American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1963)

Steady support of the camera is an important factor in successful aerial photography. When shooting vith a 16mm camera hand-held, avoid sup¬ porting it on a window ledge or hold¬ ing against the plane structure. Brace your legs and keep elbows close to your body. Avoid any contact with the plane except for the seat and/or floor. When using a camera that is too large to hold by hand, it may be mounted on a tripod or some impro¬ vised support. Where available, a shock-absorbent rubber section should be mounted between the camera base and the tripod head to absorb vibration of the plane. The familiar hi-hat cam¬ era mount is often used for supporting a heavy camera when shooting from a plane. The hi-hat may be bolted se¬ curely to the plane structure, or to a timber secured to the structure. Any tripod or other mount used in aerial photography should be bolted or other¬ wise ‘"tied down” as a safety measure, both for the cameraman and the equip¬ ment. All these factors — position of the camera in the plane, the filming angle, and the method of supporting the cam¬ era — play an important part in obtain¬ ing footage with steady images. How¬ ever, there are still other factors yet to be considered. First there is the degree of variable shutter opening in relation to percentage of frame-overlap of the terrain being photographed. Contrary to popular belief, a narrow shutter opening will not neutralize the effect of any plane vibration transmitted to the camera. While each frame image of the film may be slightly sharper, as a result of using the narrow shutter opening, there may be undesirable flicker on the screen when the film is projected. So, it is better to make some sacrifice in image sharpness than to have too great an interval of terrain movement between frames. It has been found advisable to never work with the shutter closed down beyond the 100-degree point in aerial photography. Increasing Camera Speed Increasing the frames-per-second speed of the camera will compensate somewhat for the speed of the plane, and therefore in reducing the interval between exposed frames of aerial foot¬ age made of terrain in air-to-ground photography. Additionally, this gives a shorter exposure time (increased shutter speed). This more than com¬ pensates for the slightly more pro¬ longed exposure obtained where a larger shutter opening is used, and also results in a degree of slow motion effect which tends to minimize the visual effect of vibrations. When photographing from aircraft, the fps speed of the camera should al¬ ways be higher than normal. This re¬ duces the interval between each ex¬ posure (frame of film), gives a shorter exposure time, and tends to smooth out any undesirable camera movement on the screen. Depending upon the speed and altitude of the plane, in air-toground photography, a shooting speed of 32 to 64 frames per second should be used to obtain normal effects in the projection of the picture at 24 fps. As increasing altitude takes you farther from the subject, camera speed may be reduced without inducing flicker on the screen. When shooting is to be done from slow-moving aircraft, such as a heli¬ copter or blimp, the normal camera speed of 24 fps will produce acceptable results, even for low altitudes. Next month we will discuss lenses and filters for aerial photography. ■ ’Dean Riggins, “Shooting Movies From The Air,” American Cinematographer, Vol. 36, No. 9. BEHIND THE CAMERAS Continued From Page 700 Ray Rennahan, ASC, “Channing”*. Nick Musuraca, ASC, “Jack Benny Show”*. WALT DISNEY Edward Colman, ASC, “Those Crazy Cal¬ loways” (T’color) with Brian Keith and Vera Miles. Norman Tokar, director. Paul Beeson, “The Moon-Spinners” (T’¬ color; shooting in Crete & London) with Haley Mills and Eli Wallach. James Neilson, director. WARNER BROS. William Daniels, ASC, “Robin and the 7 Hoods” (P-C Prod.; T’color and P’vision) with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. Gor¬ don Douglas, director. Charles Lang, ASC, “Sex and the Single Girl” with Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood. Richard Quine, director. Ralph Woolsey, ASC, Robert Hoffman, “Temple Houston”*. Harry Stradlinc, ASC, “My Fair Lady” (Super P’vision; 70-Tcolor) with Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison. George Cukor, director. Burt Glennon, “ Sunset Strip”*. William Clothier, “Cheyenne Autumn” ( WB-Pearlayne Prod.) with Fred MacMurray and Polly Bergen. Curtis Bernhardt, producer-director. Russell Harlan, ASC, “The Out-Of-Towners” (Martin Manulis Prod.) with Glenn Ford and Geraldine Page. Delbert Mann, director. Ed Horton, second Unit same as above. Burt Glennon, “77 Sunset Strip”*. PRODUCTION CAMERAS, OLD AND NEW DON MALKAMES, ASC, ace cinematographer, compores the new Mitchell Mark IV Refle* camera (right) with the 1898 model of the Mutograph camera built by Henry Marvin ond Herman Casler and used by their Biograph Film Company in New York in photographing many famous early-day silent pictures. Molkames, a member of Local 644, IATSE, New York, is an internationally-known collector of historic motion picture cameras and equipment. (Photo by George J. Mitchell). 732 AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER, DECEMBER, 1963