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

114 HOME MOVIES & HOME TALKIES (Contimbed from page 113) 9*5 mm. SuperSensitive Panchromatic Film The long-awaited super-sensitive panchromatic 9.5-mm. filnn has now made its appearance, and we congratulate iMessrs. Pathescope, Ltd., the manufacturers, on this big advance. Tested in a Pathe Luxe Motocamera the film proved very fast indeed, and some over-exposure resulted in parts of the fihii on our first attemjjt. This additional sjieed must always be borne in mind and a suitable adjustment of the stop made, clear advice on this matter being given on a leaflet supplied with each carton. In our experience a very high-speed film of this type has not quite so much latitude as the slower, and wide extremes of lighting should not be included in the same picture where this can be avoided. The new film will, however, probably attain its greatest popularity for indoor work, particularly with artificial light. While the new film is much faster than normal for daylight, it is still faster in proportion to artificial, the makers claiming foiu times the speed of the ordinary film in daylight and ten times in artificial light. So far as artificial light is concerned, this means that with a large aperture lens satisfactory pictures can be taken with no more artificial light than is available in most homes fitted with electric light. Messrs. Pathe have made a departure in the ease of this film by including the price of processing in the initial price, the charge being 6s. Od. for a 30-ft. charger, which must be returned to Messrs. Pathe for processing by the reversal method. A Good Titling Bench The Dalhneyer titling outfit, an illustration of which accompanies these notes, is unique in design and particularly flexible in its application. It consists primarily of a form of optical bench made up of a triangular sectioned base on which slide three "bridges." The fir.st is designed to carry the camera anil is so arranged that it will take any camera on the market (provided it is fitted with a tiipod bush) either 9 J or 16-mm. The second bridge carries a lamp frame containing eight 60-watt pearl lamps, while the third bridge carries the title frame itself. This latter is particularly interesting, consisting as it does of a wooden board faced with black felt paper. With the outfit is provided a fount of white felt letters, and in order to set up a title all that is necessary is to lay the felt -covered board on the table and arrange the white letters in any order desired. These felt letters adhere to the felt paper and "stay put" in any position so that no special Ineans of attachment is required. The lamp bridge and camera bridge can be slid backwards and forwards and locked in any position so that varying sizes of title designs can be used as desired. For example, the "Home Movie" free title presented e\'ery month in this magazine can be pinned to the board and the camera slid forward until the picture exactly fills the frame. It so happens that we had one of these titling devices in use for some months before it was officially submitted to this magazine, and after extended use can strongly recommend it for all serious work. Working at 16 frames a second F/S.6 is sufficient aperture with panchromatic film, or F/8 with super-sensitive. The price is £8 8s., which includes an adequate supply of felt letters (over 400) but does not include the lamps, which are of a standard pattern and can be obtained from any electrician. Lens Cleaning Outfit Good clear pictures cannot be obtained with dirty lenses, and a lens cleaning outfit is a very good investment. The Dallmeyer lens cleaning outfit illustrated herewith is designed to enable the camera and projector user not only to clean his lenses easily but to clean them in such a way that the delicate glass surfaces are not injured. It cannot be too widely known that the optical glass used in the best lenses is very easily damaged. Every lens and camera maker emphasises this in his literature, but we find that the ad\'ice is far too often ignored, resulting after a new months in a noticeable loss in the quality of pictures. Messrs. Dallmeyer, being lens manufacturers themselves, are fullj^ aware of all the requirements of a good lens cleaning outfit, and the few shillings charged for their outfit is money very well spent. It includes a bottle of special cleaning fluid, a camel hair brush, chamois leather and a piece of linen, while full instructions are of course included, the price being 3s. 6d. complete. A New 9|-mm. Reversible Film Messrs. Gevaert, Ltd., who have a high i-eputation in the photographic trafle for the quality of their products, and whose 16-mm. positive -negative film is reviewed elsewhere in these pages, have submitted to us their new 9i-mm. reversible film for test. It is not supplied in chargers, but can be loaded into standard chargers in a dark room either by the cine-photographer himself or by his dealer. As we were led to expect from tests conducted with the Gevaert 16-mm. film, the 9i-mm. stock is of very high standard, good gradation, freedom from hallation and fine grain being as before distinguishing features. The makers' figures for this film are H. & D. 425, and exposed on this basis excellent results were obtained. Messrs. Gevaert do not themselves undertake the processing of this film and suggest that purchasers arrange for processing in the ordina^^' way through their photographic dealers or through one of the many hou.ses specialising in this work. It can also be processed at home with the usual formulae by those who undertake this work themselves. The price is 8s. 6d. per carton of three spools. SuperSensitive Kodacolor Film Those readers who are interested in the Kodacolor process of natural colour photography will be pleased to learn that the Kodak Company have now produced a super-sensitive Kodacolor film of double the speed of that previously sold, the price being the same and the new film replacing the old in all cases. The sample .50-foot reel submitted to us by Messrs. Kodak, Ltd., was exposed in a Filmo TOD. camera fitted for Kodacolor on a garden scene with Inunan subjects, the dresses worn and the background being chosen to give the widest possible and most difficult colour rendering. The resultant film has turned out admirably, everj' colour being faithfully rendered in true value. The price of the Kodacolor film is 21s. for the 50-foot reel and 40s. fo;'" a lOO-foot reel. It should be pointed as a disadvantage that Kodacolor pictures can only be taken and shown in certain cameras and j^rojectors, special additional fitments for both being required. Those interested can obtain full particulars by applying to the Kodak Company, mentioning this magazine. Gevaert 16-mm. Films The positive-negative tj-pe of film, as distinct from the reversible, has achieved a wide popularity, due to the fact that the original film exposed in the camera is developed as a negative and from this as many positives as desired can be printed, tlie original negative being retained uninjured. As most of our readers know, in the reversible process the film exposed in the camera is converted into a positive direct. Both types of films have their advantages. In view of the increasing interest in good positivenegative fihns we were pleased to receive from Messrs. Gevaert, Ltd., for test and report, samples of both their orthochromatic and panchromatic positive -negative fihns, and our tests show that both are excellent quality. Speeds claimed by the makers of these fihns are 425 H. & D. for the ortho. and 650 for the pan. With exposures based on these figures excellent negatives and prints were obtained, good gradation, latitude and fine grain being noticeable features on projection. The Gevaert 16-mm. positivenegative films are not sold on the inclusive price basis, the charge being for the film alone and additional charge for the ilevelopment and printing. This feature will appeal to those more advanced amateurs who like to experiment with their own processing, but do not care to do so when they have alreadj' paid in the first cost for complete development and printing. The prices of the films are : orthochromatic, 13s. 6d. ; panchromatic, I7s. per 100 feet, 50 foot reels being 7s. 6d. and 9s. 6d. respeotiv-ely, processing and printing chargetl extra. Both types can be fully recommended.