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

J 12 HOME MOVIES & HOME TALKIES NEW CINE APPARATUS TESTED AND REVIEWED This section will be devoted each month to impartial tests and reports on cine apparatus and film submitted to " Home Movies " by the manufacturers, and should prove a valuable guide in the purchase of equipment. The Kemco Homovie System The Kemco Homovie outfit, consisting of a camera, projector and complete set of accessories, marks a radical departure from cinematograpli convention. We have all become so accustomed to the standard method of taking and projecting pictures, i.e., one above another of a loiag strip •of film, that any departure from this jjtandard comes rather as a shock. In the Kemco system, instead of each frame occupying pi'actically the whole width of the film, two frames are taken side by side, after which the film moves foiward a distance ec{ual to the depth of a fi-ame, whereupon two more pictures are taken side beside below the first pair. Both in the on the screen, but oiu test film showed that, taking this into consideration, remarkably good effects are obtainable. Tlie camera is quite conventional in appearance, as will be seen from our illustration, while the projector (which hy the way by simple change of a lever can show either the special Kemco pictures or the ordinary 10-mm. films) is provided with fancooling, a still picture device, a 250-watt lamp, a special threading lamp, and other conveniences. Care has to be taken when shooting a picture to hold the camera more steadily than usual owing to the oscillating motion of the .special feed. This motion, which, of cour.se, is additional to that of the forward feed, The Kemco camera is conventional in appearance and is easily loaded camera and the projector the film zigzags behind the lens. The first pictiu-e is taken, say, on the left of the film, the next on the right, the third on the right below this, and the fourth on the left below the fiist. The film is moved forward again, the fifth picture registering immediately below the foiuth, and the .sixth below the third : and so on. In this way four pictures are taken in the space occupied normally by one frame, the economy so effected making this the cheapest of all systems to operate. losing our standard comparison method of time on screen for a given expenditure and basing our figiu'es on the cost, includina development, of orthochromatic stock, four minutes on the scieen of 16-mm. film ■costs 26s. with most makes of film, four minutes of Oi-mm. costs approximately 1.5s., and four minutes of 16-mni. film used the Kemco way costs 6s. 6d. Naturall.^• there is some sacrifice in quality of the picture to obtain this result, as a much greater magnification has to he used in order to bring the small frames of the Kemco system up to the projjer size takes place four times a second (once for each four frames), and tends to give a transverse shake to the camera unless the latter is held quite firmly. After a little practice this can be achieved, and, of course, if the camera is supported on any of the usual stands the movement will not be noticed. The feed forward takes place at only eight steps a second instead of the usual sixteen, as two pictures are taken foi' each forward step. .A.lt hough the camera is made to take 100-foot as well as 50-feet reels, most people will use only a .50 -foot reel at a time, as this takes no less than eight minutes to riui off ! The lens is of a fixed focus anastigmat type with a maximum aperture of F/3.5 and gives good definition, particvilarly when stopped down a little, as happens in practically all cases. In both camera and jirojector the film is threaded through the gate with the usual loop each end, the whole gate mechanism moving laterally to give the necessary lateral picture displacement. A 1-inch lens is used for projection of the small pictures and a 2-inch for the ordinar3' 16-mm. pictures, both lenses being provided with the outfit. The shortfocus 1-inch lens gives approximately the same size ])icture on the .screen using the small frame as the 2-inch does with the norn^al. Pictures in both sizes are quite bright enough for all noimal home rec[uirements, and of course the film is processed and spliced in a normal fashion. The set of accessories provided with this instrument is exceptionally complete, including as it does a very good splicing outfit, additional lens, lens cleaning outfit and so forth. The complete outfit, including both camera and Jirojector and acces.sories mentioned, costs £60, and where the maximum of economy in the use of film is the chief consideration, this outfit can be reconnnended. The agents are the Rothermel Corporation The Coronet Cine Camera One of the most interesting features in present-day amateur cinematography is the steady fall in prices. A few years ago cinematography could truly he said to be a hobby of the rich, but with the advent of the 9.5-mm. cameras and projectors, thousands foiuid the\' were able to afford the neat and handy apparatus thus made available. A newcomer in the low-price field is the Coronet cine camera, about Enlargement fro with the Kemco pictures in the m a strip of our test film camera. Notice the four space usually taken by one