Posts: 123 From: Next to LEM, Descartes Highlands, Moon Registered: Jan 2017
posted 03-18-2018 05:00 AM
I dedicated yesterday to several things, including scanning 52 slides that were used to photograph a TV screen displaying Apollo 15.
I made a 4K slideshow which can be viewed here:
I made no attempt to put everything into chronological order, instead I did it by order of scenes.
The Apollo 15 slides, among several other missions, can be found here. I have scanned them at 4000 DPI so their resolution is stunning, you can see individual dots on the TV screen when you zoom in. Resolution is about 5476 by 3711.
The Apollo 15 slides I scanned yesterday marks the first big collection. Soon I will scan an Apollo 11 collection that I hope to win on eBay, I will do the same as I did with the Apollo 15 slides.
Headshot Member
Posts: 864 From: Vancouver, WA, USA Registered: Feb 2012
posted 03-19-2018 06:31 PM
Nice presentation!
I am glad to know that I wasn't the only one sitting in front of a television screen taking pictures off the screen, a technique I honed during the Star Trek TOS run.
I still have my slide collections from Apollos 8, 9, 11, 15, 16 and 17. By all rights, I should just toss them as we can get great DVDs of the various moonwalks, but for some reason I just can't. Just another thing I'll leave to my kids after I am gone.
GACspaceguy Member
Posts: 2474 From: Guyton, GA Registered: Jan 2006
posted 03-19-2018 07:00 PM
I did the same from Apollo 15 through ASTP. All my photos are B&W though.
apollo16uvc Member
Posts: 123 From: Next to LEM, Descartes Highlands, Moon Registered: Jan 2017
posted 03-20-2018 12:12 PM
Thanks for your kind words.
I have send both of you an email regarding the slides. I will gladly scan them for free as long as you pay shipping costs.
apollo16uvc Member
Posts: 123 From: Next to LEM, Descartes Highlands, Moon Registered: Jan 2017
posted 05-10-2018 03:35 PM
quote:Originally posted by Headshot: I still have my slide collections from Apollos 8, 9, 11, 15, 16 and 17.
I received your slides. I am happy to say their condition is excellent, there is little to no fading.
Sorry everything is taking so long, I should have some time this week with a long weekend. I will need to do some more sorting to get everything in the right order, so the timelines will match up.
I have scanned your Kodachrome photos of the Apollo 8 parade, everybody can look at them here.
I also have done a quick scan of some TV slides, the exposure and focus is pretty good in most of them.
Will get back to you once I scanned a bunch. It are several hundred slides like you said, so this is going to take some time. I hope this is not a problem?
randy Member
Posts: 2176 From: West Jordan, Utah USA Registered: Dec 1999
posted 05-10-2018 05:49 PM
Very impressive.
Blackarrow Member
Posts: 3118 From: Belfast, United Kingdom Registered: Feb 2002
posted 05-11-2018 08:49 PM
Ah yes, this takes me back! I took dozens of B&W photos of Apollos 14, 15, 16 and 17 with an old (but efficient) "bellows" camera that used, I think 126 half-plate film which I had to get developed at the local pharmacy. I then made 8" x 6" B&W prints in the school photo lab, and put them in my Apollo scrap-books, where they remain as good as the day they were printed. No fading, even after 45 - 47 years!
In order to get sharp focus, I had a bamboo pole with a padded tip which I pressed against the TV screen. I then lined the end of the pole up with the focal plane of the camera. I usually found that 1/30 second at about f5.6 - f8 did the job nicely. The camera had a leaf-shutter, which didn't produce those diagonal bright swathes you often get on TV photos taken with a camera which had a focal-plane shutter. Oh yes - the B&W film was 400 ASA for the proper exposure. One other thing: it was prudent to take the pictures in a darkened room with the curtains drawn. Light tended to put streaks and reflections on the image. Who wants the family dog superimposed on Charlie Duke operating the lunar drill?
One regret is that I tended to watch the LIVE transmissions without distractions, and then take the pictures during the news and recorded highlights. That meant I photographed all the "best bits" but very few of my pictures contain the magic words: "Live TV From the Moon."
apollo16uvc Member
Posts: 123 From: Next to LEM, Descartes Highlands, Moon Registered: Jan 2017
posted 01-27-2019 05:38 PM
A slideshow of scans from 35mm slides used to photograph a TV screen. Slides borrowed from a collectSPACE member Bill to preserve them for future generations.
Hopefully this will bring some people back to the glory days of the USA space program, and perhaps television. Source scans are 5K.
There are several hundreds more slide in this collection, covering Apollo 8 through 17. Currently scanning through Apollo 10. Also found within the playlist is a slideshow of Apollo 15 TV broadcast slides.
Some can be found here under the 'Collectspace-2' designator. More scans and videos will be uploaded. Enjoy.
apollo16uvc Member
Posts: 123 From: Next to LEM, Descartes Highlands, Moon Registered: Jan 2017
posted 02-01-2019 07:26 AM
Great news!
A company that makes documentaries based on archival footage has asked if they can use some of my scans for an Apollo docu. I Will be giving them permission.
It should air sometime in the summer. They have produced Apollo docs before.
apollo16uvc Member
Posts: 123 From: Next to LEM, Descartes Highlands, Moon Registered: Jan 2017
posted 06-15-2019 07:52 AM
I have uploaded Bill's photos of Apollo 8 and 9. Apollo 10 and 11 are still incomplete.
I am working hard on crunching out the further Apollo 11 EVA, more live photos inside the CM and the recovery photos before the 50th anniversary. Then I will be completing Apollo 10, 15 16 and 17.
It might be interesting to put the NASA EVA video and Bill's photos next to each other with audio. Shouldn't be too hard to sync?
Photography copyright Bill. Scanning work Niels.
ea757grrl Member
Posts: 729 From: South Carolina Registered: Jul 2006
posted 06-15-2019 01:30 PM
Thank you to all involved for making these slides available. I just spent a few moments looking through them and they're really something to see.
One note of interest: the slide that's a really good color close-up of an Apollo lunar helmet, with reflections in the visor, is from the opening titles for CBS News coverage of Apollo 11. (I tried to leave a comment on the Flickr page for that photo, but Flickr doesn't want to let me sign in.)
The slide in the album is reversed, by the way - the CBS footage has the reflected Earth and the astronaut's antenna on the opposite sides from what's seen here.
apollo16uvc Member
Posts: 123 From: Next to LEM, Descartes Highlands, Moon Registered: Jan 2017
posted 06-22-2019 08:18 AM
I have uploaded all of Bill's slides in the Apollo 11 collection. See Flickr archive above. Unfortunately there are some missing slides here and there.
apollo16uvc Member
Posts: 123 From: Next to LEM, Descartes Highlands, Moon Registered: Jan 2017
posted 07-20-2019 02:50 PM
Experience how Bill saw Apollo 11 at his grandparents:
apollo16uvc Member
Posts: 123 From: Next to LEM, Descartes Highlands, Moon Registered: Jan 2017
posted 09-13-2019 03:34 PM
quote:Originally posted by ea757grrl: I just spent a few moments looking through them and they're really something to see.
Thank you.
quote:The slide in the album is reversed, by the way...
Are you sure? I checked, and I am sure I mounted the slide in the scanner correctly, the same as with the other slides. I did not apply any orientation correction, the provided file has the same orientation as the actual slide.
ea757grrl Member
Posts: 729 From: South Carolina Registered: Jul 2006
posted 09-13-2019 05:20 PM
quote:Originally posted by apollo16uvc: Are you sure?
You can see the relevant part from the original CBS Apollo 11 title sequence at 8:49 in this link, and compare.
As an aside, please don't think I am assigning you any blame at all for this. What I imagine happened was that the original transparency was mounted backward when it was put in the frame. Since the CBS Apollo 11 title sequence has been so seldom seen, that sort of reversal isn't something that would easily be picked up on. I just happened to recognize it because I've had it for years and am especially fond of it. Again, by no means was what I wrote intended to blame anybody for anything. It's one of those things that can happen in photography.
posted 03-18-2018 05:00 AM
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