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Chambers St Photos

Posted by zac on Fri Feb 21 18:58:25 2025

I was out today to kill off a roll of film to test out a camera and I decided to just be a tourist and take shots of the Brooklyn Bridge. On the way though I ended up going through Chambers St station so I took a few shots there as well. I developed and scanned them myself so you'll have to pardon the dust and hairs. Also the film was long expired and it developed a bit grainy.

Chambers St-2

Chambers St-1

Chambers St-3

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Re: Chambers St Photos

Posted by zac on Fri Feb 21 19:03:38 2025, in response to Chambers St Photos, posted by zac on Fri Feb 21 18:58:25 2025.

This one is corrected for level and lens distortion:

Chambers St-4

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Re: Chambers St Photos

Posted by Andrew Saucci on Fri Feb 21 19:11:18 2025, in response to Chambers St Photos, posted by zac on Fri Feb 21 18:58:25 2025.

We've been making fun of that station ever since I've been around these parts; that it hasn't been cleaned up and renovated is hard to believe.

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Re: Chambers St Photos

Posted by zac on Fri Feb 21 19:17:49 2025, in response to Re: Chambers St Photos, posted by Andrew Saucci on Fri Feb 21 19:11:18 2025.

It's a shame too because the Gustaviano tile is so nice at the entrance.

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Re: Chambers St Photos

Posted by cortelyounext on Fri Feb 21 19:57:07 2025, in response to Chambers St Photos, posted by zac on Fri Feb 21 18:58:25 2025.

Old-schooling it I see. Anyway, nice photos. If time and inclination permit, I am interested in type camera and film and settings.

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Re: Chambers St Photos

Posted by LuchAAA on Fri Feb 21 19:57:59 2025, in response to Chambers St Photos, posted by zac on Fri Feb 21 18:58:25 2025.

Nice.

Chambers(Nassau BMT) is such a great station for so many reasons.

Did you ride your bike over the bridge?

Those stairs to the street are always a great workout. Especially if you take two steps at a time to make it harder.

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Re: Chambers St Photos

Posted by Zac on Fri Feb 21 20:36:49 2025, in response to Re: Chambers St Photos, posted by LuchAAA on Fri Feb 21 19:57:59 2025.

No bike today. Too cold and breezy.

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Re: Chambers St Photos

Posted by Zac on Fri Feb 21 20:42:20 2025, in response to Re: Chambers St Photos, posted by cortelyounext on Fri Feb 21 19:57:07 2025.

It was a Leica Minilux Zoom with expired Fuji Superia 400. The flash was on for the underground shots but it is basically a point and shoot so I don’t know settings. I developed it in an Arista C41 kit and scanned with an Epson V600. They were lightly processed in Lightroom.

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Re: Chambers St Photos

Posted by Steamdriven on Fri Feb 21 21:08:41 2025, in response to Re: Chambers St Photos, posted by zac on Fri Feb 21 19:03:38 2025.

idk how or why, but to my eye better that instantly looks than digital photography ...
and I'm viewing it on a digital device. Go figure!

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Re: Chambers St Photos

Posted by gbs on Fri Feb 21 21:43:10 2025, in response to Chambers St Photos, posted by zac on Fri Feb 21 18:58:25 2025.


For all its decrepitude, the station was made wheelchair accessible a few years ago, with new elevators, passageways, and stairs. Next time you're there take some photos. It's jarring to see the new against the old.

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Re: Chambers St Photos

Posted by Steve B-8AVEXP on Sat Feb 22 07:45:31 2025, in response to Re: Chambers St Photos, posted by Andrew Saucci on Fri Feb 21 19:11:18 2025.

That station needs a renovation of Ellis Island proportions.

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Re: Chambers St Photos

Posted by Steve B-8AVEXP on Sat Feb 22 07:46:44 2025, in response to Re: Chambers St Photos, posted by cortelyounext on Fri Feb 21 19:57:07 2025.

I'm a Nikon guy myself. I still have my FA and F4 film cameras and a digital D700.

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Re: Chambers St Photos

Posted by zac on Sat Feb 22 08:36:06 2025, in response to Re: Chambers St Photos, posted by gbs on Fri Feb 21 21:43:10 2025.

I noticed that myself and thought “a dump with elevators”.

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Re: Chambers St Photos

Posted by zac on Sat Feb 22 09:29:29 2025, in response to Re: Chambers St Photos, posted by Steve B-8AVEXP on Sat Feb 22 07:46:44 2025.

I have an FA that is sitting next to my computer that I'm giving to a friend. That thing is built like a tank compared to the newer SLRs that I have.

Film photography is making a comeback. If you go into any photo lab, the few that are left, they are all very busy.

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Re: Chambers St Photos

Posted by TUNNELRAT on Sat Feb 22 09:33:23 2025, in response to Re: Chambers St Photos, posted by gbs on Fri Feb 21 21:43:10 2025.

I WILL A HUNDRED DOLLARS IF ANYONE POSTS AN AUTHENTIC PHOTO OF A LIRR MP41 AT CHAMBERS ST,U.S CURRENCY.

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Re: Chambers St Photos

Posted by cortelyounext on Sat Feb 22 10:48:59 2025, in response to Re: Chambers St Photos, posted by Zac on Fri Feb 21 20:42:20 2025.

Appreciate you. During my university years, I'd come back to New York City during the summers and "worked" as an assistant's assistant for some well known commercial photographers. I used quotation marks since I was more of an errand boy than anything else, running contact sheets up to the big advertising agencies in midtown Manhattan and oh by the way, on the way back, pick up lunch sandwiches for the staff back at the studio. These photographers were elitist I meant to write elite but they were businessmen first, artists second. It was the assistants who did all the technical work (I realize the photographers were probably assistants early in their careers.) I learned from those assistants about camera functionality, film, lighting, etc. I'd help with the equipment setup and loading magazines, film not bullets, that sort of thing. A lot of still life work, a lot of fashion shoots both in studio and off-site en plein air. It was a privilege to work with large format cameras with the bellows and glass plates, the Nikon 35mm with various lenses, and the venerable Hasselblad Deuce and a Quarters. I took a couple photography courses back in Boulder using my trusty 35mm Pentax and then developing the film and manipulating the prints through "burning" using Adams' Zone System. I can't tell you how much trouble I had wrapping the film properly on those steel spools in the dark - I lost/damaged a lot of work during that time, mostly urban and rail yard shots down in Denver. Thanks again.

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Re: Chambers St Photos

Posted by irtredbirdr33 on Sat Feb 22 13:54:08 2025, in response to Re: Chambers St Photos, posted by TUNNELRAT on Sat Feb 22 09:33:23 2025.



Steve: Why didn't you take a picture while you were riding the MP 41.

Larry, RedbirdR33

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Re: Chambers St Photos

Posted by zac on Sat Feb 22 16:48:00 2025, in response to Re: Chambers St Photos, posted by cortelyounext on Sat Feb 22 10:48:59 2025.

That Leica I used is one of 10 cameras I inherited when my brother passed away. It isn't a real Leica, but built to their spec by Minolta I think. The two cameras I really like to use are the Mamiya 645 AFD and the Fujifilm GA645zi. Both produce phenomenal medium format negatives, even if the smallest of medium format. 120 film gets expensive though, which is one reason I develop them myself as processing is even more expensive.

I'm no photographer, just someone with a lot of cameras. Sitting next to me by the computer is a Nikon FA that I'm giving to one of my brother's long time friends. She knew him for 40+ years and was left nothing, it was the least I could do.

And I got a taste of wrapping spools in a dark bag yesterday. I'd done 120 film pretty easily but I couldn't get the 35mm on the spools. Eventually I got it, but 36exp 35mm film is really long and takes a lot of winding. It goes to the floor when I hang it from my shower curtain rod.

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Re: Chambers St Photos

Posted by zac on Sat Feb 22 17:14:56 2025, in response to Re: Chambers St Photos, posted by TUNNELRAT on Sat Feb 22 09:33:23 2025.

The problem is, and it was an even bigger problem back then, that the subways are dark and not conducive to photography. I tried to take the pics without a flash and the camera would not do it. So few of the pictures on NYCSUBWAY.org are underground. I can imagine Chambers St station lit with incandescent bulbs from fixtures suspended from that high ceiling barely feeling like it is in candlelight.

Today's digital cameras have sensors that are 10x more sensitive than the fastest film, and can also do digital trickery in the camera/phone and in post processing.

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Re: Chambers St Photos

Posted by Jackson Park B Train on Sat Feb 22 17:17:12 2025, in response to Re: Chambers St Photos, posted by zac on Sat Feb 22 09:29:29 2025.

My Nikons are an S2 and SP. OTOH I have my grandfather's leica II (1936 by the serial #. Have been thinking about playing with Ektachrome again--started when it was E-3...

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Re: Chambers St Photos

Posted by Jackson Park B Train on Sat Feb 22 17:26:31 2025, in response to Re: Chambers St Photos, posted by zac on Sat Feb 22 16:48:00 2025.

When I was doing E-6, I got turned onto rolling two onto each 35mm spool because that allowed me to do "one shot" with the chemicals. --both easier and a better chance of purity.
Many rolls hung in the shower as I did a small custom business for someone shooting at Fillmore East.

Yes, shooting in the subway back in the 60s was a chorealthoughI managed a few pix.

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Re: Chambers St Photos

Posted by terRAPIN station on Sun Feb 23 02:40:52 2025, in response to Re: Chambers St Photos, posted by zac on Sat Feb 22 17:14:56 2025.

So…use a digital camera then.

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Re: Chambers St Photos

Posted by zac on Sun Feb 23 08:11:07 2025, in response to Re: Chambers St Photos, posted by gbs on Fri Feb 21 21:43:10 2025.

I noticed that myself and thought “a dump with elevators”.

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Re: Chambers St Photos

Posted by Mitch45 on Sun Feb 23 10:48:07 2025, in response to Chambers St Photos, posted by zac on Fri Feb 21 18:58:25 2025.

Thanks for posting. I really hate that the MTA walled off the closed side platform. It is living history and provides passengers with a glimpse into the distant past. The MTA should be celebrating the long history of the subway, not hiding historical pieces.

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Re: Chambers St Photos

Posted by New Flyer #857 on Sun Feb 23 11:07:58 2025, in response to Re: Chambers St Photos, posted by Mitch45 on Sun Feb 23 10:48:07 2025.

As much as I treasure the history as well, I can understand them settling with just things like the Transit Museum, R1 runs, etc. Showcasing unattended and unused spaces has its liabilities.

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Re: Chambers St Photos

Posted by Steve B-8AVEXP on Sun Feb 23 12:06:44 2025, in response to Re: Chambers St Photos, posted by Jackson Park B Train on Sat Feb 22 17:17:12 2025.

My father's Leica's serial number is 252060. From what he told me, my grandfather gave it to him as a wedding gift when he married my mother in 1946. The shutter still works. I used to watch him load film into it; he had to trim it with scissors for some reason. He could always get at least one or two extra frames with each roll. I could squeeze in three extra frames with my FA.

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Re: Chambers St Photos

Posted by Steve B-8AVEXP on Sun Feb 23 12:09:42 2025, in response to Re: Chambers St Photos, posted by zac on Sat Feb 22 09:29:29 2025.

I bought my FA brand new in 1984 and used it for ten years, when I bought the F4. I would still use the FA from tiem to time, though. Now that I have the D700, the film cameras have been retired, more or less.

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Re: Chambers St Photos

Posted by Steve B-8AVEXP on Sun Feb 23 12:11:24 2025, in response to Re: Chambers St Photos, posted by zac on Sat Feb 22 17:14:56 2025.

You got that right. My D700 will take amazing photos under not-so-ideal lighting conditions.

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Re: Chambers St Photos

Posted by Steve B-8AVEXP on Sun Feb 23 12:16:39 2025, in response to Re: Chambers St Photos, posted by zac on Sat Feb 22 16:48:00 2025.

My parents promised me they'd get me a darkroom setup if I joined my junior high chool band. Well, I joined the band, but never got the darkroom equipment.:(

I first got into photography at age 11, when I bought one of those Polaroid Land cameras, a model 210, which I still have and it still works (I actually found a battery for it on ebay). I think I paid something like $41.00 for it at Bradless in Wayne, New Jersey.

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Re: Chambers St Photos

Posted by Jackson Park B Train on Sun Feb 23 14:19:23 2025, in response to Re: Chambers St Photos, posted by Steve B-8AVEXP on Sun Feb 23 12:06:44 2025.

Yes, loading screw mount Leicaswas a chore. The bayonet M series were easier, and the M4 (also M2R) tri blade take up was a great step forward.
The small Leica was something I could carry without much effoort and with some films essentially s onvenient s a point and shoot. Before i got a transit photo pas, it was convenient for a grab shot when merely traveling on the subway rather than going out to take pix.

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Re: Chambers St Photos

Posted by Mitch45 on Mon Feb 24 07:46:45 2025, in response to Re: Chambers St Photos, posted by New Flyer #857 on Sun Feb 23 11:07:58 2025.

True. Its just a shame. The Transit Museum is nice but seeing these unrestored relics in situ as they were nearly a century ago or more is something that can’t be duplicated.


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Re: Chambers St Photos

Posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Mon Feb 24 09:39:34 2025, in response to Re: Chambers St Photos, posted by irtredbirdr33 on Sat Feb 22 13:54:08 2025.

He ran out of flash powder 😁

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Re: Chambers St Photos

Posted by TUNNELRAT on Mon Feb 24 12:45:01 2025, in response to Re: Chambers St Photos, posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Mon Feb 24 09:39:34 2025.

BUT NOT OUT OF "FLASH"


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