View Full Version : 1956(?) DuMont


Bogframe
03-14-2012, 12:39 PM
I've been scanning, archiving and restoring slides my dad took between the 50s and 60s. I came across this one, taken in 1960 of our living room, featuring the DuMont TV my parents got as a wedding present around 1956.

http://www.videokarma.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=173653&stc=1&d=1331746702

I wish I still had the TV, or at least knew the model number.

jr_tech
03-14-2012, 12:50 PM
1956?
http://tvhistory.tv/1956-Dumont-RA356.JPG

Or perhaps 1958?

http://tvhistory.tv/1958-Dumont-RA400.JPG

Nice picture... do you have to color correct much from the old slides?

jr

PS: the DuMont 1956 brochure. also from the tvhistory site:

http://tvhistory.tv/1956-Dumont-Brochure.JPG

old_coot88
03-14-2012, 12:54 PM
Our store which carried the DuMont/Emerson line (along with RCA) sold that model. It had option for UHF which could be installed by the dealer. I gave one to my mother, the exact model shown in your pic. Seems like '58 0r '59 though.

Bogframe
03-14-2012, 02:03 PM
They could well have gotten it in 58 or 59 for all I know, Mom doesn't remember. I had to do quite a bit of tweaking on that slide, it had shifted a lot toward magenta, but I do photo restoration for a living, so I know a few good tweaks.

Here's a before and after:

http://www.videokarma.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=173654&stc=1&d=1331753228

old_coot88
03-14-2012, 02:28 PM
The one of which i spoke had a nice real wood cabinet with mohogany finish. Looked just like the one in the pic, even to the removable legs to make it a table model.

jr_tech
03-14-2012, 02:39 PM
I had to do quite a bit of tweaking on that slide, it had shifted a lot toward magenta, but I do photo restoration for a living, so I know a few good tweaks.

Here's a before and after:


WOW! good job! :thmbsp:

jr

Bogframe
03-14-2012, 02:52 PM
The one of which i spoke had a nice real wood cabinet with mohogany finish. Looked just like the one in the pic, even to the removable legs to make it a table model.

This one had a maple finish, but I could kick myself for getting rid of it back in 1979. The picture tube had gone dim, and I didn't think it could be repaired.

WOW! good job! :thmbsp:

jr
Thanks!

Sandy G
03-14-2012, 03:43 PM
WOW! good job! :thmbsp:

jr

Boy-Hidee ! Ain't THAT th' Truth !

old_coot88
03-14-2012, 05:42 PM
Watched the Christmas eve Apollo 8 trip around the moon on that set at my mom's place.

Bogframe
03-14-2012, 06:20 PM
I watched JFK's funeral on it when I was the same age as John-John.

Dave A
03-14-2012, 08:33 PM
Bog,

How about a simple primer on your restoration? Dad's slides are standing by for scanning.

New post for this would be best if allowed.

Bogframe
03-15-2012, 07:26 AM
Bog,

How about a simple primer on your restoration? Dad's slides are standing by for scanning.

New post for this would be best if allowed.

1. Take two semesters of Photoshop classes so you can know all the intricacies of the program.

2. Upgrade your computer so it has a minimum of 4GB of RAM, get a second hard drive of at least 2TB with 500GB sectored as a scratch disc for Photoshop. You'll need the space, a 35mm slide scanned at 6400 dpi runs around 140MB.

3. Get a top of the line scanner (I use an Epson Perfection V700 now, upgraded from the V500) and learn THAT software inside and out.

4. If you're archiving, scan the slides at around 6400dpi. This will make sure that the pixels are smaller than the grain, and it will also make sure you won't have to scan them again for a long time after technology improves. It takes an average of 7 minutes to scan a slide at that resolution,so be sure you have the time to spend.

wa2ise
03-15-2012, 09:06 AM
Here's a before and after:

http://www.videokarma.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=173654&stc=1&d=1331753228

Wow, I wouldn't have thought that there was any color information in the before image. Looks like a color tinted black and white picture.

Bogframe
03-15-2012, 01:07 PM
Most of the 50s-early 60s Ektachromes look like that. It's not that they got redder, it's that the Cyans and Yellows faded, but if there's any information left there, it can be brought out with a lot of work and patience.

Rinehart
03-17-2012, 12:27 AM
Did you crop this picture at all, or was the original like that? I ask because it's beautifully composed, and that diffuse lighting is gorgeous.

Bogframe
03-17-2012, 10:00 AM
Thanks, but nope, no cropping at all, you can even see the corners of the slides. My dad was the son of a muralist; composition is in our blood! The lighting is available lighting from the one window in the apartment. Dad never used a flash, and that 1939 vintage Contax that he used didn't even have a place to plug a synch cord!

kvflyer
03-17-2012, 02:25 PM
Kodachrome or Ektachrome (or maybe Agfa, Fuji?) My bet is on Kodachrome. I know that slide film is NOW impractical. But I loved it. My ex-wife stopped me from using it when we got married...

Bogframe
12-13-2017, 07:11 AM
Kodachrome or Ektachrome (or maybe Agfa, Fuji?) My bet is on Kodachrome. I know that slide film is NOW impractical. But I loved it. My ex-wife stopped me from using it when we got married...
Ektachrome processed by Berkey. Kodachrome doesn't shift that badly because Kodachrome was a dye process and extremely stable. I have a 1939 Kodachrome of my dad and uncle that looks like this without any tweaks at all

robert1
12-13-2017, 12:04 PM
I would venture to say that set is a 1958 model, just by looking at the depth of the cabinet. CRT's in 1955 / 56 still used long necked CRT's.