International photographer (Feb-Dec 1929)

Eight T h INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER March, 1929 Want Bell and Howell Cameras Any Model Condition no object. Must be cheap. CINEMA EQUIPMENT CO. 755 Seward Street Hollywood, Cal. ALVIN WYCKOFF GLad. 3995 HEmp.4197 HEmp. 1128 RIES BROS., INC. PHOTO SUPPLIES 1152 N. Western GRanite 1185 ELMER G. DYER CINEMATOGRAPHER Aerial Photography Since 1918 HEmpstead 8116 HEmpstead 1128 King Charney says . . . Whether it be carbon or incandescent lighting Whether it be talkies or silent Insist upon Negative For definite results AGFA RAW FILM CORPORATION Alfred Weiss, Pres. New York Hollywood Sound Secrets By Arthur Reeves Sound pictures are fundamentally the product of an idea put together with a microphone, a film, a lot of secrets and considerable guess work. In order to get by at certain critical stages of the game, one must be a •Spanish athlete and know a heap of stuff clearly misunderstandable to anyone else. But the cameraman has to make good whether he is in the sound booth or outside. The deep secret that shrouds each studio about its sound work, insults the intelligence of every cameraman. The producer will benefit when he lets the cameramen solve his troubles as he has done in the past. Sound pictures are now, and always will be, a photographic process. The cameraman has worked hard to set up a standard of photography, only to have it shot to pieces by the advent of sound pictures, sound engineers, sound booths, and sound can't men. When we see some of the sound pictures we ask "where is the photography of yesterday?" Here is the low-down on some of the lots. We don't mention names because there is no value in giving away their pet secrets. Lot number one has built a box that just fits the camera and motor, with the finder outside the box. It was made sound proof with sponge rubber. They call this ensemble the "baby blimp." Lot number two, on Santa Monica boulevard, made one picture using a sound booth, and the next one was made with the camera in a padded box. They never heard of the "baby blimp," but used common sense to get the camera out of the booth. Lot number three has everyone signed to secrecy. This company has made a very successful western talkie. They use the sound booth very little, and when the camera is used out in the open, the cameraman and sound man get together and the sound of the camera is rendered unnoticeable by the position of the mike and the camera in relation to the amplification. No secrets, just plain common sense. Lot number four, a well known comedy producer, has placed the sound equipment in charge of the cameraman. He has no sound engineers, instead he has two electricians from a sister local handling the sound equipment. With this combination they are shooting with the camera out in the open, and doing work that ranks higher in quality than most of the successful sound dramas. After all photography is an open book, and it is the artistry and skill of the cameraman which makes one picture better than another. This applies to sound pictures of the future, their success will be proportionate to the co-operation given the cameraman. Four Machines at Consolidated Not content with being one of the best equipped laboratories handling commercial work, the Consolidated Laboratories now have the distinction of being the only laboratory on the coast operating four negative developing machines. The machines just installed are known as the Erbograph, and are characterized by the fact that the film moves in a horizontal position instead of vertical. Advantages of this principle are easily recognized. The film is always submerged, thus obviating dangers from air oxidation or scum formations. Though being driven from both ends, the machine is surprisingly simple and easily accessible. It allows easy circulation of developer as supply tanks may be placed quite low. The entire machine is notable for its lack of sprockets and complicated mechanism. This, of course, reduces chance of damage to negative while being developed. The Erbograph machine during use is suspended in the developer tray, but when cleaning, the machine is readily lifted away so that the tank may be slid out and either cleaned separately. These new negative machines, together with their positive machines, make the Consolidated Laboratories entirely machine-operated. V. D. Smith and Aller report perfect results from the new Dupont V. D. sound recording stock recently placed on the market by that company. V. D. is an abbreviation for variable density, and is a specially prepared emulsion perfected by Dr. V. B. Sease of the Dupont Company, associated with Dr. Donald McKenzie of the Educational Research Products Corp.