AERIAL CAMERAS

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 February 1940, Page 5

AERIAL CAMERAS

GREAT ADVANCE RECORDED Early in 1939 a foreign military

'commander made the statement: “The army with the best photographic corps will win the next "war.”

Its importance has been clearlyj illustrated by the extensive recon-1 naissance raids carried out by the I belligerents in the present war, the results of which have been shown by the remarkable air maps published. At the end of the World War cameras served as auxiliary eyes for the; army and an excellent tickler for) the memory of the observer. In fact,] conditions were often such that the | cameras could not be used, though) visual observation could be made. ] To-day the camera is the super eye, instantly recording details ■which] the observer could not. assimulate in. a half hom* and revealing minute details when the eye encounters only shifting haze. Modern military strategy depends upon information, accurate information, obtained without loss of time. Heretofore information about such developments had to depend upon the more or less accurate observation of man. To-day the modern military camera answers the question accurately and. instantaneously.

The pictures are taken in the air, and by the time the aeroplane is grounded the negatives are developed all ready for rapid examination and for quick printing. Within less than 10 minutes after grounding the staff officers may examine clear photographs of the scenes of action! And these l photographs will reveal many things not visible to the eyes of the photographer ■who made the shots. The penetration of opaque strata is an accomjplished fact.

U-boats can be photographed when the surface reflection hides them from visual obsrvation, and when ordinary photographs would show the water as a. metalic, opaque surface;] ground haze can be cut through eas-. ily; even light fog and hazy smoke' can be wiped away by the magic . of i modern photography. I During the War of 1914 panchromat-. ic plates were still in the experimental i stage, and very poor at that.- To-day 1 we have a dozen or more different kinds of panchromatic films of ex-' cellent quality. Night photography is not rilled out, according to experts. So great has been the development in film sensitivity and lens speeds since. 1918 — and many such developments are not yet commercialised —that effective exposures. can be made now with about 1-5000 the amount of light necessary' 25 years- ago.