Home Movies and Home Talkies (Jun 1932-May 1933)

HOME MOVIES & HOME TALKIES 13 member there are no prints to pay for, no mounts, no enlargements, no albvuns — -just the fihn alone. How Far Five Shillings Will Go If yon are a "still" photographer just calculate how far five shillings ■will go in films, development, prints, and so forth, to give anything approaching such a ^dvid and delightful impression of life. Saj' j^ou have a postcard film camera. Your film will cost you 2s. 6d. for a reel of six exposures, while postcard size prints are sixpence each. So allowing sixpence per spool for development, five shillings will give you a developed film and only four finished photographs, which in any case can only be looked at by one jjerson at a time, whereas your five shillings' worth of cin6 film can entertain your family and friends all at once and for as many shows as you like to give them. In many cameras, too, you will have to set the shutter for each exposui'e, while the focusing scale has frequently to be used — and used acciu-ately ! Contrast this with the use of a small cin6 camera. Being clockwork driven it operates continuously so long as the release button is held down, and so far from it being a drawback for the subject to move it is an advantage. The instnmient is sighted like a gun ; the lens pro^dded is of such short focus that either you have a fitxed foc\^s camera or else, if the lens is fitted with a focusing mount, this is only A very popular outfit. The Kodak Model BB, selling for £13 13s., and the Kodascope C, which costs £18 18s. This outfit thus costs £32 Is. It is British made and gives plenty of light with its 100watt lamp. Loading a Baby cl drops in pi Easier Work Another deUghtful feature about home cinematography is that it is actually easier to take such motion pictures than to use a still camera ! Here again I would invite comparison with the still camera. For each exposure on a still camera you have to wind the film to the correct position, persuade your subject to stop still (and if you have ever tried photographing animals you know what that means !), press the release at the right moment and simultaneously make sure that your picture^ is correctly framed in the view-finder. Cine cameras using 16 mm. film are just as easily loaded In daylight. Everything has been done to simplify handling. used for veij' close jjictures. So long as the subject is appearing in the viewfinder and you are holding the release down so it will be fiLmed. At the begmning of your "scene " you will have to set the lens aperture for the hght available, but the film, particularly the most modern films, has a wide latitude and if you use a simple expo.sure meter you will waste practically no film at all. Wastage Cut Out With a still camera you are fortunate if you can get seven out of eight good pictures by reason of such defects as vibration, out -of -focus effects. ne Is child's play. The daylight-loading charger ace as easily as a spool of " still " film. double pictures through forgetting to turn the film up, fuzziness through a wrong setting of the focusing scale, and so forth. With a modern cin6 camera and only reasonable care, a very large proportion of your film footage will be perfect. You cannot forget to turn the film up for it turns itself up automatically ! If you should forget to wind up the clockwork you can't spoil any film, for it won't be exposed. What faults do occur — -and we all make mistakes at times — can be cut out of the film after it is received back from the processing station. In most cases the absence of a faulty bit will not be noticed. Sizes Compared So much, then, for preliminaries and to give you an idea of how cheaply you can start. Of coiu'se a little more money spent will give you better results, and in particular bigger and brighter pictures. There are two standard sizes popularly used for home cinematography : a 9J-mm. film popularised by the Pathe Company and used in their cameras as well as in one or two other makes, and the 16-mm. film first brought out by the Kodak Company and now made and sold by a number of firms for many different makes and types of camera. The choice of film size will depend largely upon what you desire to spend on your hobby, but do not r\m away with the idea which is held by many people that the 16-mm. film is much more expensive than the Bj^-mm. Accurate comparison of the two films is rarely made, so it is just as well that it is done at once. A Footage Comparison The 9i-nrmi. film (and the measurement refers to the vjidth of the film) is arranged with single perforations bitween the successive pictures. Practically the whole width of the film is used, but there is a gap between pictures to allow for the perforation. The 16-mm. film utilLses the full height, but owing to the perforations beina on both si les of the film the full width is not \itilis«d. Both films give forty