International photographer (Jan-Dec 1933)

The NEWSREEL WORLD Ray Fernstrom THE INDISPENSABLE DE VRY Have you ever stopped to consider the growing dependence on this practical little box in modern newsreel work ? There is perhaps no camera with more odd jobs to do. It does more magic tricks than even the newsreel camera and sound men themselves, in fact there is no question that it has saved the lives of at least a few men. Who would dare stick his neck where the De Vry is often placed, close to onrushing race care, horses, trains, or in the nozzle of sixteen inch guns? Whenever you see scenes taken from the ends of wings in air pictures you can always be sure it was a De Vry job. These oblong cameras strap so easily to almost any surface and can readily be started by wire from the cockpit. Parachute jumpers have leaped into space with De Vrys, recording in film the rapid descent and sudden jerk as the chutes opened. When once a newsreel wished to show a plane spinning to earth in a crash a little black box strapped to the tail showed exactly how the pilot would have felt had he not jumped with his umbrella before the dive. Believe it or not, that same one inch lens is still doing business at the old stand. Speaking of one inch lenses, the Paramount News boys here in California surely made a pip of an under water camera out of a De Vry. They simply made a camera shaped bag out of balloon fabric — a sort of rubber cloth that is both pliable and watertight. On the closed end they cemented a circular piece of opitical glass with a metal rim for the one inch lens to shoot through. That, my friends, is their under water camera. To use it the camera is merely slid into its case, the end of the bag rolled over with air excluded and the rolled over piece taped with ordinary film tape. As a precautionary measure the glass also is taped to the front of the lens securely. Releasing the trigger is accomplished through the flexibility of the cloth. The one incher pointed in the general direction of the subject is bound to connect, even without a finder. Once another ingenious newsreeler desired a projectile's eye view as it passed through the nozzle of a Big Bertha. Here the De Vry was let slide down the inside of the cannon with the barrel's rifling giving it the illusion of spinning. What a thrill that shot gives cut into a navy gunfire story. So here's to a reel trouper, the little De Vry, the newsreelers' pal. WHY NOT ZOOM THE NEWS? If ever a couple of lenses came in handy in the old one lens days, so does one lens now replace the great collection we carry today in newsreel work. The new zoom lens that you saw advertised in last month's INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER acts as if it were made to order for us newsreel men who have long wished we had something to save us from changing lenses in the middle of a swell shot. This baby zooms from 40 mm. to six inch with a turn of the crank while you shoot — back and forth from close-up to long shot while By RAY FERNSTROM (All Rights Reserved) some man talks, whose every word you want to catch and yet shift lenses. The elements inside of it take care of sharp constant focus through its entire range. Here's hoping some newsreeler kicks through with a shot soon using one of these marvels. They are handled by Bell & Howell and go by the name of Cooke VARO. Imagine a baseball or football game where you can shift from a close shot to a scene of the whole field while the action is also spreading out, then back to a close-up of the guy who is the center of action. Why, this one lens can change the whole method of newsreel coverage. Go to it and our hat is off to the first newsreel to use it, for that reel will pass a milestone in newsreel history. While on the subject of lenses did you know that Mitchell Camera Company is now offering an Astro lens with the enormous speed of F:0.95? Isn't this news for newsreelers? Picture the stuff that this window should get on news stuff where the light is nil and no more allowed. I don't know much about this one yet, but it sure calls for investigation immediately. I can say this, though, that any lens made that fast and sold by Mitchell should be in the hands of all news shooters who, more than any others, have the occasion for such a lens to show its stuff. POSTAGE STAMP MIKE Yes, sir, that is what I said and what I saw in a recent issue of Paramount News. I asked Marshall MacCarroll about it and he tells me it was sponsored by their Los Angeles and New York units. He says it is only a quarter of an inch thick, the size of a three cent stamp and is made of a piece of Rochelle Salt Crystal. He adds that it is not subject to temperature, humidity or pressure changes and is the invention of a fellow named Brush. For the benefit of fellows desiring one they are on the market. Great work, Brush. Now please invent a little lightweight sound camera for the newsreel bovs about the size of a Contax. With this issue of The International Photographer the writer says good-bye to California. Henceforth my address will be somewhere in Europe. Yesterday I sat through eight reels of the latest newsreels. The forward strides made by the newsreel men in photography was very noticeable and this, despite the fact that a news man has to be his own story writer, director, script clerk and supervisor. It just goes to show how capable our newsreelmen really are and how worthy of credit. I regret to say that you newsreelers have not yet tried the 5N5 for your scenes where the light is extremely contrasty. Take for example the baseball coverage. Part of the field is in deep shadow and part in bright sunlight. There is a perfect condition for the 5N5. With this filter you will cut down the contrast and have a much better balanced exposure throughout your field. Try it just once and watch the results. You'll never cover that kind of a scene again without it. (Continued on Page 21) PLEASE MENTION THE INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER WHEN CORRESPONDING WITH ADVERTISERS