Agfa motion picture topics (Apr 1937-June 1940)

Modern Fine-grain films are capable of tremendous enlargement. Compare size of contact print in man's hand with enlargement (from the same Agfa Finopan negative) on wall. Similarly, many pictures which under previous conditions would have demanded a synchronized flash, even with fast lenses, are now possible without such disturbing aids. In the same way, as many minnicam-users are realizing, Ultra Speed Pan is opening to those limited to the less expensive f : 3 .5 and slower objectives, fields formerly fhe exclusive property of the owners of fast lenses. There is another aspect to the use of this film which has as yet received little comment. This is its use under circumstances which ordinarily would permit the adequate use of slower films. Some of these should be obvious at once, for any photographer, granted his choice between making a picture with an emulsion which forces him to use his lens at maximum aperture, and one which permits him to use a reduced stop, will choose the latter. This is perhaps most easily evident in the case of speed photography where extremely high shutter-speeds— from 1/500 to I /1 000 second must be used. With ordinary superpan-type film under conditions where a full exposure with I / 1 000 second would call for an aperture of f :3 .5, Supreme would permit stopping down to f : 5 .6 , and Ultra Speed Pan to f:7. The same advantage can be found in the case of many other types of picture which do not require such extremely fast exposures. In many cases one is faced with the choice of either stopping down for detail and depth, using in consequence a relatively slow exposure, or of sacrificing definition for the shorter exposures permitted by larger apertures. In this case, the faster film permits one to have his cake and eat it too, by using both small apertures and quick exposures. This should be especially valuable to the numerous mini Page Twenty