Tukukkk

I found a box of old camera stuff in my in-law's house while helping them move and it got me thinking, "what equipment did film photographers obsess over back in the day?"

For example, with modern day digital photography, the sensor seems to be the most expensive and most sensitive part of the camera body. Keeping it clean and safe is critical to good photos. There are countless articles and how-to's online for cleaning, maintaining and preventing damage to the sensor. However, with a film camera, the imaging surface is not a majorly expensive part of the system. Scratching the film would ruin your photo but it wouldn't ruin your camera body.

So what do you think, what equipment and maintenance questions do you think would fill up the forums back in the day?

Oh, goodness — everything. Film, camera, lenses, lighting, style, fashions and trends, whether or not photography is art, everything we see today. But the "forums" were... more literal forums — people getting together in person to discuss in photography and camera clubs. And, instead of the blogosphere of today, so many periodicals. To get a taste, do a Google Books search for "photography" in the 19th century. This will return some scanned and digitized annual collections of these journals. Of course, you can also choose later dates, but I think it's interesting to go back... basically to the beginning. Browse through though those, and you will see that the more things change, the more they stay the same!

For a quick sample, here's the index o The American Annual of Photography, 1887:

• 
  Abnormal Chloride of Silver. Dr. Julius Schnauss 203


• 
  A Cry for Simplicity. W. H. Potter 134


• 
  Alum in the Hypo Bath. G. Cramer 247


• 
  "Amateurs," "Professionals," or "Photographers." Roberts. Redfield 188


• 
  Argentometer for Controlling Silver Baths. Dr. E. A. Just 115


• 
  A Talk to Beginners. Chas. Ehrmann 198


• 
  Blisters in Albumen Prints, The Origin of. W. H. Sherman 56


• 
  Bromide Paper, About. Robert Barr (Luke Sharp) 79


• 
  Camera and a New Tripod-head, A Home-made Tourist. Rev. W. H. Burbank 137


• 
  Carbonate of Soda Development for Platinotypes. Joseph B. Brown, U. S. A 110


• 
  Collodion Emulsion. C. E. von Sothen 213


• 
  Colored Screens in Out-door Photography. E. Bierstadt 72


• 
  Composition in Landscape Photography. W. H. Walmsley 150


• 
  Carrying-box, A Convenient. Charles E. Willard 133


• 
  Copying and Enlarging Closet, A. W. H. Gardner 204


• 
  Dark-rooms. Ellerslie Wallace 71


• 
  Dark-rooms for Photographic Clubs. F. C. Beach 97


• 
  Detective Camera for Newspaper Photography, The. Henry L. Tolman 192


• 
  Detective Cameras. W. J. Stillman 87


• 
  "Detective" for Artists, The. J. Wells Champney 226


• 
  Developer, A Convenient, for Travelers. A. S. Murray 157


• 
  Developer, A New. A Russian Amateur 280


• 
  Developer, A New. John E. Dumont 192


• 
  Does it Pay? G. L. Hurd 231


• 
  Durable Sensitized Albumen Paper. Karl Schwier 215


• 
  Drying Negatives Quickly. F.A.Jackson 210


• 
  Enlarging and Reducing with Ordinary Camera. Frank La Manna... 162


• 
  "Equivalent Focus," The, Not a Constant. Ernst Gundlach 145


• 
  Figure, Landscape, and Combination Printing. H. P. Robinson 81


• 
  Focal Adjustment in Detective Cameras. Clarence E. Woodman, Ph.D , 52


• 
  Focusing. W. H. Bartholomew 152


• 
  Frills and Blisters. G. Watmough S. Webster, F. C. S 224


• 
  Genre Photography. John Bartlett 100


• 
  Heliogravure and Galvanography. Ottomar Volkmer, Lt.-Col 179


• 
  High or Low Art. W. I. Lincoln Adams 217


• 
  Hypo in the Developer. G. M. Searle 73


• 
  Ink Transfer, A Method of. P. C. Duchochois 74


• 
  Iodide of Silver in Gelatino-bromide of Silver Emulsion. Victor Schumann 160


• 
  "It's no Jist Ready Yet." T.N.Armstrong 70


• 
  Japanese Paper for Photographers. W. K. Burton 112


• 
  Lantern Slides and Transparencies. Geo. L. Sinclair, M. D 185


• 
  Large Telescopes for Celestial Photography. Rudolph Spitaler 76


• 
  Magnesium Light Experiments. George Mason 142


• 
  Marine Shots. A. A. Adee 82


• 
  Memoranda from My Reading and Practice. H. Edwards-Ficken 228


• 
  Mixing an Emulsion with Ammonia. Samuel Wadsworth 125


• 
  Mounting Silver Prints in Optical Contact with Glass, and Ornamental Borders. W. M. Ashman 68


• 
  Musings by the Way. H. McMichael 144


• 
  My Dark-room Window. George E. Francis, M. D 155 "My" Developer. C.C. Vevers 108


• 
  Objectives for Photo-micrography. Andrew Pringle 90


• 
  Observations. E M. Estabrooke 306


• 
  Odds and Ends. W. Jerome Harrison 167


• 
  Old Friend, Keep Young. J.F.Ryder 234


• 
  On the Character of Optical Glass. Dr. Adolph Steinheil 164


• 
  Optical Sensitizers, On the So-called. C. Schiendl 345


• 
  Orthochromatic Photography of Paintings. W. J. Baker 132


• 
  Orthochromatic Plates, Experiments with. Ed. L. Boissonnas 66


• 
  Over-Exposure and the Means to Correct It. John Carbutt 258


• 
  Photo-copper-plate Printing and Steel-facing of Etched Copper-plates. E. Obernetter 122


• 
  Photographic Chips. J. R. Swain 195


• 
  Photographing in Japan. W. H. Metcalf 195


• 
  Photographing in the Arctic. Herbert L. Aldrich 118


• 
  Photographing Machinery. F. R. C. Perrin 158


• 
  Photography by Lamplight. Robt. E. M. Bain 197


• 
  Photography in the Navy. Saml. W. Very, Lieut.-Comdr., U. S. Navy 221


• 
  Photography of Solar Eclipses, On the. Wm. Harkness 250


• 
  Photo-micrographs, A Simple Arrangement for the Production of. Maurice N. Miller, M. D 240


• 
  Portraits in Imitation of Old Paintings. Karl Klauser 93


• 
  Practical Hints on Obernetter's Method of Copying Negatives. F.Mueller 153


• 
  Preparation of Photographic Gun-cotton, On the. Dr. Jos. M. Eder. 55


• 
  Printing, Suggestions on. Walter S. Goodnough 235


• 
  Reproducing Architectural Drawings. J. Albert Cole 168


• 
  Results. Abraham Bogardus. 107


• 
  Retouching Gelatine Negatives with Red Chalk and Black Crayon. Anton Baumgartner 238


• 
  Review of the Year. The Editor 49


• 
  Reversing the Print. Henry M. Parkhurst 136


• 
  Silver Printing.—An Amateur's Experience. W. J. Hickmott 130


• 
  Silver Printing, An Amateur's Routine of. Ottomar Jarecki 171


• 
  Shutter, A Simple Time and Instantaneous. Hermann Lemp 211


• 
  Some Thoughts of an Amateur. N. W. Starbird, Jr 104


• 
  Stereopticon Outfit, A Home-made. A. H. Oakes 61


• 
  Stereoscooic Pictures. Chas. Wager Hull 141


• 
  Tannin Plates for Lantern Slides. J. H. Harvey 126


• 
  Temporary Binding for Photographic Journals. Jos. S. Rich 202


• 
  Theatre Photography by Electric Light. Ernest Edwards 218


• 
  The Elimination of Heat from Condensed Light. O. G. Mason 189


• 
  The Lightning Photographer: A Sketch of the Future. J. Gaedike.. 94


• 
  The Undeveloped Side of Photography. Wendell Stanton Howard.. 249


• 
  Why Study Art? Edward L. Wilson 117

I do kind of have to question your premise, though. I don't think sensors are an overriding obsession — on this site, we get at least as much worry about lenses and other gear too. Just like the above.

Simple. Film shooter obsessed over...wait for it...film.

How different emulsions captured the same scene, which could be push or pulled, which reacted well to stand development and how each reacted to a different developer. Darkroom techniques. These types of questions are still a hot topic on film discussion sites.

With film, the camera is quite literally just a tool to get the light to the medium. A lot of work takes place after that capture. The same can't really be said about digital because you do marry a sensor and it's behind the scenes technology.