Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1949)

152 Synchronous Motor Drive for Bolex Camera 115 VOLT A.C. SINGLE PHASE — 60 CYCLE Synchronous with Film, Disc or Tape Recorders See Your Dealer or Write for Information NATIONAL CINE EQUIPMENT, Inc. 22 West 22nd St. New York 10, N. Y. 8 mm, 16 mm KODACHROME DUPLICATES from your originals. Also HOLLYWOOD GLAMOR MODELS — 50 ft., 100 ft. Mail orders accepted. Discounts to dealers. 974 Edgecliff Drive Hollywood 26, Calif. iVant a real buy in I6MM SOUND FILMS? Take advantage of the I.C.S. 1949 CLEARANCE SALE 16mm sound films — features, comedies, educationals, cartoons, novelties, etc. Send for our giant list "A" today stating machine you own (make model). INSTITUTIONAL CINEMA SERVICE INC. I560-M2 Broadway New York 19. N. Y. THE RALPH R.ENO CORP. 626 W. 165 ST. • NEW YORK Sand your film for free criticism or estimate. POWERFUL SVi inch Coated (138mm) F-3.5 TELE-LENSES in our focusing "C" mounts for Bolex. Victor, B&H, Revere, Keystone, etc. 16mm cameras. Lens elements made to rigid AAF specifications. Perfect for nature, hunting, sports, etc. movies, polished metal finish. Gives extreme magnification. Mailed insured with metal dust cap $39.50 NEWSREEL TYPE machined and deep knurled movie ca hand grips. For steadier hand held shots. I'll any camera. A beauty $2.95 12' .MM F-2.5 Coated Wirgin Luvar Wide-Angle Lenses for Bolex, Victor, etc., chrome mounts. .$39.50 Will give very wide-angle. Iirand new. CENTURY PRECISION SPECIALTIES CO. 2231 Barry Avenue Los Angeles 25, Calif. it takes only pennies to protect your prints — dollars to replace them. Insist on the one and only, the reliable and proven cerless PEERLESS FILM TREATMENT grrnt rcc fim processing ttKLt33 CORPORATION 16S WIST 46th STIEET, NEW YORK 19, N. Y. the same degree of coverage as a one inch lens. Because of this, many users rely upon it entirely at camera position. This use can give a faulty reading, since we now know that the foreground will influence the meter while the background may contain the important picture element. The widely publicized advice to aim a Weston meter slightly groundward on scenics to avoid sky influence can be equally faulty. The sky may be of prime importance. Remember our snow discussion. The incident light use of a Norwood meter on exterior sets to evaluate the sunlight falling upon the subject is also open to occasional interpretation. This method presumes that, since the sunlight falling upon a white pigeon, brown dog and black bear may be the same, then the exposure should always be the same. We know differently. Take a lesson from your eyes. They compensate for variations in subject matter. (Such compensation is recommended in the Norwood instructional material, ivhich states in part: "If an unusually light or dark scene is encountered it may be desirable to depart slightly from the indicated exposure when shooting color." — Ed.) Finally, we have the cameraman who takes a reading from the back of his hand at subject position. This theory presumes good flesh tones at all times. But it also forgets that flesh values may not be the dominant tone in a scene. As a matter of fact, they rarely are. Well, then, what system of light measurement will produce accurate results at all times? The visual comparative scale method! This simply means the mental preparation of a scale of light values of representative subjects and the use of this scale in conjunction with the eye to estimate exposure. Few of us realize that we possess, without cost, a finer light-sensitive cell in our eyes than any manufacturer will ever be able to produce. With only slight training in referring the findings of our eyes to a comparative light scale, our eyes will do a job of exposure estimation that no meter can duplicate. But this eye meter has a virtue and a fault that are well to remember. The virtue lies in its unsurpassed ability to judge accurately the comparative densities in a given scene. The fault lies in its inability to retain these exact impressions for more than a momentary period. In other words, the eye can judge accurately the difference between two grays in a scene to be a full stop. But it cannot look at a given gray and then, after a five minute lapse, positively identify it as the same gray that it had previously seen. It is because of this inability of the eye to carry over a reading that it is necessary to prepare a mental scale of light values. With such a scale, the retention lack is overcome. APRIL 1949 It might go like this: //ll: snow, white houses, beaches, sea gulls, etc. //8: nearby people, gardens, houses, not in shade, etc. //4.5: blue suits, evergreen trees, northern blue sky overhead, etc. If, at first, the cameraman distrusts his ability to prepare a mental scale, he can use a simple but effective aid. Prepare a dozen small cardboard squares, scaling from white to black, which can be clipped together. Their light values in sunlight can be lettered. With such a chart, it is no trick soon to train the eye to an accurate evaluation of scene components. You can then check your observations with a meter and trace the reason for eye and meter differences, if any exist. The exposure calculation is then elementary — a simple decision as to what scene elements you intend to favor. In making this decision, keep the following factors in mind: 1. Examine your scene critically, with a view to background and composition values which will affect exposure. 2. Eliminate or minimize any picture elements which are outside of good color range. 3. Correct composition to give prominent position to the elements you intend to favor. 4. Use your eyes to compare and estimate density values. 5. Check your findings with a good meter. 6. Set your exposure for the effect you desire. And remember — ■ good composition plus good judgment equals good exposure! Little subjects — big reward [Continued from page 132] sunlight reaches that particular spot. Sometimes, too, the foliage which is shading the nest from above can be carefully and temporarily tied out of the way to enable the light to penetrate to the nest. We have also found a mirror-surfaced reflector very helpful in beaming light into dark areas that cannot otherwise be lighted. Surprisingly, the birds generally remain on the nest, or come and go as they please, even with the bright beam of light shining directly on them. In the case of small animals, exposure is not a difficult problem; they generally can be lured out into the open by proper baiting. We shudder to think of the quantities of peanuts and other delicacies we have used! In the relatively few situations where direct exposure readings cannot be obtained with a meter, one can estimate the proper exposure by taking a reading on a nearby subject of similar