From the archive

5 May 1984

‘MAY the Fifth be with you.’ It doesn’t quite work does it, so it’s unclear why AP roped in Darth Vader to promote. Cine, video and audiovisual was extensively covered in AP, with reviews, columnists and buying guides right up until the 1990s. This particular camcorder, the smallest of its kind, was a highlight of PMA 1984, the show which also launched the Canon T70 and the Pentax 645. At £250 (£900 in today’s money) AP described the T70 as ‘something of a bargain’. In AP’s big feature, Berwickshire-based garage owner Robert Thomson explained how an attempt to help his ten-year-old son with a school project on local history led to him discovering a treasure trove of hundreds of glass plate negatives in his elderly neighbour’s potting shed, which were taken around Coldingham in 1910 by local photographer John Wood. They offer a fascinating insight into life in Edwardian Britain. If you’re interested he posted a slide show of them on YouTube (search ‘The John Wood Collection’ and look for Bob Thomson’s channel). Also in this issue was a 32-page pull-out SLR buyers’ guide.