The Moving picture world (November 1925-December 1925)

December 5, 1925 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 497 light. The motor generator has gone bluey and friend Boss is wondering If he should Install Mazda, or go to the expense of a new motor generator. Was using 55 amperes at the arc. D. C. of course. The projection distance is about sixty feet and the picture about 12 x 16 feet. Screen Is Gold Fibre. Equipment consists of one three-weeks-old Simplex and two old projectors, one of which will soon be renewed. Please advise us what It Is best to do. The Boss does not want to in any way impair projection. A Hard One Brother, you hand me a hard one, for the simple reason that it is next to impossible for any living human to say what your boss, or any other boss, would or might consider an improvement in screen illumination, or vice versa. I have heard men rave over the soft, pleasing light from Mazda. I have heard others of equal intelligence literally rave o\-tr the brilliant, but harsh high intensity, and between the two are the ordinary arc, with its devotees and the reflector type arc, and those who swear by it, with its pure white and rather brilliant light. I also have friends in the camps of all of them — both users, makers and sellers. So what am I to tell you? It is not so easy as it may seem, for every one of them have their points of excellence. My view of the matter is this. If the house be such that the maximum viewing distance (screen to rear rows of seats) is long, then there must be a fairly good size picture and BRILLIANT illumination. In this case the high intensity is preeminently the best. Anything less that the brilliancy it can supply will underilluminate the screen insofar as concerns the rear rows of seats, and the view from them will be highly unsatisfactory. with an accompaniment of heavy eye strain. By "long," however, I mean anything above one hundred and twenty-five feet, though for many persons to see without heavy eye strain at a viewing distance of one hundred feet is impossible unless the screen brilliancy be very high. The Other Extreme Taking the other extreme, where the house is relative small — meaning by "small" the distance screen to rear row of seats, or rear portion of the seating space rather — there is very much to be said for the soft tones produced by incandescent. It is true that incandescent probably can never bring out all the finer shades of photography in the dense prints, but to offset that it is also a certainty that the brilliant high intensity overilluminates the film sufficiently to "wash out" some of the finer shadings of the lighter or average print, placing only the heavier or denser prints on the screen with all the shadings contained therein. The soft, yellowish-tone light of incandescent also is very restful and pleasing to the eye, and where the light source and rotating shutter are handled intelligently (including the optical system of the projector, of course) there is plenty of light for a GOOD sixteen foot screen surface. By "good" I mean a good reflection surface. So far so good. But now comes the inbetweens, which include every conceivable condition from the minimum to the maximum viewing distance. It is utterly impossible to offer advice which will give universal satisfaction, for the simple reason that ideas and tastes vary so widely. Generally speaking I would say that in my opinion, there remains but little real field for the ordinary arc in motion picture projection. My reasons for that statement, is that the reflector arc apparatus has now reached a stage in development where very satisfactory apparatus may be had, and properly handled the reflector arc is conceded to fully equal the performance of a 75 ampere ordinary arc handled by an expert projectionist. It will do much better than the 75 ampere arc ill the hands of an ordinary machine operator or attendant. Moreover the reflector arc gives a light of more pure, white tone. It IS not the high intensity blue-white, but a p.tre white which is pleasing to the eye. Meagre Details You have sent but meagre details as to the theatre, but I think I am safe in saying this : If Friend Boss will be satisfied with a not very brilliant, but soft and fairly brilliant — fairly brilliant by comparison, I mean — screen illumination, then the incandescent ("Mazda") will give him excellent service at low cost as compared to the arc he has had. If he wants a white, rather brilliant light, but something less brilliant and not so harsh as the high intensity, then let him instal the reflector arc equipment — but only after careful examination into the relative merits of the various kinds. That will be a somewhat expensive installation — expensive in first cost, since it will involve the installation of a new motor generator, but afterward the operating cost is very low by comparison. The carbons are smaller and less costly, while the current expense would be as the 55 amperes you were using compares to about twenty amperes. Tkey Cost A Little More But Tkey re Wortb It Bausck Lomb CINEPHOR Projection Lenses and Condensers Arrange with your dealer TODAY for a convincing trial. Write us for descriptive literature. Bausck Lomt Optical Co. 654 St. Paul St., Rochester, N. Y. 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