Amateur Photographer & Cinematographer (1935)

April 3rd, 1935 Thi amateur photographer o 6 CINEMATOGRAPHER o Tempus Fugit. The first week of April has long been looked upon as being the open¬ ing of the photographic season, manufacturers regarding it as the best time of the year to introduce new goods. A correspondent who for a half-century or so kept a photo¬ graphic trade diary tells us that the first week of April therein is filled with items of particular interest. Some of the items to be found entered from the 1st to the 7th of April, and the years, are : Hypo advertised at a reduced price, viz., 6d. per oz., 1845 ; Hydroquinone introduced (byEder and Toth), 1880; Watkins exposure meter first de¬ scribed (at the Hereford Photo¬ graphic Society), 1890; Kodak Co. advertised “ 50,000 Kodaks now in use,” 1892 ; Ilford “ Monarch ” Plate introduced, 1903 ; Paget Colour Plate introduced, 1913 ; Carbro Process first described (in “A.P.”), 1919; Selo Film introduced, 1930. Emulsions. Some impressive figures were given by Mr. W. Balmain, in a talk on emulsions the other evening to the Cinematograph Group of the Royal Photographic Society. He said that the consumption of positive cinemato¬ graph material in this country alone runs to between 250 and 300 million feet every year, and that of pan¬ chromatic negative material to some¬ thing like 50 million feet, probably more. This represents an annual turnover of approaching a million pounds. It is not difficult, there¬ fore, to see why care is lavished on the production of cinematograph emulsions, and why they have reached such a pitch of perfection. The emulsion must be pretty good, for it is called upon to go through a machine at the rate of ninety feet a minute, not smoothly, but in intermittent jerks, and to pass through a contact printing machine perhaps a hundred times and come up smiling. If a stock be faulty it may easily mean the scrapping of a day’s work in a studio, running into £ 1,000 . These facts alone are probably more responsible than any¬ thing else for the present perfection of the panchromatic negative. The A mateur Photographer” E XPOSURE T ABLE — April EVERY MONTH a brief exposure table will be provided for the assistance of our readers in their practical work. A glance at the current approximate exposures as here given will serve as a reliable guide for most purposes. The subjects will be varied to suit the time of year. The following exposures will serve as a working guide for any fine day during the month, between the hours of 10 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon, with the sun shining, but not necessarily on the subject. Stop used, f/8. The exposure should be doubled if the sun is obscured, or if stop f/11 is used. For f/16 give four times the exposure. For f/5.6 give half. From 9 to 10 a.m. or from 2 to 3 p.m., double these exposures. From 7 to 9 a.m. or from 3 to 5 p.m. treble them. N.B. — The times given above are by “ sun time." The exposures, therefore, which are laid down as suitable for 2 to 4 p.m., for instance, will be those to be given between 3 and 5 p.m., by the clock, during “ summer time," which begins on April 14th. Subject. Ordinary. Medium. Rapid. Extra Rapid. Ultra Rapid. Open seascapes and cloud studies . . 1/25 sec. 1/40 sec. 1/75 sec. 1/100 sec. 1/125 sec. Open landscapes with no very heavy shadows in foreground, shipping studies or seascapes with rocks, beach scenes 1/15 * y 1/25 y y 1/45 y y 1/60 y y 1/75 yy Ordinary landscapes, open river scenery, figure studies in the open, light buildings, wet street scenes 1/8 y y 1/12 y y 1/25 y y 1/30 y y 1/40 yy Landscapes in fog or mist, or with strong foreground, well-lighted street scenes . . 1/5 y y 1/8 y y 1/15 y y 1/20 y y 1/25 yy Buildings or trees occupying greater portion of picture 1/3 y y 1/5 y y 1/6 1 y y 1/8 y y 1/10 yy Portraits or groups taken out of doors, not too much shut in by buildings . . H y y 1 y y 1/2 y y 1/3 y y 1/4 yy Portraits in well-lighted room, light sur¬ roundings, big window, white reflector . . 5 secs. 4 secs. 2 secs. 11 y y 1 y y As a further guide we append a list of some of the best known makes of plates and films on the market. They have been divided into groups which approxima indicate the speeds referred to above. The hypersensitive panchromatic plates and films require less exposure than the ultra-rapid. Ultra Rapid. Agfa, Special Portrait. „ Super Pan. Film. „ Super-speed Film. ,, Isochrom Film. „ Ultra Special. Barnet, Press and Super Press. „ XL Super-speed Ortho. „ Soft Panchromatic. „ Studio Fast. ,, Ultra Rapid. Eastman, Par Speed Cut Film. „ S.S. Cut Film. „ S.S. Pan. Film. Gevaert, Super Sensima. ,, Sensima Fast. „ Sensima Ortho. ,, Super Chromosa. „ Roll Films and Packs. Ilford, Golden Iso-Zenith. „ Iso-Zenith. „ Hypersensitive Pan. „ Plates and Films. ,, Portrait Film (Ortho Fast). „ Monarch. ,, Press. ,, S.S. Ex. Sens. „ Zenith Ex. Sens. „ S.G. Pan. Illingworth, Fleet. „ Super Fleet. „ Super Fleet Ortho. „ Pan. Fleet. Imperial, S.S.S. Press Ortho. „ Eclipse. „ Eclipse Ortho Soft. „ Eclipse Soft. „ Eclipse Ortho. Imperial, Eclipse Pan. Soft. Kodak, Verichrome Film. Marion, Record. ,, Iso Record. Selo, Selochrome Roll Film and Film Pack. „ Selo. Pan. Roll Film. Voigtlander, Illustra Film. Wellington, Anti-screen. „ X Press. Zeiss Ikon, Pemox Roll Film and Packs. Extra Rapid. Agfa, Chromo. „ „ Isolar. „ Extra Rapid. „ Isolar. „ Iso Rapid. ,, ,, ,, Chromo. „ Roll Film. Barnet, S.R. Pan. „ Studio Ortho. Ensicn, Roll Film. Gevaert, Filtered Ortho. ,, Chromosa. „ S.R. „ Regular Cut Film. Ilford, Auto. Filter. „ S.R. Pan. ,, Pan. Film. „ Rapid Chromatic. Imperial, Non-filter (new series). „ Eclipse Pan. B. ,, S.S. Ortho. Kodak, Roll Film and Film Pack. Pathe, Roll Film. Selo, Roll Film. Zeiss Ikon, Roll Film and Film Pack. Rapid. Barnet, S.R. „ Self-screen Ortho. Ilford, Screen Chromatic. „ S.R. „ Commercial Ortho. Film. Imperial, Non-Filter. S R „ S.R. Ortho. Kodak, Cut Film. Medium. Ilford, Empress. „ Chromatic. Ordinary. Barnet, Ordinary. Gevaert, Ordinary. Ilford, Ordinary. „ Rapid Process Pan. Imperial, Ordinary. „ Pan. Process. 286 6