Motion picture camera

“ 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. ”

“ To a degree at least, the camera is accomplishing the purpose for which it was designed.
While I had little idea at first that this camera would fill any other needs than my own, as it has been perfected it has proved its practicability for general use. The fundamental difference between the Akeley motion-picture camera and the others is a panoramic device which enables one to swing it all about, much as one would swing a swivel gun, following the natural line of vision. ”

“ Thus the year of 1889 brought together two great figures, Marey, a pure scientist whose zeal for learning about locomotion resulted in improvements in what was to be the motion picture art-science, and Edison who invented the first entirely practical motion picture camera and the first film peep-show device which was to be the inspiration for projectors as they were finally established, setting the pattern even to our day. ”

“ The motion photographer is able with the aid of his camera to perform any number of miraculous feats. He can have one man play two or three parts on the screen at one time, thus having an actor engage in conversation with himself, and so on. And then, readers are most likely all familiar with the pictures showing magical appearances and disappearances of characters. Or the picture-maker can give you a thrilling view of the burning of a city, yet he need not have journeyed outside the studio or expended more than a few dollars to get the scene. ”

“ Home-Made Motion-Picture Camera and Projector In Three Parts—Part II Developing
After having exposed the film in the camera, the next steps are to develop and make a positive film from the negative. The developing and exposing of the film for the positive are the same as in ordinary photography for making negatives and lantern slides, the only difference being in the apparatus for handling the long films. One of the simplest ways of developing a long film is to use a large tray in connection with a cross arm having upright pins around which the film is wrapped in a continuous spiral. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Motion picture cameras, at the other end of the line, are constantly photographing the sights, which are conveyed to you by an apparatus like television, except that you may see directly instead of gazing at a screen. ”

“ It is a new, compact, little motion camera which has just been perfected to do automatically what the big moving-picture making cameras do."
He touched one of the little black boxes such as we had seen him install in the jewelry department at Trimble's.
"Each of these holds one hundred and sixty feet of film," he resumed, "enough to last three minutes, taking, say, sixteen pictures to the foot and running about one foot a second. You know that less than ten or eleven pictures a second affect the retina as separate, broken pictures. ”

“ If there were some mechanical difficulty which made this clashing effect of the motion pictures necessary, we could never hope for beauty on the screen; for no art can achieve beauty by producing pain. But we know from the work of such directors as James Cruze, D. W. Griffith, Allan Dwan, Rex Ingram, and John Robertson, that the moving picture camera is capable of recording light gray and dark gray, as well as steel white and ebony. ”

“ Even the pyramids of Egypt can be invested with apparent motion, so that their sharp lines flow constantly into new patterns. It can be done by simply moving the camera itself while the film is being exposed. The appeal of apparent motion in natural setting is familiar to any one who has ever gazed dreamily from the window of a railroad car or from the deck of a yacht sailing among islands. Apparent motion on the screen makes a similar appeal, which can be enhanced by changing distance and point of view and by artistic combination with real motions in the picture. ”

“ Its closing chapter on motion picture photography is a sane criticism of the admirable features and the faults of that important department of modern work with the camera.”—Boston Transcript
“The illustrations in this book are revelations. They are free from the sharp decisiveness of the photograph we have known as a type, are rich in shadow and an occasional blur of mystery that lifts the product to a plane that is in essentials artistic.”
“A helpful manual, broad in scope but not too technical for the comprehension of the amateur.” ”

“ When objects and situations in life that do not exist are wanted, the camera can, by some trick or device, create them for us. There seems to be no limit to the possibilities. Each wonder displayed in photographic reproduction gives way to some new effect more wonderful still.
Consider briefly a few of the wonders of modern photography. First and foremost, and most spectacular of all, is the moving-picture film. Then, in the world of practical things, we have the telephoto-lens—a combination of the telescope and camera—that takes pictures of objects far beyond the reach of the naked eye. ”

“ On the main shaft is also arranged the shutter, E, which rotates [509] with the film-moving mechanism. Fig. 2 shows the simplicity of the camera. On the upper end of the box is the sensitized ribbon, which passes downward between guides before the lens opening. The bent ends of the cam operating bar, which give the fork, D, its reciprocating motion, are shown in Fig. 3. Fig. 4 is a general view of the instrument, showing the driving gear and film support. Fig. 5 shows the cinematograph camera in operation. It will be seen that the camera is very portable. ”

“ The modern way of taking pictures, which is simply pressing a button and sending a film to the professional to “do the rest,” including developing, printing and mounting, is really not photography. Almost any one can take pictures with a small hand camera. The manufacturers have perfected instruments so complete for this kind of work that there is very little for us to do beyond being sure that we have an unexposed section of film in place and that we have sufficient light to obtain a picture. ”

“ The cinematograph camera differs entirely from the instruments used in other branches of photography. While the advanced worker and the prosperous picture-play producer employ costly and elaborate machines, the amateur, or the independent worker, in the particular field which he has selected for his operations, can get equally good results with an apparatus only a fifteenth or even a twentieth part as expensive. ”

“ I might explain, briefly, that moving pictures are taken not by pressing a switch, or a rubber bulb, such as that which works a camera shutter, but by the continuous action of a crank, or handle, attached to the camera. Pressing a bulb does well enough for taking a single picture, but when a series, on a long celluloid strip, are needed, as in the case for the "movies," an entirely different arrangement becomes absolutely necessary.
The sensitive celluloid film must move continuously, in a somewhat jerky fashion, inside the dark light-tight camera, and behind the lens. ”

“ Development.
The modern cinematograph was rendered possible by the invention in 1890 of the celluloid roll film, on which serial pictures are [23] impressed by instantaneous photography; a long sensitised film being moved across the focal plane of a camera and exposed intermittently. For an hour’s exhibition 50,000 to 165,000 pictures are needed. To regulate the feed in the lantern a hole is punched in the film for each picture. ”

“ In order to satisfy one’s self that the semblance of animation is an illusion, one has only to compare the projection of a moving object upon the screen, and its appearance in the camera obscura. In the latter case absolute continuous motion is shown. It may be said that complete animation by photography is quite out of the question with the single camera and projector. How it can be avoided and a more perfect camera obscura effect produced upon the screen is described later. Mechanical ingenuity has not succeeded yet in achieving such a result by means of a single lens. ”

“ The film is a celluloid ribbon and is punctured near either edge, at intervals, so as to enable it to be gripped by the claws of the mechanism and moved forward intermittently a definite distance—three quarters of an inch—through the camera. This puncturing or perforation of the film is the most delicate of the whole cycle of operations. It can only be done by a machine of unerring precision manipulated with extreme care. The machines, though many are on the market, are somewhat expensive, and it is upon them that the steadiness of the picture on the screen depends. ”

“ In the latest development of the art, one inventor has taken advantage of this peculiarity. He has perfected a practical system wherewith the shutter of the camera may be abandoned because each picture is cut off from its neighbour by a very thin black line. ”

“ With the inability of the eye to tell that the screen is merely exhibiting separate photographs, the appearance is of motion. In most persons this visual persistence is only about one twenty-fourth of a second, but that is long enough to allow animated photography to be a pleasing illusion to them, for it gives the shutter of the projector time to hide one picture while the mechanism moves the film down to the next picture, bring the film to a dead stop, and let the shutter open again to reveal the next stage of animation. ”

“ If one has had no previous experience in taking pictures, and simply wishes to make pictorial reminders of his summer outings, the tiny snap-shot-camera, which makes pictures about the size of a silver dollar, is a most satisfactory investment. This camera carries a spool of film long enough for twelve pictures, which is easily and quickly changed for fresh film. The lens has what is called a universal focus, so that there is no focussing. All that one has to do to make a picture is to point the camera at the object and press the shutter spring. ”

“ There, just where they had left it, was the camera, the motor clicking away industriously. It worked intermittently, running for five minutes, and then ceasing for half an hour, so as not to use up the reel of film too quickly. Also, it made a diversity of street scenes, an automatic arrangement swinging the lens slightly after each series of views, so as to get the new ones at a different angle.
“Now we’ll show you,” said Blake, as, having noted that all the film was run out, and was in the light-tight exposed box, he opened the camera and showed the harmless mechanism. ”

“ Naturally, as the intricacies of the craft are mastered, the tyro will wish for a more elaborate apparatus. He can gratify his ambitions in accordance with his progress, or with the improvement in his financial position.
The mechanism of the modern cinematograph [26] camera is very simple in its character and very easy to understand. The necessary parts are very few in number. In all cameras the chief object is to effect the forward intermittent movement of the film at regular intervals and for a defined distance. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In all essential points motion-picture photography is really continuous snap-shot photography. Celluloid film is used, that for motion-picture purposes being one and three-eighth inches wide, and supplied in long strips, the average length being two hundred feet. By turning the crank at the side the motion photographer is able to get continuous photographs of a person or object in motion, instead of the single picture that the snap-shot photographer gets. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The most striking application made of photography in recent years is in the production of so-called moving pictures, in which a series of photographic figures thrown upon the screen have all the motion of animated scenes which have been caught and imprisoned by the swiftly acting and never failing memory of the camera, to be again turned loose in active play through the Kinetoscope or Biograph. ”