AMERICA'S LEADING PHOTOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE OCTOBER 1963 & 50 CENTS SPECIAL 6-PAGE GATEFOLD! THE UNUSUAL PICTURES OF THE NATHAN-ROTGANS WIDE- FIELD CAMERA. SEE PAGE 54 COLOR PICTURES OF FISH IN AN AQUARIUM ARE THE TCONTRIBUTORS’ CORNER tue none NGRN q Veteran photographer-writer SIMON NATHAN (top left), whose varied career inchides wide experience in all phase of photography, now has turned inventor. End results from his Wide Field Camera ean be seen on our cover: the Indianapolis “500” race and St, Mark's Square in ‘Venice. Top right, surrounded by many of his own Wide Field Cameras is. Holland-born FRITS ROTGANS, who is considered to be today’s leading creator and expo- nent of wide field photos- raphy. Turn to pages 5402 for their complete story... Going from wide to deep, DOUGLAS FAULKNER, on shipboard (right) takes you on an exciting armehair tour of the seas and its citi- zens, starting on page 76. Doug, an aceomplished skin- diver, photographer and au- ‘thor, shows you how to make your own colorful photos of fishes at home. And while home, don't miss out on the wonderful opportunities of making Polaroid pictures of your family and loved ones. Even the neophyte ean use the spanking-new Polaroid eamera (page 50) and come up with the right exposure ‘every time. For those who recall the Omexa 120 of years ‘ago, welcome will be the report on the new Koni/Omega on page 64. The Topcon Super D eamera featured om paze 62 js the answer to many difficult exposure problems. The face in front of the huge array of electronie gear be- longs to JOHN KEEL, an expert in sound and cine { matography, who starts out four special section on sound on page 70. Following his answers to 25 questions are more articles on the science ‘and practical use of sound combined with photography. 4 cURL NSE VOLUME 2, No. 19 @ OCTOBER 1952 “CAMERA Combined with Travel & Camera Features INTERNATIONAL COLOR COMPETITION 12 LOVE ON THE LIGHT SIDE EQUIPMENT: THE MEANS 70 AN END 4 ‘Technical Articles ROM SLIDE TO RAW PRINT 26 POLAROID COLOR PACK CAMERA 56 RESELER TOPCON SUPER D 62 KONH/OMEGA RAPID 64 ALL RECORDING TAPES ARE NOP ALIKE 74 CONVERTING YOUR MOVIE PROJECTOR 88 Departments POTURE THCHNTAUES 18 NEWS ADOUT NEW PRODUCTS 28 Seo TECHNIQUES 32 Books 2 ye LOU LACHTES (Contributing Raye: SIMON NATHAN JULIA NEWMAN + -YALENTING SABRA + CHARLES KERLEE: rodection/Clssfed Manager? D. 5. LESLIE, “Advenning Dirscor: RUDOLY MASCHKE, ALES SAPHEM Hon site Aten, LapANSWERS TO 25 QUESTIONS ABO: By JOHN A. KEEL 1.) What's the a and slides? A.) Tf the sound is loud enough it will help to keep your audience awake, A good sound track with appropriate sound effects, music and narration can make a bad picture seem better and make a good picture seem great. Besides, adding sound ean be a lot of fun. Do I need special technieal knowled wld sound to my movies and. slides? A.) If you are that one person in 97,000,000 who is horn with fen thumbs instead of fingers... forget it! But if you can push a button or turn a knob you should be able to add your own sound. Modern tape recorders ‘and sound projectors axe designed to be used by rank noviees as well ag advanced amateurs e and «kill to 3.) What's the best way for a novieo to begin? What should T buy first? A.) Your first purchase should be a tape recorder with a minimum of gadgets. Working with it will teach you the fondamentals of sound recording, and it will be a very usoful tool when you expand later on 4.) mT mix narration p recorder? je together with a A.) Yes, Most machines have separate jacks for the microphone and a phonograph, You ean adjust the volume of the phonograph so you ean talk over the music. That is probably all you'll want... in the be A.) Buy a toy licker (do they still eall them “erickets"?) and record a faint click at the end of each pivee of narration. This click serves as a cue for you to change slides. There are now advanced yne systems using stereo recorders in which sound eues are recorded on one channel and the music and voice are recorded on the other. As the tape plays, the recorded cues automatically actuate ‘a mechanism in the projector which changes the slides. 6.) Hi es aridwomicc = tape with my rerio A.) There are a number of elaborate methods using Strobes, ete. which keep the projector in syne with « ‘taped sound track. But you can maintain a rough syne by simply adjusting the speed control found on many pro- jeetors. Be sure to use a good quality tape to reduce the problem of tape stretch and slippage. You won't be able to obtain lip-syne with this system but you should he able to keep music and narration in pace with the film. For precise syne, sound-on-film is the best answer 7.) What is sound-on-film? A) Tes a sound track on the edge of the film which is played through facilities buile vight into the projector ‘There are two kinds of sound tracks: optical and magnetic 8.) What's the difference between AL) Optical sound is a thin band of varying light pat terns imprinted on the flm. In the projector, a light passes through this pattorn onto a sensitive photo-ccl. ‘The photo-cell responds to the changing density of the track, emitting an electrieal signal which is amplified and turned to sound by the speaker Jn magnetie sound, a thin stripe of iron oxide is coated along one edge of the film. This has the same function as a tape in a tape recorder. The sound projector hes f tiny tape head mounted in the film path. Electrical signals from the mierophone pass through this head and ‘magnetize the iron particles in the stripe. Later, in playback, this magnetic pattern is picked up by the tape head, amplified and changed to audible9.) What are the sound advantages of exch system? A.) Optical sound can be duplicated in large quantities, but it is expensive. Tt must be added in a commercial laboratory. Mfost 8mm magnetic sound projectors produce higher quality sound than the average 1mm optical sound machine. And magnetic sound can be added by ny amateur with a minimum of equipment, Many major Hollywood productions now tse magnetic sound stviping- 10.) What kinds of magnetic striping are available? A.) Two, Wet and laminated, A wet stripe is a solution of iron oxide in a quick drying liquid which is literally painted onto the edge of the film, The laminated stripe isa thin ribbon of magnetic tape which is bonded onto the film. The laminated stripe produces a higher quality of sound but is prone to peel off at bad splices or with rough usage. 11) How much docs magnetic striping cost? A.) From 2%4¢ to 6/ per foot. Laminated striping is more expensive than wet striping. 12.) Can sound striping be added to old films? AD Yes. 15.) Can you erase the sound on the mm stripe and A.) Yes. You can record, erase, and re-record the same ‘as you do with a standard tape recorder. 14.) What fe the separation between sound and picture in Bm? A.) The accepted standard is 56 frames separation be- ‘tween the picture being projected and the sound passing over the tape head at the same moment. The sound for 2 given image is 50 frames ahead of the picture, In 16mm, ‘the sound is 24 frames ahead of the picture. 15.) Is there a noticeable difference in the sound quality hetween film projected at 16 framespersecond and one recorded and projected at 24 fps? ‘A.) To the trained esr, yes. If the music is fast, sprightly, ‘and heavy on the bass, 16 fps produces a very acceptable sound. However most people bogin shooting their films at 24 ‘ps after they switch to sound-on-flm. 16.) Can I make a tape recording on location while shooting my film and later synchronize it with the edited pieture? (Continued on page 108) nGREAT VALUES COLOR CARTOONS Assorted Titles—$7.50 each SPECIAL OFFER 8mm 200 footers—$3.50 each FOLLOWING SUBJECT! WHIMSEYLAND CARTOONS Big Top Love Bunk and Bunk Cats and Cats Fox Gets Cought KOKO THE CLOWN CARTOONS Koko's Beats Koko’s Big Catch Koko's Chemicals Koko’s Hot Dogs Koko Kills Time AESOP’S FABLES CARTOONS ‘Over The Plate Barnyard Politics The Big Reward The Big Show Animal Fai The Little Parade FAIRYTALE CARTOONS Big Bad Wolf Cinderella Puss and Boots Simple Simon Jack Frost Aladdin's Lamp OUR GANG COMEDIES No Noise Official Officers ‘Mysterious Mystery High Society Bueconeers| Olympic Games LAUREL & HARDY COMEDIES Tit for Tat When Nights Were Cold You're Darn Tootin’ Puttin’ Pants On Philip, ‘MICKEY ROONEY COMEDIES ‘Mickey's Tent Show Mickey's Minstrels Mickey's Follies Mickey's Medicine Man Mickey's Fair Play Mickey's Covered Wagon STAR PHOTO PRODUCTS 243 West 55th Street New York 19, N.Y. 25 BASIC QUESTIONS (Continued from page 71) A.) Yes. [e's important, however, that. both your tape recorder and camera run at a_ reliably” constant speed. Cheap equipment often does not, For on-location lip syne set your camera speed. slightly” higher” than your planned projection speed. If you plan to project at 24 fps, shoot the film at between 24 and 82 fps 17.) What about lipsyne? How do I ko about adding. this to the steip A) Te takes trial and error, Make loop of the film containing the speaking: image and run it continu- ously throwgh the projector while Speaking. the proper ‘words into. the microphone. Eventually you should be able to get it fairly close. Keep lip- syne takes short, never longer than f@ few words at a time you tal KY Thos far there feamera (Fairchild Cinephonie), which ecords the sound simultaneously with the pieture, Tt has a tape head and a transistorized ‘amplifier built. into the eamera body and produces re- markably good sound, 19.) Why do some splices in sound film produce a loud click and. how can this be avoided? ‘X) ‘Ordinary glued splices produce fa'tiny bump which causes the tape hhead to Jump. There is a new preci sion. splicer made by Agta which bevels both edges of the film and reduces the bamp considerably. If you use mylar splices you should use 2. splicer which makes a Vor 8 Shaped eut. Straight cuts tend to backle when they pass through the tnechanism, And you must, of course, take care not to cover the stripe with the mylar tape. A special tape for striped films is available from Hudson Photographie Industries. 20.) Can you mix volees, sound, a music together on a sound projec ‘A) All sound projectors have provi- sions so you ean plug your phono- feaph or tape recorder into them, in ‘Addition to the microphone, With ex- perimentation you can easily tall ‘over music and sounds coming from them. Some sound projectors have = sound-on-aound feature so you can first record musie and then ‘go back: over it and add narration on top of the background. “IE your projector doesn't have this, you ean buy an inexpensive mixer’ ta which you can | connect microphones and other sound Sources and blend them all eflletently fas you record, 21.) What's the best way to transfer sound to the stripe? Live, with the projector's microphone, or from tape? X}) ‘Put everything on your tape re- order first. Time your film carefully, then blend your voices, sounds, music, tte, on tape, carefully following your timing. Later you can plug the re- ee corder directly into the projector and transfer everything onto the stripe in fone shot. There are several advan- tages to this method. It gives you renter control over the sound quality and you can edit the tape, cutting ‘out mistakes, shortening it for timing, ete, Taped voice quality is usually Detter, too 22.) How eam I abtain the best quality sound on the stripe? ‘A) If your tape recorder has a tone ‘control or bass and. trebel controls, adjust them so that most of the high hotes are smothered. ‘The sound may seem muddy from the recorder speak- fr, but it will be superior on the Sim track. Sound. striping does not respond. well to high motes. If you fay. to record them, they will only distort, You shouldn't try to piek up ‘music from your phonograph’s speak= ‘microphone er with the 28.) What slides and movies? ‘A. Orehestrations (no voeals) of ap- propriate. musie which is_ not too familiar, We've all weary of hearing “THE SONG FROM | MOULIN ROUGE” with every film about Paris. Fast music without pisno or string instruments takes best. to 8mm st ing. Tf the film ealls for slow mv t2y to find something using drums and peteussion instruments. Instruments Thich draw notes out, such as violin or clarinets, are usually unsatisfac- ‘oxy. 24.) What are the secrets of writing good narration? Ry "Never describe what is happening on the screen, If your film is of Uncle Charlie standing overlooking Niagara Falls, don't say: “Here's | Uncle Charlie ‘weaving a bright red shirt in front of Niagara Falls, Watch him make a funny face.” The audience can see these things for themselves Instead, dig up some interesting back: ground information such as: “Seventy- two people have ended it all by jump- ing into the Falls at this point. Right after this picture was taken, Uncle Charlie raised the tall to 73.” Let your pictures do most of the talking. Don't try to be funny unless you really have a gift for it (and darned Tew people have .- - that’s why comedy ‘writers can command $2,000 fa week). 25.) Is ftuum sound here to stay? ‘A. Definitely. Ive gotten off to a slow start because of high cost and poor Aemonstration films, but more and more companies are now manufactur ing sound. projectors and related equipment. The next five-to-ten years will probably see Smm sound almost totally replacing 16mm for commer cial and industrial uses. The trend is flready well underway. Many Holly wood movies, redueed to 8mm, are how available with sound. At least fone company ig now distributing amateur Sim Slime to theaters and Interested groups, The immediate ‘projector Future of 8mm is bright... for the eye.--and great for the ear. USE US. CAMERA