Home Movies (1943)

PACE 394 HOME MOVIES FOR DECEMBER His needs come first! Today — all Craig facilities are taxed to the utmost with war production of movie equipment and aircraft accessories. It's impossible for us to fill the complete orders of all our old customers because of the huge volume of war work, the restrictions on raw materials and the resulting difficulties of production. ButAfter Victory — Craig Products will be belter than ever and again always available thru your photo dealer. CRAIG MOVIE SUPPLY CO. Craig Master Rewind Combination If not satisfied we return your camera prepaid. Write Dept. HM President information WWW Cement Formula O: Can you supply an authentic formula for film cement that can be used on either acetate (safety) or nitrate base motion picture film? — Lt. Col. Walter Scott, Jr., Clovis, N M. A: The following formula will produce the desired cement: Acetone _ 80 cc. Ether 10 cc. Acetic Acid Glacial 99' ', .. 1 cc. Into the above, dissolve about one foot of clear 16mm. safety film (after removing the emulsion). More film may be added if the cement is desired thicker and slower drying. It is very important to remember that the solvent for this formula is highly volatile and inflammable and should be used only when adequate ventilation is available. It should never be used near excessive heat or open flame. Its vapors should be kept away from sparks and prolonged breathing of the vapors should be avoided. Which Printer? O: Which is the best type of motion picture printer — step or continuous type, and uhy? Also advise uhat is meant by "double-system" sound recording; Ijow is it done? Can I use nt) silent 1 6mm. camera for this? — D. ARusch, Hollywood, Calif. A: (1) The motion picture printer that gives the best results is the step printer for the reason that the film is printed one frame at a time. Each frame comes to stop momentarily in the printing aperture and is held accurately framed by a registering pin. The step printer also affords greater control of the printing light and gives a better print result. However, the continuous printers now in use today are so highlyperfected that they can produce prints almost the equal of those obtained from the step printer — so much so, that the average person could not detect the difference. Today, the step printer is chiefly used in producing dupe negatives or lavender prints of original negatives where highest fidelity is paramount. (2) Double system sound recording is that which employs the sound-on-film ADDRESS PLEASE! it IT is the policy of the editor of "Information Please'' to answer by mail every letter requesting information on a moviemaking problem. However, readers must include their address in letters, as not all replies can be published in this department. Please remember not only to give complete address in your letter, but to include an addressed, postage paid envelope for reply. — EDITOR. • READERS: This depart mini is for your benefit. Send in your problems and our technical board uill answer your question in these columns. If an answer by mail /'< desired, enclose addressed stamped cm elope. recording unit separately from the camera. In other words, instead of the sound being registered on the film simultaneously with the picture image in the camera, the sound is recorded on another film traveling at synchronized speed within a separate recording unit. Later, the developed sound track is combined with the picture negative to produce a composite print of picture and sound track on the positive print. Your silent camera might possibly be used for filming motion pictures in sound, provided it can be fitted with a synchronous motor to turn the camera at a speed of 24 frames per second. Infinity O: Many times in giving ad 1 ice about title making in these columns you haic stated that if hen an auxiliary lens is used before the camera, the camera lens must be "set at infinity." Please explain u hat is meant by this — Fred Micha, Binghamton, X. Y. A: This direction applies only where the camera lens is equipped with a focusing mount, i. e., if it is capable of being set for filming at various distances. Auxiliary lenses are calculated to photograph sharply at their rated focusing distance when the camera lens is set at infinity. A five diopter auxiliary iens, for example, has a focusing range of 8 inches. It will enable your camera to photograph a title card 3 Vs"x2 ^s" at a distance of 8 inches when placed in front of the camera lens and with the camera lens focusing ring set at infinity. If your camera is fitted with a fixed focus lens — one that need not be adjusted for focusing distance each time a shot is made — use of an auxiliary lens will produce like satisfactory results in title making because the fixed focus lens is pre-set by the maker to include infinity in its image recording range. Chemical Fades O: hi making chemical or dye fades, bow many frames should be given over to the complete fade? — Kenneth Rowland, Baton Rouge, La. • Continued on Pa$c 422