EDUARDO RALICKAS

The Leitz Reprovit II outfit in operation pictured in Reprovit II Universal Copying Equipment: Instructions for Assembly and Use, Wetzlar: E. Leitz, 1956, 9, fig. 7. Process halftone engraving, 15.5 x 11.6 cm. Digital copy-stand photograph. Collection of the author.

A nineteenth-century reproduction camera and operator pictured in ‘La Photographie’, Le Magasin Pittoresque, ed. Édouard Charton, 32^e année (1864), 92. Wood engraving by Dupré after a drawing by Jules Gagniet, 12.5 x 15.1 cm. Digital copy-stand photograph. Collection of the author. Notice how, in this early stage, the specialised operator is also a worldly portrait artist. By reinforcing the division of labour, the next generation of technological offerings further estranges the hand, eye, and mind, as technology takes further command over ‘average everyday’ dealings with the work of art by making the operator forgetful of the work’s worldly (and wordly) contexts.

An early twentieth-century German copy camera equipped with a reversing prism attachment pictured in Karl Krumbacher, Die Photographie im Dienste der Geisteswissenschaften, Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1906, Tafel 8. Process halftone engraving by Brend’amour, Simhart & Co., Munich, 12.5 x 18 cm. Digital copy-stand photograph. Collection of the author. All such devices are based on an invention by René Graffin (circa 1900), which makes use of the vertical axis between prism and subject. As the copy materials are now placed beneath the lens, string-held paperweights and other similar devices are required to ensure the subject’s flatness with respect to the film plane. Notice how the world is made out to be two-dimensional in advance of its replication on film or paper. Thus, the copy exists as both method and model before its actual instantiation.

Heinrich Jantsch’s Famulus Reproduction Camera for plates and roll films pictured in P. R. Kögel, Die Photographie historischer Dokumente nebst den Grundzügen der Reproduktionsverfahren: Wissenschaftlich und praktisch dargestellt, Leipzig: Otto Harrassowitz, 1914, 28, Abbildung 19. Wood engraving, 12 x 10 cm (approximate size). Digital copy-stand photograph. Collection of the author.

Leitz Fepro outfit (1931) pictured in Willard D. Morgan and Henry M. Lester, The Leica Manual, 3rd ed., New York: Morgan & Lester, Publishers, 1938, 250. Process halftone engraving, 7.5 x 6.6 cm. Digital copy-stand photograph. Collection of the author. Notice how the operator is positioned to look away from the copy in an increasingly complex mediation of human seeing, sensing, and understanding.

The Leitz Ferep Reproduction Stand was a highly portable and compact unit suitable for work in the field, the library, and the archive. It is featured here in its earliest iteration in Leica: The Universal Camera: A Still Camera Using 35mm Cine Film, Catalogue No. 1166, New York: E. Leitz, Inc., 1929, 18. Process halftone engraving, 17.8 x 11.3 cm (booklet page size). Collection of the author.

Samples from the light inducing continuum (top left): Leitz’s Kombinierter Vergrößerungs- und Projektions-apparat mit Lesepult (‘Combined Enlarging and Projection Apparatus with Reading Console’) pictured in Leica in Wissenschaft und Technik, Liste Mikro-Leica Nr. 7754a, Wetzlar: Ernst Leitz, October 1939, 80. Process halftone engravings, 9.2 x 5.8 cm each (approximate size). Right: Leitz’s Focomat Model I Automatic Enlarger for Miniature Negatives in operation pictured on the cover of Leitz Enlarging Equipment, List Photo No. 7040c, Wetzlar and London: Ernst Leitz, December 1937. Process halftone engraving, 18 x 12.3 cm (booklet size). Bottom left: Leitz’s Filoy enlarger pictured in Curt Emmermann, Photographieren mit der Leica, 3. und 4. Auflage, Halle: Wilhelm Knapp, 1930, 117, Abb. 43. Process halftone engraving, 6.6 x 6.6 cm (approximate size). Digital copy-stand photographs. Collection of the author.

Zeiss Ikon’s Large Reproduction Apparatus being put into focus by means of the ground-glass screen attachment and magnifier

in Gebrauchsanweisung für das Reproduktions-Gerät für Contax-Objective von 5 cm Brennweite, B 2464, Dresden: Zeiss Ikon A.G., December 1933, 14, Abb. 8. Process halftone engraving, 8.3 x 7 cm (approximate size). Digital copy-stand photograph. Collection of the author.

Zeiss Ikon Special Reproduction Apparatus (model 5520/1), circa 1932, pictured on the cover of Dr. K. Wolter, Die Zusatzgeräte zur Contax, C 551, Dresden: Zeiss Ikon A.G., January 1934; and the product sheet entitled Working Instructions: Special Reproduction Apparatus for Contax Lenses of 2” Focal Length, B 2460 E, Dresden: Zeiss Ikon A.G., April 1933. Process halftone engravings, 17.6 x 12.5 cm (booklet size), 20.8 x 14.8 cm (sheet size). Digital copy-stand photograph. Collection of the author.

Leitz Stafo apparatus pictured in Leica Accessories for the Scientist, Photo List No. 7298, Wetzlar: E. Leitz, August 1933, 38. Process halftone engraving, 7.5 x 6.1 cm (approximate size). Digital copy-stand photograph. Collection of the author.

The Leitz Automatisches Reproduktions- und Vergrößerungs-Gerät (‘Automatic Reproduction and Enlarging Apparatus’) pictured in Leica in Wissenschaft und Technik, Liste Mikro-Leica Nr. 7754a, Wetzlar: Ernst Leitz, October 1939, 71. Process halftone engravings, 9.5 x 5.2 cm each (approximate size). Digital copy-stand photograph. Collection of the author. This apparatus is the earliest known prototype in the Reprovit series, but unlike the post-war Reprovit I, II, and IIa models, the 1939 prototype is a reproduction unit and darkroom enlarger all-in-one. Thus, the task of producing and reproducing photographic copies takes place on the same light-generating machine. Note that this device utilises a revolving stage to switch between focusing and shooting modes. The lateral sliding stage becomes the instrument of choice in the post-war Reprovit.

The components of Leitz’s Fuldy sliding stage pictured in Willard D. Morgan, Leica in Science: Macro and Micro Photography, Booklet No. 1206, New York: E. Leitz, Inc., January 1934, 19. Process halftone engraving, 17.9 x 12.4 cm (booklet page size). Digital copy-stand photograph. Collection of the author. When assembled, the device allows the operator to slide the lens stage leftwards or rightwards against the camera stage, thereby aligning the film plane with the lens or ground-glass. The Fuldy is a very simple but powerful copy device that can be attached to a tripod or enlarger column. This technology was first made possible by the introduction of camera housings with standardised screw mounts for interchangeable lenses in 1930.

Leitz sliding stage for use with the Leica camera (variously known as the Fuldy, Focoslide, or Focaslide) pictured on the cover of Leica Focusing Stage with Ground Glass Focusing, List Photo No. 8206a/Engl., Wetzlar: Ernst Leitz, October 1953. Process halftone engraving, 21 x 14.8 cm (booklet size). Digital copy-stand photograph. Collection of the authhor. The device is shown here mounted on a tripod head; it is in the focusing position.

Leitz sliding stage mounted on a copy stand, circa 1947, pictured in Leitz Close-up and Photomicrography with the Leica Camera, New York: E. Leitz Inc., n.d., 25. Process halftone engraving, 20.3 x 14 cm (page size). Digital copy-stand photograph. Collection of the author. The device is in the shooting position.

The Reprovit’s projected light field as seen from the operator’s vantage point, pictured in Leitz Universal-Reproduktionsgeräte Reprovit I und II, Liste Photo Nr. 8090, Wetzlar: Ernst Leitz, April 1950, n. p. Process halftone engraving, 21 x 14.8 cm (page size). Digital copy-stand photograph. Collection of the author.

The mechanism of the Reprovit II unit pictured in Leitz Universal Copying Equipment: Reprovit II: Instructions for Assembly and Use, 13–4/Engl., Wetzlar: Ernst Leitz, December 1956, 7, Fig. 6. Process halftone engraving, 21 x 14.7 cm each (page size). Digital copy-stand photograph.  Collection of the author.

The Reprovit in use pictured in Leitz Reprovit IIa: The Practical Universal Copying Outfit, List 160–4b/Engl. (Wetzlar: Ernst Leitz, November 1970). Process halftone engraving, 19 x 21 cm (booklet size). Digital copy-stand photograph. Collection of the author. The technological gesture is continuous, from its inception to its final, luminous consumption.