread let me know anything about a Kodak Aero Ektar 178mm f2.5 lens I've just found among a deceased relative's belongings. The important thing about this weighty object is that it has a mount which fits Leica LTM - I've just attached my Leica II to it!.. However, it has no obvious helicoid focussing unit, though the lens itself itself is in really good condition. What might it have been used for, I wonder?................someone help me out ,please. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wizard Posted November 2, 2018 Share #17 Posted November 2, 2018 (edited) While I have never heard about this lens, it would appear that it is fix-focused to infinity, hence no helicoil. I recall having read that before in connection with other aerial lenses. Makes sense to me, as this eliminates the possibility of inadvertently defocusing the lens, and also enables the manufacturer to set each lens precisely to the infinity position, thus ensuring best results. Cheers, Andy Edited November 2, 2018 by wizard Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pico Posted November 2, 2018 Share #18 Posted November 2, 2018 (edited) 49 minutes ago, Tony Cole said: Can anyone viewing this thread let me know anything about a Kodak Aero Ektar 178mm f2.5 lens I've just found among a deceased relative's belongings. The important thing about this weighty object is that it has a mount which fits Leica LTM - I've just attached my Leica II to it!.. However, it has no obvious helicoid focussing unit, though the lens itself itself is in really good condition. What might it have been used for, I wonder?................someone help me out ,please. The lens was likely coupled with a Leica bellows plus extension tube on a visoflex. I have one such lens beside the bench. It is quite interesting for other than Infinity focus. Edited November 2, 2018 by pico Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gyoung Posted November 2, 2018 Share #19 Posted November 2, 2018 There were quite a lot of Aero Ektars around in the 1960s when I first got into photography, usually mounted on 5x4 cameras. Gerry Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pgk Posted November 2, 2018 Share #20 Posted November 2, 2018 Try posting the question here: http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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