The Cine Technician (1935-1937)

156 The Journal of the Association of Cine-Technicians I'cb.-MarclT, 1937 towards our industry. He is a stage producer who obviously, though he denies it, dishtres films, but is not averse to making capital out of it. Studios he characterises as "that degrading atmosphere of contemptible mediocrity," while later he refers to "studio 'artists' redolent of the scum of the Bowery." Still, if you care to overlook these discourtesies you will find much in these pleasantly chatty reminiscenses to justify Korda's introductory remark, "that the first duty of a book is to entertain." J. N. B. The British Journal Photographic Almanac, 1937, 2 net Our old friend, the "B.J. Almanac" for 1937, is as good value for money as ever, and as the "British Journal of Photography" has been publishing this x\nnual since KSfifi, it can speak with real authority on technical matters. The Editor himself, Mr. Arthur J. Dallada}', contributes a very interesting article, "Solving the Abnormal E.xposure Problem," a subject, the careful study of which, would well repay the would-be cameraman or still-man. In concluding his article, Mr. Dalladay says : "But to those who would say that all this fuss about theoretically accurate determination of exposures which do not happen in practice, and which an experienced photographer could cope with anyhow, does not get us anywhere, I would answer that photography is full of approximations that are 'near enough,' and the more we reduce to exact measurement, the more we realise the inner meaning of quite a lot of things that we had taken for granted or never even thought about. . . ." With these sentiments I heartily agree. Modern emulsions give us such a tremendous exposure latitude that cameramen are getting careless in these matters and losing sight of the fact that the perfect negative is attained by perfect exposure. And with the coming of colour, where the highest degree of exposure accuracy is imperative, the exposure meter will be in constant use ; so to those of you who would reach the front rank in photography in the future I would say — study the problems of exposure and in particular the measurement of actinic light.. Turning over the pages we come to — "The Hyperfocal Distance and How To Use It," by Rev. B. Wright, M.A. Here, too, is very good reading for the technician ; with lens apertures increasing and the depth of focus decreasing in consequence, added to which the cinema camera is more frequently on the move around and about the "set" these days, the problems of sharp focus are growing. Every tcclmician, wlicther he be "lighting expert" or "clapper boy," should know tlic fundamentals of optics and be able to tell, witliout reference to handbooks, the depth of focus a lens will give at varying apertures. A technician wiio takes the trouble to absorl) the data given in this article will greatly increase his knowledge of the local ])roblem. To those of you who were not present last year at the highly informative talk on "Polar Screens," given by Mr. I. D. Wratten, of Kodak, Ltd., in the series of A.C.T. lectures, I would advi.se careful reading of "Polarised Light in Photography," by Bernard Alfieri, Jun., a regular contributor to the pages of the "B.J." He takes us as far back as 1669, when Erasmus Bartholinus observed the double-refraction of Iceland spar, a crystal that split up a beam of light into two separate portions. On the next pages we find "Over-Run Lamps for Photographic Purposes," by Harold Bright, M.A., M.R.I., and Stanley W. Bowler, A.R.P.S. They say :— "The increasing use of lamps that are burnt at a voltage greater than the normal rating in order to increase the light efficiency for photographic purposes, prompted the following investigation." This is well worth the reading to both still-men and cine-camera technicians.; in most studios now these lamps are in use, particularly for the "modelling" of "close-ups." For the first time in this Almanac there appears a special section on "Cinematography" and a great deal of information has been collated from the technical and research departments dealing with emulsions and their processing. I wonder how many camera technicians know the gamma to which their laboratory works, or the time difference between stagnant development and tliat with agitation ? I have frequently seen a camera assistant making a hand-test in a thermos flask ; he inserts the exposed strip in the developer, sets the alarm clock for the given time, then sits down for a smoke or a read until the bell rings. In one graph in this section he will see that to attain a given gamma of 0-7, agitated development requires 37 minutes. With .stagnant development, however, the .same stock will need 70 minutes to reach the same gamma ! Nearly double development time ! ! This is just an instance of the many interesting facts contained in a volume which is a veritable mine of information. I have only touched on but a few of the subjects covered ; on second thoughts, which after all are usually best, I would say that the "B.J. Almanac" for 1937 is better than ever. Lov.\T C.a.ve-Chi\n. Appreciation from Hollywood Hkkbert Allek of the "International Photographer" writes promising an article for our next issue, and says he lias just received the New Year issue of our foiirnal. "It is really a good piece of work. We in Hollywood hold it in high regard. There is much to learn from it and I assure you that more than a few minutes will be spent by many of us in examining this magazine carefully — might I say that it will lie more than a mere nibble." Labour Saving W'l-; had occasion to telephone the Board of Trade the other day. On getting through to the general switchboard and enquiring for the Films Department we were referred to another number. On the telephone directory lying open on iiur desk there was printed along.side that number — Bankruptcy Depart n\ent. Sen.se of humour or merely labour saving ?