Amateur Photographer & Cinematographer (1933)

I The AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER lo 6 CIMENATOORAPHER a August 2nd, 1933 Every week an article will appear under this heading dealing with a topic of interest to the novice in photography. NOTES L NOTIONS Jot the LESS ADVANCED WORKER V.P. AND HALF -V.P. niiTTnTmnmmnnnitmrnirrminmnnmnmimirTnunjiiiuMii*it THIS is certainly the year of the miniature camera ; and for some reasons I am not sur¬ prised at the popularity of some, at any rate, of the instruments that have sprung up in such great variety and numbers. They are ingenious and efficient. The fact is that for many years past there has been steady improvement in camera construction, in the rapidity and optical excellence of lenses, and in the speed and quality of sensitive materials. One result is that it is possible to obtain, even with large lens apertures and short exposures, tiny negatives of first-rate technical quality. At the same time, we must not lose our heads and our sense of proportion. To hear some people talk one would think that there was some special merit in mere smallness. There are certain very great advantages in being able to do what is required by using small and portable apparatus, and producing negatives at a low rate. But a disadvantage at once arises if it is not possible to make from the small negatives larger prints of good quality, and this is sometimes the case. To get the best results, the small camera must necessarily be comparatively costly. In my own case I am quite willing, and even pleased, to use the smallest camera that will do what I want it to do as well as I want it done. At the same time I do not propose to bid farewell to a certain favourite half¬ plate outfit, and still less to anything of quarter-plate or 3^ x size. I have made an illustration which I think makes clear how the same spool of film can be used for either eight vest-pocket size negatives, or for sixteen negatives of about half that size. This is a case where metric dimensions are more convenient than English. The picture space of a V.P. negative may be taken as 4 x centimetres, and the half size as 4 x 3 centimetres. The half centimetre is lost in the space between the two smaller pictures. The upper strip in the illustration, which is natural size, shows two and a half V.P. pictures ; and the lower strip shows how five of the smaller pictures go into the same space. One way of arranging for the double number of negatives is to have two peep-holes in the back of the camera instead of one. The number on the backing paper appears in the first window, an exposure is made, and the film is wound till the same num¬ ber appears in the second window. The way in which vertical and hori¬ zontal subjects arrange themselves in each case is also shown in the illustration.