Amateur Photographer & Cinematographer (1933)

August 9th, 1933 places (since the finder is always used as a preliminary to actual shooting) the deposits are more easily seen and can be removed with very little trouble. Beginners may find that they can still use their finder equip¬ ment despite the presence of a fine film of dust ; but this should on no account be allowed to remain, since it can result in a loss of brilliance, which should be a leading feature of all view-finders. Cleaning. Naturally, the first thing to do in all troublesome cases detected on location is to apply the only remedies possible without actually fogging any film that may be in the camera. Thus, finders may easily be restored to a high degree of efficiency by running over the affected parts with a clean pocket-handkerchief ; and both sur¬ faces of the mounted lens may be made available for cleaning merely by unscrewing the whole component from its threaded flange. Dirt and dust inside the camera are not so easily removed without first of all clearing the instrument of exposed and unexposed film. Then the cam¬ era cover should be taken off and the whole space inside the instrument should be freed of dust with a long¬ haired soft brush. All the bright guides and rollers which serve to retain the film in position should next be polished with a soft cloth, and when this has been done the body of the instrument should be more carefully gone over with a fluffless duster slightly dampened with volatile petroleum spirit. Care should be taken not to saturate this duster with the liquid, nor to expend too much energy in rubbing the camera walls — since the matt-black “ dope ” used to darken the interior of the body cannot be expected to remain unaffected by such treatment. Important Details. Some of the most important details of camera cleaning should be left until the free dust has been removed from the opened interior. Then the The AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER ■a 6 CINEMATOGRAPHER a aperture in the gate should be care¬ fully cleaned with a small brush — the hairs of which may be brought to a fine and an easily-manipulated point by immersing merely the tip in a little of the volatile spirit. After this, both sides of the cover should be cleaned (away from the camera, of course), and immediately replaced to avoid early contamination of the overhauled interior. Other parts of the camera exterior are very liable to collect accumulations of dust, and these should be cleaned just as soon as the camera is properly closed. Finally, both the lens and the view-finder should receive a further light polishing, worn soft silk or cambric being much more suitable for this purpose than the chemicallytreated cotton and chamois squares now to be seen on the market. And be particularly careful to return the camera immediately into its case, or all the thoughtful care so recently bestowed will have been in vain. The Charm of the Cine Camera WHEN the camera became a common possession it was realised that here, in some measure, was a way in which man, at least for his own delight, could hold the passing moment. Then came the cine camera. At first the cine camera was des¬ tined only for the rich. Then came what we know now as sub-standard film, and just as the camera became a common possession so the cine camera is becoming part of the normal equipment of the young people of to-day. Where the hand camera can offer a scene or tableau or group the cine camera can offer life in all its variety of movement and colour. Almost for the first time in any generation we can hold, in a single reel of film, the magic of some vanished summer. As literature, however, has other aspects than history, so the cine camera, if it is to be a true art medium, must interpret as well as record. The New “ Eight ” Film. Up to now a great many people have hesitated to become amateur cinematographers on the grounds that running costs were beyond their means. For such, I would advise the new Cine-Kodak ‘ ‘Eight” camera, which By M. A. LOYELL-BURGESS. cuts film costs to a quarter. It is built to take a 25-ft. roll of special 16-mm. film, but is so designed that it exposes only half the width of film at a time, making one foot of film do the work of four. When the 25-ft. roll of special film has been run through, the spool is reversed and the other half of its width is exposed. Thus the size of each picture — or “ frame — is only half the width and half the depth of a normal 16-mm. frame. After processing the film is automa¬ tically slit down the middle and the two halves are spliced end-to-end. The result is 50 ft. of 8-mm. film, equal in projection time to 100 ft. of 16-mm. film. One or two correspondents on this new Cine-Kodak ' ‘ Eight ’ ’ have obvious¬ ly been under the impression that the projected picture must be a great deal under the size of normal home movie screen pictures. This, however, is not so, because the extraordinary magnification necessary has been made possible by the discovery of a new type of emulsion. The 16-mm. film library at Kodak House will now be supplemented by a library of 8-mm. films. This has already been established. Film Libraries. 1 have a great many enquiries from cine amateurs who wish to hire other than amusement films. These may be interested to know that interest films covering a large variety of subjects can be obtained from the Empire Marketing Board Film Library, Imperial Institute, South Kensington. Scottish Travel Films (16-mm. only) can be obtained from the Scottish Travel Association. British Instructional Film are re¬ sponsible for some good educational subjects. Sir Oswald Stoll has recently made a good many public pronouncements on the whole question of instructional and educational films, and it is ob¬ vious that he is extremely interested. The Film Institute is the national and official body for co-ordinating all efforts of this nature. I was interested to hear last week of Kodak’s Medical Motion Picture Library and service. This is, of course, a highly specialised field and has a department to itself. The library of Medical and Surgical films is in wide use in teaching hospitals and among medical practitioners. Messrs. Pathe and Ensign, as well as Kodak, have instructional, sports, interest and travel films for hire. 139 25