American cinematographer. (1951)

Get The NEW 1950 EDITION! Added supplements contain data on magnetic sound recording, latensification process for films; use of transluc¬ ent photo backgrounds; color processes for motion pictures; infra red photog¬ raphy; television photography — plus hundreds of ready reference tables es¬ sential for every day photographic use. Here is the only handbook that provides in convenient form the basic facts concerning cinematographic methods, materials and equipment. Its 310 pages, beautifully leatherette bound, contain 219 charts, plus numerous illustrations and graphic descrip¬ tions. In no other book will the cameraman find charted in concise form such data as: • LENS STOP CALCULATOR — shows l/4, Vh 3Ai and 1 stop opening or closing from any given f/ value. • CAMERA SETUPS — gives distance from lens to subject for normal size figures for lenses of various focal length. • LENS ANGLES — Horizontal and vertical angles by degrees as obtained by lenses of various sizes. • CLOSEUP DIAPHRAGM CALCULATOR— Shows changes in effective aperture for the measured light value when shooting small subjects at close range. • LIGHTING EQUIPMENT — all kinds anal¬ yzed and described. • DEPTH OF FOCUS — for most all lenses. • EXPOSURE METER COMPENSATOR— shows how to get correct meter reading of key light to obtain equal negative density values for all lens stops. THESE ARE ONLY A FEW of the 219 charts contained in this valuable book. ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY! $500 prepaid Book Department, American Cinematographer, 1782 No. Orange Dr., Hollywood 28, Calif. Gentlemen: Enclosed please find $5.00 for which please send me a copy of THE AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER HANDBOOK AND REFERENCE GUIDE. Name .... Address City. . Zone . State . (If you live in California, please in¬ clude 18c sales tax — total $5.18.) Keeping up with PHOTOGRAPHY ABILITY OF COLOR FILM to record fine detail is determined by the effects which occur at the moment of exposure, ac¬ cording to Karl H. Schadlich, Ansco research scientist. The relative impor¬ tance of the various effects is somewhat different than those encountered with conventional black-and-white film. In Anseo Color film, the layer construction and physical characteristics of the re¬ quired emulsions create the major in¬ fluence upon resolving power. Because the emulsions are highly transparent, halation becomes a major factor. The emulsion turpidity is low and has less effect. Grain size is not a significant factor, but the density and color dif¬ ferentials of the original subjects are particularly important, Schadlich said. • PROBLEMS OF PHOTOGRAPHY in tropical areas where temperatures and relative humidity are high are being explored at the Panama laboratory of Eastman Kodak Company. Here research activity falls into two general categories: one is the investigation of the deterioration of films, plates and papers, cameras, lenses and similar photographic equipment. The aim here is to find means for pre¬ venting deterioration from the various tropical factors. The other main activity consists of research on photographic prac¬ tice in the tropics, including the study of processing problems darkroom and studio operations etc. CIVIL AERONAUTICS Administration au¬ thorities, faced with the problem of accurately measuring the takeoff and landing runs of aircraft under varying conditions, for later use by aircraft and airport engineers, have developed four highly specialized cameras for use in studying operational characteristics of aircraft and obstacles to safe landings. They are: the Aircraft Takeoff and Landing Camera, the Transit Camera For Approach Zone Study, the Auto¬ matic Flight Data Camera, and the Cockpit Visibility Camera. All four cameras are illustrated and described in a recent issue of Photographic Engineer¬ ing, a new magazine devoted to the sci¬ ence, and the official publication of the Society of Photographic Engineers. The special cameras designed for re¬ cording takeoff and landing runs of air¬ craft photographs the plane on the run¬ way, and on the same film includes all essential data, such as wind direction and velocity, lapsed time and all other information relevant to the site or ship. This camera reportedly is a hybrid between a true motion picture camera and a still camera taking fast sequence pictures. To photograph data revealed by plane instruments in flight, the CAA sponsored development of a camera that mounts back of the pilot. Using infra¬ red discharge lamps for interval illumin¬ ation, rapid-sequence pictures are filmed without distracting the pilot. Perhaps the most interesting camera in the group is that designed to study the range of vision possible from the cockpit of aircraft, particularly transport planes which encounter unusual hazards in operating into congested airfields. This camera is located at the pilot’s eve-level, has an extreme wide-angle lens and in¬ corporates a recording grid representing the angular values. • A HARDY IMPROVED motion picture film intended for picture taking at depths of more than three miles beneath the sur¬ face of the earth and at temperatures up to 1 13 degrees above the boiling point of water is now being produced for oil well drillers, the Eastman Kodak Com¬ pany has announced. This film, which is available in both 1 6mm and 35mm widths, is called Kodak Linagraph Drift Survey Film. Used in a standard clinometer or drift survey camera, the film is employed in well drilling operations to record instrument readings as drift meters, and other de¬ vices are lowered into the well to deter¬ mine the angle and direction that drill¬ ing operations are taking. The film, according to Kodak re¬ search technicians, has to be able to take far more than ordinary punishment from heat. This is because of the increasingly higher temperatures encountered as drift survey meters and other apparatus are lowered to even greater depths in well drilling operations. The improved film can be successfully used at depths down to 17,000 feet and temperatures up to 325°F. From the photographic record made on the new film, technicians can quickly determine the angle and direction that a hole is “off vertical” at any specified depth, or, chart the course of the well from the moment it leaves the surface ( Continued on Page 29) 8 American Cinematographer January, 1951