The international photographer (Jan-Dec 1934)

June, 1934 The INTERNATIONAL PHOTOd R A 1' II K k Nineteen DANTE'S INFERNO HAD NOTHING ON THIS (Continued from Page 12) longer navigable. Enormous masses of pumice floated on the sea and stopped navigation. Where the Island of Krakatoa had stood there was now sea 600 to 1,000 feet deep. The shaded area on the accompanying map illustrates where the tidal wave drowned more than 70,000 people. Two hundred and ninety-five villages were inundated and the waves were of such force as to reach and be observed at Cape Horn, 7818 geographical miles away. Such was the energy initiated by the eruption of Krakatoa. After this outburst Krakatoa seemed to settle down peacefully, until the summer of 1931, when it again began to erupt. Mr. Joe Rock was in the Orient at that time. Hastily he left for Batavia, for the purpose of organizing a crew to photograph the spectacle. Upon his arrival there he found that J. H. Bekker, an independent cameraman, had some friends who had furnished him with enough funds to hire two sea planes and a boat. In these planes Mr. Bekker and his party flew all around the volcano which was hurling dust and rocks four miles into the air. They were so close sometimes that hot lava fell on the wings of the plane, in one instance causing one of the wings to catch fire. At the risk of his life, one of the men crawled out to extinguish the fire. However, this necessitated landing immediately and fortunately the boat was handy to pick them up. The party remained on the scene three days and three nights, not knowing when their work would suddenly end in catastrophe. Many shots were taken from the boat, which went as near the volcano as 300 feet. By examining the film, cameramen and lens experts agree that these close shots were not taken with a telephoto lens, but with a two or three inch lens. Part of the boat is in some of the shots, which further proves that the foregoing statement is true. There must have been a large steamer passing over the volcano when the last eruption occurred. Wreckage of a ship was found close by and a boiler was found several miles away. Mr. Bekker came back to Batavia with his film at about the same time as Mr. Rock arrived. Immediately Mr. Rock contacted him and saw the film run on the screen. He was satisfied with the results and made a deal with Mr. Bekker. Upon arrival here in Hollywood, Mr. Rock took the film to all the major studios for a showing. Strange to say, they all turned it down, with one exception. Mr. Cummings at MGM wanted to buy it outright, but Mr. Rock wished to make a deal for distribution and couldn't let it go otherwise. Imagine a great picture like this being turned down by major studios. When Mr. Joe Brandt bought into Educational, he asked to see the film. As soon as the picture had been run he made the deal. The results speak for themselves. The picture is a real sensation ! In closing the writer wishes to extend grateful acknowledgment to Messrs. Scott, Judd, Ball and the Royal Society of Geologists. DEBRIE EXPANDS Mr. George Noffka, general manager of Andre Debrie, Inc., is now at the Hotel Roosevelt, Hollywood, displaying the new model Debrie Super Parvo 35mm Camera. While in Hollywood, it is Mr. Noffka's intention to appoint a Western representative for the Debrie line of cinematographic equipment. Eastern sales are under the direction of Mr. H. R. Kossman, whose offices are located at 115 West 45th Street, New York City. CINE-KODAK UNIVERSAL FILTER HOLDER A device that permits a single filter to fit a variety of lenses has been put on the market by the Eastman Kodak Company, designated as the "Cine-Kodak Universal Filter Holder." A metal collar, equipped with rubber-covered coil springs arranged in such a way as to clamp on lenses differing in size, the device provides an unchanging circumference to which the filter may be affixed, thus eliminating the need to buy different filters for different lenses. The Cine-Kodak Universal Filter Holder's usefulness will be, of course, for persons with interchangeablelens cameras. The Cine-Kodak lenses it is designed to fit are the following ones: f. 2.7, 15-mm.; f. 3.5, 20-mm. (interchangeable style only) ; f. 1.9, 1-inch ; f. 3.5, 2-inch ; f. 4.5, 78-mm.; f. 4.5, 3-inch; f. 4.5, 4K-inch. In addition, it will fit many lenses of other makes. The U7 Cine-Kodak Color Filter is of the correct size to slip over the filter holder and thus becomes standard when the holder is used. TRAILEREEL TRAILEREEL — a sample of which has just been received, is a convenient device in the projection room for winding trailers, etc. It is made of well finished aluminum, with a hub one inch in diameter. It has the usual opening and keyway for the rewinder, one side being a solid disc one-eighth of an inch thick and Sl/2 inches in diameter. It is cast in one piece and fully guaranteed. TRAILEREEL has been rigidly tested by projection supervisors, who have praised it highly. It may be purchased for the surprisingly low price of $1.00 from the Trailereel Mfg. Co., East Hartford, Conn. 16mm. COLORED SOUND MOVIES EXPERIMENTS SHOW FEASIBLE Laboratory experiments which for the first time demonstrate the practicability of making and printing: 16 mm. sound-on-film motion pictures in natural colors, were described recently before the Society of Motion Picture Engineers convening here, by research engineers of the RCA Victor Company of Camden. It is believed that these experiments will open up a new and potentially broader field of usefulness for the convenient 16 mm. size sound-on-film industrial and educational motion pictures which have hitherto been restricted to black and white sound photography. With the new color methods, products which depend on rich coloring and design for their principal sales appeal will have new avenues of merchandising and selling opened up for them. Color photography added to sound should also prove valuable in enhancing the "eye value" of other types of products and services. Its application to visual education will mark an important step forward in that field. The sound recording experiments with color photography were conducted by the RCA Victor Company engineers with the Kodacolor film and color filter process. Actual recording tests showed that no distortion of a serious nature resulted from the peculiar base of the film which is specially embossed (longitudinnally lenticulated) for color sensitivity. Further experiments by the Camden engineers established that color subjects made by the subtractive color process on standard 35 mm. film could be optically reduced to 16 mm. size and successfully printed on Kodacolor fihn stock. AMATEUR TALKIES CAMERA SOON HERE SAY ENGINEERS The development of simplified apparatus which promises to make it possible for anyone to make personal sound motion pictures in the near future was described recently in a joint paper delivered befor the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, by research engineers of the RCA Victor Company of Camden. It was disclosed that since the advent of sound revolutionized the motion picture art, the Camden engineers have been working on the problem of developing a practicable amateur sound camera, which would be compact in size, and simple and economical to operate. According to the paper presented, these efforts are expected to bear practicable fruit in the near future. The sound camera apparatus discussed utilizes 16 millimeter film with a narrow track on one side for recording sound. It was described as a "newsreel" type, incorporating the sound recording system in the single light-weight camera case. As the subject is photographed, the operator talks into a mouthpiece leading to a vibrating metal diaphragm. This diaphragm, which is set in motion by the speaking voice, is coupled mechanically to a tiny mirror which vibrates in unison with it. A light beam directed on the mirror is reflected with its fluctuations on the sensitized edge of the film as it passes through the camera. For recording the voice of the person or group being photogaphed, as well as for atmospherical sound effects, a separate microphone attachment together with electrical amplifying and recording equipment are provided for convenient mounting on a specially designed "unimount" tripod upon which the sound camera itself may also be set. The paper emphasized that while experimental models of amateur sound cameras have been brought to an advanced stage of development in the laboratory, the final models would not be ready for public use for several months yet. Please mention The International Photographer when corresponding with advertisers.