The Optical Magic Lantern Journal (August 1892)

92 The Optical Magic Lantern Journal and Photographic Enlarger. ! A similar misuse in lenses was made by a friend of mine who went to Norway last year ; he had a half-plate camera, and a seven-inch rapid rectilinear lens. About half the number of his pietures were taken by this lens, and the others by one of the combinations of the lens only, which would be about fourteen inches focus. He said it saved him the trouble of walking or climbing to places where, say, a waterfall would have been too small to fill his plate if taken by the seven-inch combination ; the result is, that nearly all the waterfalls in Norway, judging from his pictures, are the same size, and no true appreciation of size or distance is possible from his series of pictures. About the artistic side of the question, I am not: here to-night to discuss, though admitting there may be circumstances where, on the same size plate, a seven-inch lens will be better than a five-inch, or wisa vers, but I repeat, and with emphasis, that the too frequent usé of lenses of great disparity in focus for lantern slides is a roistake. It may be said in conclusion that the focus of the lantern objective has nothing whatever to do with the subject of this communication. —:0;—— A Visit to Rye.—A New Reflector. By T. H. Honpina. Vice-President of the Lantern Society. Ryz is interesting to various classes of persons. First to the nautical. It is a small town of barely 3,000 inhabitants, but it has a history which is closely interwoven with that of England. Founded by the Romans, spoken of as an ancient town in the time of Edward III., twice entirely destroyed by the French, once standing on the sea shore, now two miles away, it makes a thrilling chapter indeed. It has an interesting land gate, ancient church and castle tower. To the photographer it is interesting, because it is one of those places where there is « plenty to do.” Two amateurs met in London in a dining room in the West End recently. One said, “ Well, have you been doing anything lately ?’’ “Oh, yes, heaps.” ‘Where at?” “Bournemouth.” The other coolly replied, “Bournemouth? What on earth could you find to photograph at Bournemouth ?” Now, nobody could ask that about Rye. Its quaint steep streets are well worth photographing. A few views of its old land-gate, at least three or four shots of the ancient tower, which is indeed a castle, may be taken. ‘here are groups of fishermen, one or two little shipyards, numbers of quaint old boats and shipping in the narrow confined harbour; all these make interesting subjects ; whilst the church, inside and out, would make half a dozen pictures, and the shots from its tower are by no means mean. But then a visit to Rye is not complete without a visit to Winchelsea, Winchelsea was a place rebuilt centuries ago on its present eminence, and its great gates now stand; but, of the forty squares into which the town was laid out, one is intact, and’ the others are still traceable. But the church js interesting, the gates are interesting, the cottages are interesting, and the streets are picturesque, and its great vaulted cellars tell of the past. It is a pleasant walk of three miles from Rye. But then Rye will also be specially interesting to the laternist, seeing that is the head-quarters of Stocks’ lamp. The quiet persistent experiments, which have resulted in a very cftective and excellent lamp, are highly creditable to Mr. Stocks himself, and have been highly helpful to lanternists the country over; not that the lamp alone takes up the whole of Mr. Stocks’ time. He is trying experiments in other directions, and some of them are of a very interesting kind. The distance, for instance, to which artificial light may be transmitted, either for signalling, illumination, or other purposes, is at present receiving his attention. But what is most interesting to us is, that he is working on a reflector, about which I am vot at liberty to speak, that—if he ultimately succeeds in putting the article on the market, and which, by the way, he has succeeded in perfecting—will revolutionise exhibitions with oil lights. Let me state a fact that will startle every readsr of the Optical Magic Lantern Journal, and set him thinking. Mr. Stocks lit up an ordinary little paraffin lamp with a tiny round wick no thicker than a pen holder. Such a light in an ordinary room is just sufficient to show its dimensions and outline, but scatters no power of light. He then placed one of these little things some inches from the condenser in one of his lanterns, and then placed behind it in a certain position his new reflector, and afterwards put an ordinary photographic slide in the lantern, and I am declaring the truth when I say that this showed the pictures as distinctly as I have seen them projected by a 3-wick lamp, and the dise was at least 4 feet in diameter. Need I, in order to prove this startling statement, go further. Perhaps it would be safest to do so. Various ordinary reflectors were then placed behind the same little benzoline lamp, but they only made the illuminated disc bright in the centre, and the sides graded off into phantom-like darkness. Personally I have strong faith that sooner or later this invaluable invention will become, as it