American Cinematographer - September 1936 - 36

398

American Cinematographer

*

September,

1936

Two Filters Are Enough

USE
KIN-O-LUX

Continued from page 392

16MM.
REVERSAL FILM
No. 1. Ideal for Outdoor Use. Econom¬
ically
Priced.
High
Performance.
100 ft $3.00 50 ft $2.00
No. 2. Unexcelled for all-round work.
100 ft $3.00 50 ft $2.50
No. 3. Super - sensitive
Panchromatic
Fine-grain, anti-halo film.
Highly
compensated for all colors of the
spectrum.
100 ft $6.00 50 ft ...$3.50
Prices include Scratch-Proofing,
Processing and return postage.
Catalog 'D' on request.

KIN-O-LUX, Inc.
105 West 40th Street

- -

New York

GOEP
L

E NS E S

FOR FOOTBALL
and other Sports
KINO-HYPAR
f 2/7 and f/3
Long Focus Lenses
3 and 4" focal lengths
Ideal for purposes of sport and travel
cinematography and for the interesting
closeups that races and games afford.
A Kino-Hypar Long Focus Lens is the
Distance Eye «f your camera, portray¬
ing the remote object in clear and
accurate detail.
Catalog B-9 on request

C. P. Goerz American Optical Co.
317 East 34th St. New York

HOLLYWOOD
REVERSAL
16mm Film
A full Panchromatic Reversal 16mm
Film . . . Fine Grain . . . Speed . . .Low
Priced. Includes processing.

100-ft. roll

$4.25

9320 California Avenue
South Gate, California

- - - < ■ > i<: x - - * Light Testers-Polishers used by all
major studios. We are the Sole Mfrs.
and Distributors.
* Mfr. of 16mm and 35mm Recording
Heads, Amplifiers, Developing Machines,
Printers, Etc.
CINEMA ARTS- CRAFTS
HE-1984

across your foreground. Sometimes when
your night-shot concerns itself directly
with a house, it helps to have a sugges¬
tion of light in the window. A profes¬
sional can usually do this by simply
placing a few powerful Sun Spots so that
they shine out of the window; but in
personal filming, this is usually impos¬
sible. I have often managed a very con¬
vincing lighted-window effect by simply
using a reflector to throw a strong glare
of sunlight against the glass, to reflect
again into the lens.
And lastly, while we're talking about
the 23-A, don't forget that it is one of
the best filters made for cutting through
distant haze in long-shots.
There have been, I will admit, times
when I've felt I could do a little better
with some other filter than either of
these two. Sometimes an ordinary scene
might be a shade more pleasing with the
stronger correction of an Aero 2, for in¬
stance, or a cloud-effect more unusual
if I had had the heavier F. But-the
difference would be so subtle that only
a photographic expert or a filter-fiend
(they are often quite different things!)
would notice it! And the two filters I
use-the Aero 1 and the 23-A-have
definite advantages for all-around use.
The Aero 1 , for example, may once in a
while give you less correction than you
would like; but ninety-nine times out of
a hundred, it will give you just the rignt
effect, while a heavier filter would oveido it. The 23-A may be mila, and re¬
quire a little more accurate control of
exposure to give you the full range of
effects, but the heavier red filters not
only call for far greater (and often pro¬
hibitive) increases in exposure, but they
whiten

Hollywoodland Studios

914 N. Fairfax

light to a bock-light, and with the low
sun casting long, interesting shadows

Hollywood, Calif.

ably.

the

faces

The

23-A

of people objection¬
is not immune

from

this tendency to "wash out" faces, but
it does not do it so noticeably that you
can't use it when there are people in
your long-shot. (I don't recommend it
for close-ups at any time.)
And the
23-A is light enough so that red dresses
will

not

embarrass you.

Ordinarily,

a

red dress photographs nearly black; but
a heavy red filter will turn it almost
white. With the 23-A, the red is light¬
ened, but it is still a fairly dark gray,
so if a normal scene and a night-effect
scene of the same girl and the same dress
are used together, you will not have to
explain that she didn't change her
clothes between the two scenes.

Standardizing

on

these

two

filters

simplifies the matter of exposure, too.
The factor of the Aero 1 on most Pan
and Superpan films is about one and
one half. That means that you can put
the filter on your camera and virtually
forget it, remembering only to open your
lens half a stop more than the meter
advises. If the meter says f:16, set the
lens half way between f:16 and fill.
The factor of the 23-A is approximate¬
ly 4 (remember, filter-factors vary ac¬
cording to the kind of film you use) :
so simply open up two stops (f:8 in¬
stead of f:16, etc.) when you want nor¬
mal effects. Where you are more in¬
terested in cloud-effects than in- any¬
thing else, you can underexpose a bit, to
give the already darkened sky less ex¬
posure, and make a better background
for strongly lit, white clouds. When you
are after night - effects, underexpose
still more; you want strong correction,
heavy shadows and a black sky to get
over the idea of night, and with sub¬
standard film, you must also underex¬
pose enough to trick the automatic con¬
trol in the processing laboratory. So my
suggestion for night-effect exposures
with a 23-A would be to increase the
meter's indication by only a stop, or even
half-a-stop, shooting in a normal f:16
light at about f:ll or less, where f:8
would be normal for a regular day ef¬
fect with the same filter.
Lastly, since most substandard filter¬
ing is done with glass filters used in
front of the lens, do not overlook the
importance of a really good sunshade.
Nearly everyone has, of course, had ex¬
perience with the flare produced when
the direct rays of the sun strike the
glass of the lens; and most of them have
learned that it is just as important to
protect the filter from direct sunlight.
But even when you've turned your lens
completely away from the sun's rays, if
you do not use a good, deep sunshade,
enough scattered light-rays will reach
the filter to do a lot of undisciplined re¬
flecting among the glass surfaces, and
veil the finer qualities of your scene. So
if you want my complete formula for
simplified filtering, it is: use an Aero
] for all normal filtering effects; use a
23-A for all overcorrection-cloud ef¬
fects, night effects, and so on; expose
accurately; and always use a good, deep
sunshade. And-just try the sunshade
with some of your extremely fast lenses,
and long-focus telephotos.
It helps
there, even when you're not using fil¬
ters!
American Cinematographer - September 1936

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - September 1936
