Topic: BBC: Ripper Street

[Ed Wenn]

Has anyone been watching this BBC series? Against my better judgement I finally tuned into Episode 1 (via iPlayer) and was generally pleasantly surprised with the plot, acting, production values etc. However, I was particularly interested by the photography theme which ran through the show and the fact that it gave us the chance to get a look at a number of vintage cameras, get inside an old school darkroom, be present at the birth of moving images....and experience first hand the combustible nature of early celluloid film.

Of course, it was a shame that the photographer was a sleaze-bag baddie and that photographic innovation was tied to pornography....but you can't have everything.

 

[This-is-damion]

Same as the innovation of sound on film in the second book in the berlin trilogy (john rabb???) the positive side of porn if you will.
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[Paul Mitchell]

I too was pleasantly surprised... (it was either Ripper Street or Mr Selfridge! on the other channel) ... it's a sort of fusion between Guy Ritchie's 'Sherlock Holmes' and 'Deadwood'

[Ed Wenn]

I'm pretty sure that during the very early scene where the photographer is taking crime scene photos of a murdered woman, he had the lens cap on his camera 

[Ed Wenn]

Ah yes, here we go. Lens cap firmly in place  Getting screen grabs from the iPlayer Web site may become my new hobby.

Seriously though, regarding the process a photographer would have used to get night shots in 1889 (in which time period the show is set), would it have been necessary to replace the lens cap every time? Did they have shutters then? Darkslides? In the show there is much use of flash for effect so I'm wondering if they would just have left the shutter open while they blew up some chems to make the flash and then closed the shutter (i.e. replaced the lens cap)....anyone know how it would have played out?

[Suzi Livingstone]

I totally forgot to set my freeview recorder for it..

[Ed Wenn]

Suzi, it's still on iPlayer. The first episode is definitely worth watching....
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[Diane Peterson]

Ed, so happy you started this thread..I was so in "aw" of the cameras I could barely pay attention to the show..I had been waiting for this series to start..I never miss anything from  the BBC..

[LT]

It has generally been a good series. I meant to make a post about this when I first saw it. Lots of great retro camera action.

[Ed Wenn]

I was so in "aw" of the cameras I could barely pay attention to the show.

It was a little distracting (in a good way). I kept pausing the action at moments completely unrelated to the plot....just to get a better view of the darkroom setup, or a certain camera etc. Didn't go down too well with Jacqui!
 

May squeeze in a couple of episodes tonight.

[Francois]

Ah yes, here we go. Lens cap firmly in place  Getting screen grabs from the iPlayer Web site may become my new hobby.

Seriously though, regarding the process a photographer would have used to get night shots in 1889 (in which time period the show is set), would it have been necessary to replace the lens cap every time? Did they have shutters then? Darkslides? In the show there is much use of flash for effect so I'm wondering if they would just have left the shutter open while they blew up some chems to make the flash and then closed the shutter (i.e. replaced the lens cap)....anyone know how it would have played out?

Well, in 1889, there were shutters. Not sophisticated but they existed. Dry plates were also available in those days. Darkslides have existed since the very beginnings of photography so no problem there. For night shots, it would have been an open flash techniques as dry plates had very little sensitivity in those days. Magnesium flash powder was used in those days. It was a mixture of magnesium powder and potassium chlorate which was ignited by hand. Some of the early flashes had a mechanical igniter that wasn't much different than the striker on muskets... scary stuff. I didn't know but the electric flash igniter was invented by the same guy who made Lionel model trains in 1899...

[Sandeha Lynch]

Looks to me like a Thornton Pickard roller blind shutter: http://www.earlyphotography.co.uk/site/entry_S2.html

Must have a look at this programme.

[original_ann]

What perfect timing!  I had not heard of this new series and channel surfing last night I stumbled upon it (Episode 1, no less!).  I'm easily wooed by the old timey-camera goodness, but it seems like an interesting series as well.  Thank you Ed for the heads up. 

[Late Developer]

Anyone know where it was filmed? There must be some CGI going on in parts (though it's probably minimal given the BBC's budget). I wondered if they'd used somewhere like Beamish mining museum in Co. Durham for the more "authentic" derelict street scenes......or maybe Stoke?

[Suzi Livingstone]

Suzi, it's still on iPlayer. The first episode is definitely worth watching....
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Thanks Ed, I always forget about iplayer 

[LT]

Anyone know where it was filmed? There must be some CGI going on in parts (though it's probably minimal given the BBC's budget). I wondered if they'd used somewhere like Beamish mining museum in Co. Durham for the more "authentic" derelict street scenes......or maybe Stoke?

A set in Dublin by the looks of it:

http://www.iftn.ie/news/?act1=record&aid=73&rid=4285190&tpl=archnews&only=1