CAMERA NOTES

Greymouth Evening Star, 26 February 1927, Page 3

CAMERA NOTES

(By

Exposure Meter).

The washing of roll-films is more convenient than that of glass plates. Any house which possesses a bath has the ideal means of washing rbll-films. The bath is filled with cold water. The strip of film is then pinned by its extreme edges to three or four corks and floated on the surface of the water. There it can be left for an hour or longer. The hypo soaking out of the film sinks to the bottom of the bath, and at the end of the immersion the water at the top of the bath where the film is suspended will be found free from any hypo. Wooden clips for floating roll-films are sold by mojt photographic dealers and are very convenient, but old corks will do just as well.

The roll-film, when thoroughly washed, can be pinned up on a shelf to dry. After it is drying it can be cut apflrt with the scissors. It must be remembered that roll-films are coated on both sides of the celluloid. The front side of the coating is sensitive, whilst on the back it is plain gelatine. The object of this is to prevent the film from curling. The pull of the drying gelatine on the one side is counteracted by. a similar pull on the other side. Great care has to be exercised in handling the film until it is quite dry because of the gelantine surface on both sides. PHOTOGRAPHY AND TRADITION. Photography being a process which will give, when its mechanical requirements are strictly adhered to, a picture minutely accurate, and perfectly clear and distinct in every part which was clear and distinct in the original, has always been looked upon by many people as being a method of record to be devoted only to impartial realism.

The prejudice against aitything in photographic art which is not absolutely a statement of face, and all the misunderstanding and misconceptions to which that gives rise, are due to the one great fallacy that the abstract thing called art is not one but many; that the artistic result brought about by the cunning use of the chisel upon marble is fundamentally different from the artistic . result brought about by the applications of paints to canvas; or that the picture made in the camera differs essentially from the picture made outside the camera. The fallacy even asserts that the picture made inside the camera must not be re-made outside the camera.

If the thing is carried to its logical conclusion, me most moderate purist could not do less than insist upon a Universal Brush; and no picture would be acceptable to him unless the artist had used this brush. The extremist would see art degenerate in direct ratio to the number of hairs shed by the brush. But ihq iconoclast would say that there is no art, because the same coloui\mixture could be z used only once. DEVELOPING ENLARGEMENTS. Many people imagine that two large dishes and about a pint of developer are necesary to develop an enlargement of 15in x 12in, or over. Of course, it can be done in this way, but neither the dishes nor that quantity of developer are essential.

A far more economical method is to procure an old picture frame glass of ample size. To develop your enlargement mix up two ounces or less of developer and put in a small dish. Obtain a large swab of cotton-wool and a dish of clean water.

Lay the bromide paper film side uppermost on the glass and proceed to swab evenly and gently with clean water until thoroughly, moistened. The cotton-wool is then squeezed out and the swabbing process repeated, using the developer this time. Just dip the swab in the developer and run up and down the surface of the paper a few times, then dip again and repeat, when it will be found that the print will develop up fully in about the usual tirrfe. The hypo can be applied in the same manner if desired. This method is very simple and extremely efficacious. The writer has developed some scores of big enlargements in this economical manner without a single failure. If you already have some big dishes the print can be laid on to the bottom and the developer swabbed on just the same.

H.B. (Greymouth) asks: When I stop down to f/16 I get excellent definition and depth on the top focussing screen, but all my negatives appear as though they had been taken at full aperture. I know the focal plane shutter is faulty; has this anything to do with it? It is hardly likely that the shutter of your reflex is the cause of the trouble. If your dark slides permit of it, we should advise you to put a piece of ground glass in one and study the definition of the image so that you can compare it with that given by the mirror. If you thus find that the plate is out of register, it will be necessary to have the proper adjustment made accordingly.