The Cine Technician (1953-1956)

102 CINE TECHNICIAN July 1955 A TECHNICIAN'S NOTEBOOK Wide Screen Developments Zoom Lens "Giraffe" IN his report on this year's Biennale de la Photo et du Cinema, Paris, Stanley Bowler, writing in the British Journal of Photography, says that in the field of cinematography there appeared to be two simultaneous developments, the first an attempt to meet interest in wide-screen techniques, and the other in continuous reflexviewing. CinemaScope having developed from the work of Henri Chretien it is understandable that the French should be interested in the subject. The wide-screen developments, Bowler reports, are in the substandard field. Pathe, with their 9.5mm. Duplex system, have produced a camera which gives either the standard 9.5mm. picture or a wide screen shape 6.5mm. x 4.2mm., depending upon whether the camera is mounted vertically or horizontally. With the camera in the horizontal position two rows of pictures are taken, the film being slit after processing. The Dimaphot Company also have a camera, using 16mm. film, mounted horizontally to give a wide-screen picture. Another camera — the " Panascope," made by Ermel, photographs on standard 50-ft. spools of double 8mm. film ( not slit after processing); the frame height is standard 8mm. but extends full width of film, producing an aspect ratio 1:2.5. The lens is a S.O.M. Berthiot 10mm. f/1.9 with a field angle of 62°. In the continuous reflex-viewing or mirror shutter field is the new Ercsam model, the " Camex Reflex 8," in which a small silvered prism is attached to the front face of the vertically oscillating guillotine shutter which works in conjunction with a prism and lens system in the body of the camera. The review from which we are quoting also reports some novelties amongst the exhibits of French lenses, for example, a telephoto lens with a focal length of 2,440mm. (8 feet) and an aperture of f/7.4. The actual length of the lens was 3 feet and it weighed 396 lbs. The makers are the S.F.O.M. (Societe Frangaise d'Optique et de Mecanique). Angenieux, whose 18mm. " retrofocus " lens is familiar to cameramen in this country, showed what is claimed to be the first commercial production of a lens with an aperture greater than 1. the type M.l 25mm. focal length f/0.95 for use on 16mm. cine cameras. Also on show was the latest model of the Berthiot " Pan-Cinor" zoom lens, the " Pan-Cinor 4 Reflex." The range of focal length is 1:4 from 17.5mm. up to 70mm. with a maximum aperture of f/2.4 for 9.5mm. and 16mm. or from 25mm. up to 100mm. for 9.5mm., 16mm. and TV cameras. An integral part of the lens system is a reflex viewing system which allows continuous checking of the image; this may be removed when by A. E. JEAKINS the lens is used with a camera having its own reflex viewing system. Ercsam were exhibiting the " Polyfoc," an accessory optical unit for existing lenses, which enables them to be used as " zoom" lenses, with a focal length range of 1:2.5, primarily designed for use with the " Camex Reflex 8 " mentioned above. American Cinrmatoyrapher for May reports developments in 35mm. wide-screen. 20th Century-Fox have announced the development of a new photographic process for shooting CinemaScope pictures on 55mm. width film. The new 55mm. frame Hydraulic Camera Crane area is said to have almost twice as much information recording surface as any other large frame process proposed to date. The new film — actual width 55.625mm. — is the optimum size for a negative image from the point of view of film grain and " information storage " ability, according to Eastman Kodak and Bausch and Lomb engineers who have tested the negative. The film has four times the area of the present Cinema-Scope negative. it is recalled that a little over 35 years ago it was Fox who launched the " Grandeur " 70mm. film, the first attempt this century to introduce wide screen. 20th Century also stated that they would road show their top calibre productions with 55mm. prints A few days after 20th Century's announcement M.G.M. announced that they were going to switch to 65mm. film for all top productions. M.G.M.'s 65mm. shooting system will use conventional cameras with mechanisms adapted to handle the