Camera

“ They have seen photographs of the interior of rooms taken with an ordinary camera—probably with from five minutes to half an hour's exposure. Ah, but this is an instantaneous camera, they argue, and, with an airy snap of the shutter, walk off, confident that the professional to whom they usually leave the development and printing—all the real photographic work, in fact—will be able to find somewhere in that mystic little box a picture of all that room and everything and everybody in it. ”

“ THE CAMERA OBSCURA AND CAMERA LUCIDA. The construction of the camera obscura is founded on the fact that the rays of light, when collected into a point either by being passed through a small hole or a converging lens, form an image of the objects from which they proceed at the point of meeting. This may be readily tried by piercing the shutter of a room with a small hole, and holding a piece of paper within a short distance of it. It will be noticed that the smaller the hole the more distant will be the image formed. ”

“ Under all conditions the light is properly screened and diffused to suit the critical eye of the camera man. All being in readiness, the actual picture is taken, the actors going through their rehearsed parts, the producer standing out of the range of the camera, and with a megaphone to his lips yelling out his instructions, imprecations, and approval, and the camera man grinding at the crank of the camera and securing the pictures at the rate of twenty or more per second, making a faithful and permanent record of every movement and every change of facial expression. ”

“ And in your camera you take a picture on a short strip of celluloid film, or on a glass plate, but in the moving picture machine the pictures are taken on a narrow strip of celluloid film perhaps a thousand feet long.
The camera consists of a narrow box. On one side is a handle, and there is a lens that can be adjusted or focused. Inside is varied machinery, but I will not tire you with a description of it. Sufficient to say that there are two wheels, or reels. On one—the upper—is wound the unexposed film. One end of this film is fastened to the empty, or lower, reel. ”

“ Turning a handle on the outside of the camera operates it. So that when the scene is ready to be photographed the actors, whether men or animals, begin to move. The handle turns, and the unexposed film is wound from one reel to the other, inside the camera, passing behind the lens, so that the picture falls on it in a flash, just as you take one snapshot. But, as I have said, the moving picture camera takes snapshot after snapshot—sixteen a second—until many thousands are taken, so that when the pictures are shown afterward they give the effect of continuous motion. ”

“ Half a score of actors and actresses moved quickly to their appointed places, while overhead, and at the sides of them hissed powerful electric lights, and in front of them stood a moving picture camera, ready to be operated by a pleasant-faced young man. ”

“ The camera is opened either at the point where the lights are housed or at the lens point, whichever is most effective. Then, opening the shutter, the operator moves the camera either toward or away from the finger or skin to the point where the ridge detail is sharpest in the ground glass. The camera is held firmly, the ground glass is removed, the film is inserted and the photograph taken. ”

“ The Simplest Kind of a Camera. —When you can buy a real camera for two or three dollars it seems of little use to make one, so just consider the camera I shall describe as a scientific curiosity rather than an apparatus of utility.
Fig. 56. an easily made pin-hole camera
A. Cross section showing the notched strips.
B. The way the shutter works.
To make a pin-hole camera, so called because a pin hole takes the place of a lens, form a box of pasteboard or of thin wood 4 inches square and 8 inches long; cut a hole 3⁄8 of an inch in diameter in one end for the pin hole. ”

“ If we all leave the room and dismiss the matter from our thoughts, still a photographic camera would show the inkstand still there, with the same roundness, polish and transparency, and with the same opaque liquid within. ”

“ The camera has done its work so well that the very reflection of the sun’s rays and the soft glimmer of the summer air are shown as perfectly as they could be seen with the natural eye. In fact it has been said, and truly so, that the camera is a good detective, for it discovers objects which are invisible to ordinary human sight, and prints them indelibly upon its sensitive plates. Hence good photographs, like those in Glimpses of America, are in many respects more desirable than a visit to the scenes themselves. ”

“ To use the camera place the tube with the lens on it opposite to the object, and having adjusted the focus, the image will be thrown upon the ground-glass as above stated, where it may be easily copied by a pencil or in colors.
The camera obscura used in a public exhibition is a large wooden box stained black in the inside, and capable of containing from one to eight persons. It contains a sliding piece, having a sloping mirror and a double convex lens which may with the mirror be slid up or down so as to accommodate the lens to near and distant objects. ”

“ The mirror and lens at the top of the apparatus are made to revolve, so as to bring every part of the landscape into view in turn. A camera obscura in a position commanding a view of moving objects, such as ships sailing to and fro, or the busy streets of a populous town, is an unending source of amusement, and may be easily and cheaply constructed. ”

“ The portable camera obscura, represented by the diagram, has often yielded much pleasure in the domestic circle, while the larger ones, which are publicly exhibited, are highly interesting. No person, perhaps, has witnessed the neatness of outline, the precision of form, the truth of colouring, and the sweet gradations of tint, thus apparent, without regretting that an imagery so exquisite and faithful to nature could not be made to fix itself permanently on the tablet of the machine. ”

“ PHOTOGRAPHIC NOTES AND QUERIES.
Portable Camera for Travellers.—Your correspondent E. S. asks for a clear description of a camera that will supersede the necessity of a dark room. Mr. Stokes has invented one; and in the early part of the photographic exhibition at the Society of Arts it was exhibited. The weight of the camera is only nine pounds, including focussing-glass, lens, shutter, &c. The shutter is so arranged that it will contain from twelve to twenty pieces of prepared paper, each piece between separate sheets of blotting-paper. ”

“ At the point of greatest clearness the image is said to be focused. Such being the principle of the camera, it is evident that in practice the instrument may assume many forms, provided always that it consists of a darkened box or chamber, having a hole at one end for the insertion of a lens or combination of lenses, and at the other a screen, generally made of ground glass, on which to receive the image. ”

“ I want you to invent a new kind of moving picture camera. A small light one—worked by electricity—a regular wizard camera. I want you to take it up in an airship with you, and then go to all sorts of wild and strange countries, Africa, India—the jungles—get pictures of wild animals at peace and fighting—herds of elephants—get scenes of native wars—earthquakes—eruptions of volcanoes—all the newest and most wonderful pictures you can. You'll have to make a new kind of camera to do it. The kind we use won't do the trick. ”

“ This shade is, of course, also stained of a dark colour internally.
Fig. 3.
Now your portable camera is complete. To use it, all you have to do is to hold it in your hand, with the lens turned towards the picture you want represented, and the shade raised, then to pull the focusing-drawer in and out till you have a clear, well-defined picture on your ground-glass top. When the sun is shining brightly the effect is charming; but you yourself and camera ought to be well in the shade. ”

“ PHOTOGRAPHIC CAMERAS—OTTEWILL'S REGISTERED DOUBLE-BODIED FOLDING CAMERA, is superior to every other form of Camera, for the Photographic Tourist, from its capability of Elongation or Contraction to any Focal Adjustment, its Portability, and its adaptation for taking either Views or Portraits.—The Trade supplied. ”

“ It was necessary to have every detail faithfully reproduced, for the eye of the moving picture camera is more searching, and far-seeing, than any human eye, and records every defect, no matter how small. ”

“ Having satisfactorily arranged our image as regards composition by shifting the camera nearer to or farther from the negative—because it will be obvious that the nearer the lens to the negative, the less of the negative we shall include, and vice versa—we fill our dark slide and are ready for exposure.
For daylight work the arrangement of frame and camera should be placed near a window, and if anything but sky is seen opposite the negative, place outside the window a large sheet of white cardboard at an angle of 45°. ”

“ Moreover, the man with a camera will not present his public with a twelve-pounder firing from the carriage of a howitzer.
There is something more to be said for the man with a camera. Now-a-days he is in the habit of screwing a telephoto lens to the front of the camera, and with that lens he can immensely outdistance the vision of even that all-seeing man with the pencil. ”

“ A very important point to be observed, is to keep the camera perfectly free from dust. The operator should be careful to see that the slightest particle be removed, for the act of inserting the plate-holder will set it in motion, if left, and cause those little black spots on the plate, by which an otherwise good picture is spoiled. The camera should be so placed as to prevent the sun shining into the lenses.
In taking portraits, the conformation of the sitter should be minutely studied to enable you to place her or him in a position the most graceful and easy to be obtained. ”

“ The paper, which is highly sensitive to light, must now be placed in the camera obscura, in order to receive on its marked surface a distinct image of the landscape or person whose picture is required. After remaining in the camera from ten seconds to several minutes, according to the intensity of the light, it is taken out of the camera in a dark room. If the object has been strongly illuminated, or if the paper has been long in the camera, a sensible picture will be seen on the paper ”

“ In other words, the ordinary camera takes about as much as our eyes appreciate, while the fast camera records on a length of film many more attitudes during the course of the given activity than the unaided eye can ever hope to see. ”

“ The practice is to point the camera to the zenith if need be, to focus sharply, to to use the smallest stop, develop and select for final use according to the lighting, indeed, not always being very particular on that point. But, by elevating the 198camera a point of sight is taken different from that employed in taking the landscape; by focussing sharply, often using a lens drawing falsely, the clouds are rendered false in tone and false in drawing. ”

“ Owing to the increasing popularity of the graphic and pictorial methods of imparting information, the photographic camera was employed to secure photographs of the greatest things of the world as seen to-day, both for instruction and entertainment. ”

“ A motion-picture camera of the most approved pattern is an exceedingly complicated and finely adjusted instrument. Its principle of operation can be understood easily if it is remembered that it is practically a snap-shot camera with the addition of a mechanism that turns a revolving shutter and moves a length of film across the exposure field, holds it there for an interval while the photographic impression is made, and then moves it away to continue the process until the desired length of film has been taken. ”

“ Photography has during the last forty years passed through some startling developments, especially as regards speed. Experts, such as M. Marey, have proved the superiority of the camera over the human eye in its power to grasp the various phases of animal motion. Even rifle bullets have been arrested in their lightning flight by the sensitised plate. But while the camera is a valuable aid to the eye in the matter of form, the eye still has the advantage so far as colour is concerned. ”

“ A specially constructed camera is used in taking the negatives from which ultimately motion pictures are obtained. This camera is provided with mechanism generally similar to that employed in showing the photographs. [5] Indeed, the selfsame mechanism has frequently been used for both purposes. The picture roll is replaced by a reel of sensitized film, upon which the exposures are made in quick succession when the apparatus is set in motion. ”

“ All our experience in view camera making, all the information that we have been able to collect, of the needs of the view camera worker, have been put into the proposition of providing in this new model a view camera as near to perfection as human ingenuity can devise. ”

“ Lester Drake’s detective camera first created the idea of photography in my mind. Before that, I hadn’t the slightest inclination toward the art whatever, but when Lester purchased his neat little leather-covered box, and went around merely pressing a button, and getting dozens of pictures by no other means, I immediately decided that I, too, must have a camera. ”