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How researchers are saving architectural slide collections
| Photo courtesy of UC Riverside |
In a push to preserve the past, the Society of Architectural Historians’ (SAH) Color Film Emergency Project (CFEP) is working to save 35mm color slide collections of architecture from around the world. The project began in 2016 after the realization that collections totaling more than 1.2 million slides that were amassed by 20th-century scholars, preservationists, design practitioners and photographers are at risk of loss and destruction. The project is now being led by the University of California Riverside. With the help of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Collections and Reference Resources, the CFEP has been expanded, providing more resources to save these historic slide collections.
Sonja Sekely-Rowland, principal investigator, project director and visual resources curator at UCR’s Department of the History of Art, is co-leading the project with Jackie Spafford, formerly UCSB, Maureen Burns, formerly UCI and Ben Thomas, the executive director of the SAH. Eight universities across the United States are also participating. The new grant provides critical funding through 2027, allowing visual resources professionals, archivists, librarians and faculty members to process the massive collections.
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The project’s principal investigator, Sonja Sekely-Rowland, sits next to a collectino of slides.
Photo courtesy of UC Riverside |
Saving these collections is quite an incredible undertaking, given how large each individual collection can be. “Often, these collections total 30,000 or more slides – and can run as high as 150,000 slides,” says Sekely-Rowland. As a result, they are being somewhat selective in what gets digitized. “When partnering with living SAH donor-contributors, we ask the donor to identify high-value subsets of materials based on a) what is unique in their collection, and b) images they feel will substantially improve the visual record of a particular place.,” she explained. “When working with an estate collection, the project directors and/or consortium partners will work with fellows to make selections based, in part, on formal qualities, physical condition, unique content, and subject area expertise.”
“Often, these collections total 30,000 or more slides – and can run as high as 150,000 slides,” says Sekely-Rowland.
Of course, digitizing historic work involves far more than simply scanning in slides. Sekely-Rowland explained that time management and resource management are two of the most significant challenges. “There is an incredible amount of time invested in researching the subject content of each image to produce accurate, granular, and highly structured embedded metadata so that the digitized images can be accessed online.” The team has developed an assembly-lin-like processing model to tackle tasks such as organization, development of a finding aid, cleaning and transfer to archival housing, digitization, description, online publication and issues surrounding intellectual property.”
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A slide from the CFEP collection.
Photo courtesy of UC Riverside |
According to the project overview, the slides were taken by SAH members who photographed the “built environment as subject experts in the field of architecture.” The result is a unique perspective that shows, in part, “which building elements have advanced work in the field or changed the course of architectural history.”
The CFEP collections include structures whose creators are known and unknown. They depict specific buildings ranging from modest to grand along with cityscapes and street views. There are broad, overall views and small details captured of buildings, forming a more complete picture which “deepens the understanding of a structure and offers insight into the physical, cultural, political, psychological and/or economic contexts in which a work of architecture was made and are tangible reflections of the human experience.”
All the newly digitized images for the project will be available to the public through the SAH’s open-access online image database, SAHARA. At the time of writing, there are 4,229 items associated with the CFEP in the database. The current NEH grant aims to digitize 10,500-12,000 new images, massively expanding what is available.
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While visiting Dry Tortugas National Park, located 109km west of Key West, Florida, I looked down from the top of Fort Jefferson and saw this group of snorkelers just off Garden Key. Moments after this photo was taken, one of the snorkelers had the bad luck of being stung by a Portuguese man o’ war.
Photo: Dale Baskin |
The theme for our March Editors’ challenge is ‘Water’.
Show us the essence of water in its many forms, from the roaring power of the ocean to a gentle rain, reflections on a lake, smooth waterfalls, frozen ice, or even fine art. The possibilities are endless, so let your creativity flow and show us your best photos that revolve around water. Our favorites will be featured on the DPReview homepage later this month.
This challenge is open to photos taken at any time.
Photos can be submitted between Sunday, March 16, and Saturday, March 22 (GMT).
Important: Images MUST include a title and a caption of at least 25 words to be eligible. Viewers want to know the story behind your photo. We will consider both photos and captions when selecting our winners, so make sure to tell us that story!
Visit the challenge page to read the full rules and to submit your photos for consideration as soon as the challenge opens.
Visit the challenge page to see all the rules
| Images: Vanguard, Apple, Elinchrom |
CP+ may have ended last week, but that apparently hasn’t stopped the flood of accessory news. Today, we’ll look at a few lights, bags, computers and more, but first, let’s see what’s on sale.
Second-gen Goodness
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| Photo: Richard Butler |
Canon’s Stacked sensor flagship, the EOS R5 II, is currently on sale for $300 off MSRP. We reviewed it late last year, and came away very impressed – it’s a camera that excels at nearly everything.
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| Photo: Richard Butler |
Panasonic’s S5II isn’t quite as performant, but it’s still quite a good camera. It’s also substantially cheaper than the EOS R5 II, especially given the current sale that gets you $500 off.
Let there be lights
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| Image: Godox |
Godox’s latest light for videographers and photographers is the Litemons C30. It’s a tiny LED panel weighing 248g that packs an internal battery capable of putting out 30W of light for up to 45 minutes. A USB-C port lets you recharge the battery or run the light for an extended period of time.
There are two versions of the light – a bicolor model, which costs $59, and an RGB model that will run you $89.
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| Image: Elinchrom |
If you need something a little more powerful, there’s the recently released Elinchrom LED 100 C, a continuous RGB light with an integrated 72Wh battery that provides up to 40 minutes of power in the field. It comes with a diffusion dome and an adapter for Profoto light modifiers and can be charged via USB-C.
On the level
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| Image: Vanguard |
Ball-head tripods are great if you want to easily level your tripod without messing around with leg length, but what if you already have a tripod that you like? Vanguard’s LVL accessory might be for you. It’s designed to sit between your sticks and your tripod’s head, adding a bit of height and letting you level your tripod head in a matter of seconds.
Vanguard makes several sizes, so it should be compatible with a wide range of tripods. The smallest, the LVL 42, has a 42mm base and can support up to 20kg (44lb), while the LVL 75 can support up to 40kg (88lb) – just make sure the rest of your tripod can handle that much weight too.
In the bag
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| Image: Wandrd |
If you want to carry around some camera gear without using a massive backpack, Wandrd’s Stratus Photo 18L may be the bag for you. It’s relatively small and has built-in organization for your camera gear, as well as access hatches on both the right and left-hand side. It’s made of weather-resistant materials and has load-adjustment straps and a chest strap, which should let you carry it comfortably even if you’ve got it filled with gear.
New affordable iPads
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| Image: Apple |
People don’t always think of the iPad as a photographic tool, but nowadays Apple’s tablets have a lot of processing power and can run many of the apps photographers use on their desktops. The company’s entry-level models – the iPad Air and the plainly-named iPad – have just gotten updates that make them better than ever. The Air gets the laptop-class M3 chip, as well as a new, optional keyboard with a bigger trackpad, function row and aluminum design. The M3 iPad Air starts at $599, and the new keyboard costs $269.
The cheaper iPad, meanwhile, gets the A16 chip from the iPhone 14 and 14 Pro. While it’s not as powerful as the M-class chips and doesn’t support Apple’s suite of AI features, it should still be plenty for light photo editing and organization. Its base storage has also been doubled from 64GB to 128GB. It starts at $349, which is what its predecessor sold for ever since Apple cut the price by $100 in 2024.
That wasn’t all Apple announced this week, though…
Get caught up
Some accessory news is so big that it gets its own article during the week, but we’d feel remiss not also mentioning those products here.
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| Image: Apple |
As an example, Apple’s new computers. The company announced updates to its entry-level MacBook Air and top-of-the-line Mac Studio this week, adding its latest processors. The MacBook Air has enough processing power to handle the typical Photoshop and Lightroom tasks that most photographers need, all while being hyper-portable, while the Mac Studio can handle the highest-end photo and video editing tasks.
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| Image: Peak Design |
Also announced this week: Peak Design’s Roller Pro, the company’s first piece of roller luggage. It’s a bit of a hybrid between a hardshell case and a softshell one, with plenty of padding and a front sleeve that can hold a laptop and other everyday carry items. You can read our full coverage of it here.
It’s currently being sold via Kickstarter for a discount over its $599 MSRP, but the usual disclaimer applies: Remember to do your research with any crowdfunding project. DPReview does its best to share only the projects that look legitimate and come from reliable creators, but as with any crowdfunded campaign, there’s always the risk of the product or service never coming to fruition.
| Photo: Richard Butler |
Sony has released a firmware update that brings its Content Authenticity Solution to the a7 IV. The company announced a similar update for the a1 II, a1 and a9 III in January. However, this is the first time the tool to authenticate images will be available on something other than high-end, professional-grade cameras.
Software Ver. 5.00 for the Sony a7 IV adds support for the “Write Digital Signature” function for still images. This function allows photographers to add an electronic signature to their images to prove that they were taken with that camera. Authenticity tools such as this are becoming increasingly important with the growing prevalence of generative AI-created imagery and, as a result, the spread of fake images.
Of course, as with the update for the three pro-grade cameras in January, there are some caveats involved. The Digital Signature function requires a paid license and is only available for certain media outlets, not the general public. Unfortunately, Sony still hasn’t provided any additional information on if or when it will be available for general consumers. On the firmware update page, Sony simply says that the “timing for the provision of paid licenses to customers other than certain media outlets is yet to be determined.”
Even though the current usability is limited, Sony rolling this out to consumer models is a step in the right direction. The Content Authenticity information page also says that “more camera models will be supported in due course,” so it sounds like we should see additional cameras with the tool at some point. If Sony makes the feature more widely available beyond media outlets, the Digital Signature feature will already be on cameras and ready for use.
If you want to be prepared, or happen to work for one of the select media outlets, the Sony a7 IV firmware update Ver. 5.00 is now available for download.
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