International photographer (Jan-Dec 1935)

Twenty-two The INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER March, 1935 While shooting on the location of Columbia's "Carnival," Mr. Lee Tracy, himself a camera connoisseur and enthusiast, inspects and approves the new Akers camera. Other shots illustrate the camera's versatility. The Akers Camera in Production By Walter Bluemel "The proof of the pudding is in the eating," goes the proverb, which might well be revised to read : "The proof of the camera is in production." No matter how good a camera may be theoretically or in looks, it is of little value if it does not perform satisfactorily in production. When I wrote my last account of the new Akers Camera for the International Photographer it was still in more or less of an experimental stage, and, although the original model of the camera had shown great promise during two years of use, the new and considerably improved model had not yet been tested. Since that time, however, it has been tried in almost all production conditions that the average camera of its type is likely to encounter, and has thoroughly lived up to what was expected of it. Since the preliminary adjustments and tests have been made it has not been disassembled for repairs, yet it is working better today, after about three months of almost continuous use, than when it was first tried. The Akers Camera has been used on a number of productions with success. On a big state fair set for a major picture some excellent atmosphere shots were obtained by using it both on the Akers Tripod and as a hand camera and shooting the crowd from various angles while the Mitchell camera photographed the principle characters. This, of course, resulted in a distinct time and money saving, as it did away with the necessity of making separate shots of the crowd used as background to the principle action. One man easily carried the Akers camera among the crowd and was able to make several setups during one shot with the big camera. There was little danger of getting in the scene shot by the other camera because its small size makes it unnoticeable in a crowd, or, if it were seen it would be mistaken for an amateur camera, which would hardly be out of place in most any crowd. One man can easily handle the Akers camera and get places with it where several men would have difficulty getting the larger cameras. It was used to obtain a number of stock shots for Columbia's "Carnival," which saved tying up the regular heavy studio equipment, a camera crew, and, perhaps, a camera truck. Originally the film gate of the Akers camera was so adjusted that when locked in place it left only enough room for a standard thickness of film to pass through. This made it impossible to use spliced film, however, so a spring was added which made it unnecessary to lock the gate (giving, also, added foolproofness) and permitted spliced film to go through, the spring compensating for the increased thickness. Where cost of film must be kept at a minimum shortends and spliced film may thus be used in the camera, as was done with a short private picture on modern architecture, using several makes of film, with good results. The independent producers of Hollywood have found the camera thoroughly satisfactory for many of their regular production shots, even as a sound camera. Burton King and Willis Kent are among the producers who have used it, both as an auxiliary camera for special stunt shots and as a production camera for retakes and added scenes. Pauline Stark, who at first was very skeptical about the camera, showed much interest in it after she saw the pictures taken with it on the screen. Many others who have seen the camera have also expressed interest and approval in it, especially after seeing the results on the screen. The Akers camera was first used as a sound camera for making screen tests for an independent picture, "The Tia Juana Kid." With a standard synchronous motor linked to the camera by a flexible cable and a simple home-made "barney" covering over the camera it was silent enough to shoot closeups in a studio without camera noise from it being picked up by the microphone. The screen results left nothing to be desired, both from a photographic and sound standpoint, in spite of the fact that the sound motor and cable used made more noise than the camera itself. The barney, too, was by no means as Please mention The International Photogra pher when corresponding with advertisers.