International photographer (Jan-Dec 1934)

December. W34 T h INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER Twenty-nine velopment, mentioned in but a sentence here, has been a civilizing agent of enormous importance. An important photographic improvement, especially for the motion picture art, came in the introduction of panchromatic film. "Panchromatic" was derived from the Greek to mean "all colors." Photographic emulsions originally were predominantly sensitive to blue, violet, and ultra-violet, being practically unaffected by red, yellow, and green. Hence the red light in photographers' darkrooms. Hence our accustomed expectation of seeing red and yellow record in photographs with the same tone value as black. Panchromatic emulsions, on the contrary, are sensitive to all colors of the visible spectrum. The improvement in photographic rendering that resulted from this change was very marked. The introduction of panchromatic emulsions a number of years ago is not to be confused with the introduction of super-sensitive panchromatic emulsions in 1931, to which allusion has already been made and which will be described further on. Home Movies "Home movies" are a comparatively recent development. They entered the scene when motion picture cameras were made to use film less than half as wide as standard motion picture film and when the "reversal process" was perfected. These two elements reduced the expense so materially that now many scores of thousands of families have their own motion picture cameras, and numerous "libraries" supply photoplays on "narrow gauge" film so that home projector owners may have additional entertainment to supplement the motion pictures they themselves have made. The reversal process is one by which the very film exposed in the camera is finished, in developing, not to a negative, but directly to a positive which may be used in the projector. One of the merits of that, of course, is that it saves exactly 50 per cent of the necessary film, since it eliminates the use of a separate negative. As practiced by the Eastman Kodak Company, the reversal process permits of enormous latitude of exposure in the camera, and yields a positive picture of fine quality. This was the stage upon which appeared the most remarkable of the developments in simplification of photography and in the increase of its scope. Amateur motion pictures in full natural color, introduced in 1928, were no more difficult to take by the Kodacolor process than snapshots. The operation was even very much simpler than amateur photography, crude though that was, at the time when picture taking entered its industrial phase with the advent of George Eastman. Super-Sensitivity The year 1931 was a period of very important developments in photographic science. Amateur movies in natural color were a more magically amazing phenomenon, but the super-sensitive panchromatic photographic emulsions of 1931 were destined to have a broader effect on the diversified uses of photography. Discovery by the Kodak Research Laboratories of new dyes which were used for "speeding up" panchromatic film quickly showed results in the motion picture industry, in studio photography, in general commercial photography, in news photography, in astronomical photography, and in home movie making. Most recently, the new super-sensitivity has been applied to permit greater speed, and consequently still greater simplicity, for Kodacolor. Increased speed, in photographic terminology, means the ability to expose a photographic image with less light; or, using the same amount of light, to get the same photographic result with a shorter exposure. By daylight, the speed of super-sensitive panchromatic film is about twice as great as for ordinary panchromatic. By artificial light, the increase in speed effected by the discovery was three times or more because the increase in light sensitivity of the new emulsions was greatest in the red and yellow parts of the spectrum. Red and yellow are present proportionately more in artificial light than in daylight. Better photography is not the only possible result of this new development. Decreased costs in professional cinematography and studio photography have been brought about by the reduction of necessary lighting. Commercial photographers have been enabled to make industrial pictures which the impossibility of adequate lighting previously prevented. Amateur cinematography inside the home has attained a new level of practicality. Such is the effect of the Eastman Kodak Company's constant photographic research. After lying as a dormant possibility since the beginning of civilization, photography in a century has come an amazingly long way. With photography as a tool and a plaything, homes are happier, the world knows itself better, medical and dental treatment has been improved, scientific investigation has been sped up, business has been simplified in many ways. Where, further, photography may go no one can even guess. Daguerre could not see the future. Eastman could only glimpse it. ew BULLETIN "wiSSSKr*"* f V> 7™ — :■"■::;"■ ■ I Bv"tt/„ „ ro«v«. £*, Unit; 6 New Lights New Ideas New Methods Cost and Time Saving Information Sixteen pages of the very latest information on studio lighting equipment . . . showing every conceivable type for photographic purposes, together with optional wiring accessories. You will be amazed at the advanced designs and remarkable improvements that have been perfected. There is no charge for the booklet, simply write, and . . . Ask for a copy of our Bulletin No. 106 Universal Electric Stage Lighting Co., inc. 321 West 50th Street N EW YORK. NY. 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