E XP AND november
2015
Editor Adriana Fiuza Nunes Creative director Adriana Fiuza Nunes Art director Adriana Fiuza Nunes Redaction The Whole Earth Cathalog Design Adriana Fiuza Nunes Printing Departamento de Arquitetura
E X PA N D
Editorial
page 3
E X PA N D
Contents
CONTENTS 10 Conceptualizing the image
10 Vision and Value 12 The Image 16 Expanded Cinema
20 Obtaining the image
20 22 28 32 34 36 38 41
Life Library of Photography Basic Photobooks Total Picture Control Index to Kodak Technical Information Camera Aperture Guide to Filmmaking American Cinematographer Filmmaker Newsletter
42 Materializyng the image
42 44 45 46
Silk Screen Books Dignan Photographic Kodak Eklagraphic carousel Introducing the Cinema
page 4
E X PA N D
Editorial
EDITORIAL Images. We live surrounded by them. New products, commemorations and even new ways of living come to us trough the use of images. But in fact, how much do we actually know about them. How do we conceptualize, make and materialize them? How much did our perception of them has changed trough the years? Expand come to us as an answer to all of this questions. Besides giving the idea of how much images have changed since the 60s to nowadays, it will also make you question that information and allow you to expand your mind. For that you will need to follow this simple steps: 1. Grab the balloon and fill until it explode. 2. Now that you have accepted our challenge, think about the meaning of this sentence: After the World War 2, the image broke the frame
page 5
E X PA N D
Conceptualizing the image
page 6
V I S I O N & VA L U E s e r i e s Some years ago Gyorgy Kepes revolutionized the Design industry with a book called The New Landscape, illustrating the convergence of the scientific and artistic imagery. Since then he’s been compiling a deep series of latest thought on motion, image, structure, symbol, module, so forth. It’s a casket of jewels, some glass but pretty, some valuable gemstone. Suggested by Len Fehskens
In which sense reality indeed exists for a selfreflecting organism will-become clear by the argument that defeats the solipsistic hypothesis. This arguments proceeds by reductio ad absurdum of the thesis: this world is only in my imagination; the only reality is the imagining. Assume for the moment that the gentleman in the bowler hat insists that he is the sole reality, while everything else appears only in his imagination. However, he cannot deny that his imaginary universe is populated with apparitions that are not unlike himself. Hence he has to grant them the privilege, that they themselves may insist that they are the sole reality and everything else is only a concoction of their imaginations. On the other hand, they cannot deny that their fantasies are populated by apparitions that are not unlike themselves, one of which may be he, the gentleman with the bowler hat. With this the circle of contradiction is closed, for if one assumes to be the sole reality, it turns out he is the imagination of someone else who, in turn, insists that he is the sole reality. The resolution of this paradox establishes the reality of environment through evidence of a second observer. Reality is that which can be witnessed; hence, rests on knowledge that can be shared, that is, “together-knowledge,” or con-scientia. Heinz Von Foerster Sign Image Symbol
E X PA N D
Conceptualizing the image
page 7
E X PA N D
Conceptualizing the image
page 8
THE IMAGE This book is by an economist enchanted with cybernetics. He’s after the organizing principle in life, the image the everything comes together through. He scarcely mentions the brain, and he’s right. It ain’t the brain. Suggested by Len Fehskens
The meaning of a message is the change which it produces in the image. Between the incoming and outgoing messages lies the great intervening variable of the image. The outgoing messages are the result of the image, not the result of the incoming messages. The incoming messages only modify the outgoing messages as they succeed in modifying the image. I have never been to Australia. In my image of the world, however, it exists with 100 per cent certainty. If I sailed to the place where the map makers tell me it is and found nothing there but ocean I would be the most surprised man in the world. I hold to this part of my image with certainty, however, purely on authority. I have been to many other places which I have found on the map and I have almost always found them there. It is interesting to inquire what gives the map this extraordinary authority, an authority greater than that of the sacred books of all religions. It is not an authority which is derived from any political power or from any charismatic experience. As far as I know it is not a crime against the state nor against religion to show a map that has mistakes in It. There is, however, a process of feedback from the users of maps to the map maker. There is a strong tendency for authoritarian organizations to use violence or the threat of violence in support of the role structure, that is,
E X PA N D
Conceptualizing the image
in order to gain acceptance of the role on the part of the persons occupying the lower role. For a time this may be successful in maintaining the organization. It is usually, however, self-defeating because of the corruption of the communication system which it entails. The case is somewhat analogous to that of the schizophrenic or the extreme paranoid; His sense receptors are so much “afraid� of him that they merely confirm the products of his heated imagination. The terrorized information sources of the tyrant likewise tell him only what they think will be pleasing to his ears. Organizations as well as individuals can suffer from hallucinations. It is the peculiar disease of authoritarian structures. At the other extreme, democratic structures in which there is no adequate leadership, that is, in which the feedback is destructive of the decision-making process on the part of higher roles are likewise unstable and incapable of maintaining themselves. If discussion is to be a successful process of decision-making it must exhibit a degree of convergence toward common images of the whole organization. If the feedback from the followers destroys the image of the leader instead of merely modifying it, the process is likely to be self-defeating. The image acts as a field. The behavior consists in gravitating toward the most highly valued part of the field. It does not follow from this, however, that the consequences of behavior are
page 9
in conformity with the image which produced them. Disappointment and surprise are a common lot of both organisms and organizations. We behave according to some image of the consequences of our acts. When, however, these consequences are reflected in information fed back to us, we find very often that beedback does not confirm the original image. Under these circumstances, as we have seen, the image may be modified or it may not. In tracing the effect of images on the course of history, peculiar attention must be paid to the images of time and especially the images of the future. Curiously enough, it may not be so much the actual content of the image of the future which is important in its effect, but its general quality of optimism or pessimism, certainty or uncertainty, breadth or narrowness. The person or the nation that has a date with destiny goes somewhere, though not usually to the address on the label. The individual or the nation which has no sense of direction in time, no sense of a clear future ahead is likely to be vacillating, uncertain in behavior, and to have a poor chance of surviving. Those images of the future which are most persistent and which have had the greatest impact on human history seem to be those which are impenetrable to feedback and which maintain themselves by their own internal beauty and consistency.
E X PA N D
Conceptualizing the image
page 10
E X PA N D
?
Conceptualizing the image
page 11
E X PA N D
Conceptualizing the image
E X PA N D E D C I N E M A We’re moving out of a universe made up mostly of physical objects and emerging into one formed of a flux of energy, electromagnetic waves and invisible changes and communications. All the world’s television and radio broadcasts are constantly moving through our unaware heads, along with a lot of things we’ve not yet tuned in to. This book is about this new universe and about learning how to live in and participate in its changing patterns. Reviewed by Tom Bender
page 12
E X PA N D
Conceptualizing the image
page 13
E X PA N D
Conceptualizing the image
Expanded cinema isn’t a movie at all: like life it’s a process of becoming, man’s ongoing historical drive to manifest his consciousness outside of his mind, in front of his eyes. One no longer can specialize in a single discipline and hope truthfully to express a clear picture of its relationships in the environment. This is especially true in the case of the intermedia network of cinema and television, which new functions as nothing less than the nervous system of mankind. But when you’re really involved with the thing you want to experience, you stop conceiving it. Art finally becomes a barrier to accepting what IS. Art stays within its closed circle and reality never does. Art is all symbols of reality. Symbols are never going to free you. But it would be foolish to say “Stop making art.” James Whitney
page 14
The individual’s ability to apprehend, capture, generate, transmit, duplicate, replicate, manipulate, store, and retrieve audio-visual information has reached the point where technology results in the rebirth of “cottage industry” as conceived by the economist William Morris during the Industrial Revolution in England–the autonomous ability of the individual to generate his own industry within his own local environment. The primary difference between Morris’ pre-industrial view and today’s post-industrial reality is that cottage industry and global cybernetic industrialization interpenetrate each other’s spheres of influence synergetically, each benefiting from the other. However, means have been devised through which even the hologram may no longer need “reality” to exist. Moreover, the ability of holography to record natural phenomena that exist beyond the range of human perception–Shockwaves, electrical vibrations, ultraslow-motion events–could contribute to an experience of nonordinary realities totally beyond the reach of conventional cinema or television.
E X PA N D
Conceptualizing the image
page 15
E X PA N D
Conceptualizing the image
page 16
L I F E L I B R A RY O F P H O T O G R A P H Y Recently I enjoyed an airplane magazine in which all the articles were illustrated by the authors. What a difference. Instead of glamorous eye candy, the pictures were frank, densely informative, thoroughly tied in to the articles. Photography, especially professional photography, is best in the hands of skilled amateurs. Sharper than words photography is a reality medium. No specialist elite should monopolize that kind of power. I believe these are the beginner’s books I’ve been looking for ever since we started the Catalog. They cover the territory–camera, printing, film, history, photojournalism. They have sensational pictures (and price to match), and fine practical information like “Camera Buyer’s Guide”, “Darkroom Equipment”, etc. Get a Polaroid Swinger and play around for a while. If you like the pictures to where you want to use the medium, get a 35 mm and some used darkroom equipment, develop your own film and prints, and mention the LIFE photography books to relatives in November.
Polaroid Land Camera Sometimes thought of as an instrument designed purely for amateurs, the Polaroid Land Camera is a cherished professional tool on hundreds of weeklies and small dailies. It’s almost foolproof operation enables reporters with little photographic training to get good pictures. The 31/4 X 41/4 pictures are large enough for a harried editor to judge without a magnifying glass, and most important of all, the Instantly available prints can be sent directly to the engraver without darkroom processing–an obvious advantage under the pressure of deadlines, aside from being a cash saver. A special film pack, usable on some models, can produce not only positives but negatives to make additional prints for presentation to local celebrities–a good-will practice sometimes followed by small papers.
E X PA N D
Conceptualizing the image
page 17
E X PA N D
Conceptualizing the image
BASIC PHOTO BOOKS
page 18
E X PA N D
Conceptualizing the image
There is a lot of bullshit about photography; it is easily (and usually) a subject for egoistic subjectivism and it is much in the hands of the people that push consumption. But like any other art form, the thing is to shut up and get dirty learning, working feeling it. I’ve come this way and perhaps can help. There are a few good books: The first book is Chas Swedlund’s A Guide to Photography. When I last heard the book was available from him (address: 5019 W. Blemont, Chicago, Illinois 60641) for about $5. It is the best starting book; it is as simple, direct and complete as the Domebook. Women and children can use it. The mechanics of the beast are explained by a working photographer and teacher not by a streamlining book designer. Basic. It will get you out of the Popular Photography bullshit of one thing, one issue, another, the next. It will be enough for the person who wants a simple image–getting that consistently isn’t easy. So the beginning booklist is one title. There may come a time, though, when you wish to make love with it, form koan, fix energy. The process is capable; photography can be an art form with just as much subtlety of creation as pottery glazes, dyeing, weaving. Go to the index of the Life series on photography
page 19
and look up the photographs of Ansel Adams, Brett and Edward Weston, Paul Caponigro (these are my favorites) and... and... This is the business of the fine print. And consider that reproductions almost always run a poor third to the original print. You can do it. Hell, you can do it to yourself!! You may want to do 35mm, perhaps large format–negatives 4” X 5” up to 11”x14”. It involves the use of the zone system of exposure and development. The knowledge won’t be wasted even in 35mm. As for printing the negative you get, the more esoteric information comes largely from the same sources that will tell you about the zone system. There is one book (or rather a series) that has compass, the Ansel Adams series. True they where written nearly twenty years ago and are $5.98, but this man must know more than any other one (or many) person about da modemploi. Some find him confusing but those who work his books find it the teachings of a master–seemingly contradictory and incomplete but rich for those who will try it, work it, re-read it, understand some more, work some more. It is a book for application, not a neatly wrapped set of answers that spoil your appetite. The core of the series are The Negative, The Print and Natural Light Photography.
E X PA N D
Conceptualizing the image
page 20
E X PA N D
Conceptualizing the image
There are others in the series. In The Print for example there is a chapter devoted to developers, on what goes in them and what those ingredients do. At the back is an appendix with a table of nearly twenty developing formulas that you can mix yourself–and play tones, print colors and contrast ranges like stops on an organ. Maybe there is space age chemicals in cans these days but a) lookit the man’s pictures b) I want to fucking know the stuff I work with. These books are the richest single source of information on how to fly with this set of wings; there is even a good part of The Negative devoted to “miniature camera”, i.e., 35mm and 2V4 square. This man is a concert pianist, a photographer and a master. See his photographs and books. He knows how. The Life series–it has the best set of pictures around, bar none, everything is represented. But I don’t dig it. My hassle perhaps, but I find it a bit sterile. It is complete, complete, complete and very rational Streamlined. And the questions are generally posed and answered. Spoils that appetite like a jr. high physics book. For those interested in a specific tag end to chew on, to learn from–very little. Such a thing is not a tool but an intellectual candybar. How do I make platinum prints, eh? Where do I
page 21
get the chemicals, what precautions do I take? Well, maybe you’ll pick up on something– and do your seeking elsewhere. It does have a damn good set of pictures. If you wish your prints to last forever, there is the East Street Gallery permanence publication. 50c/, available from 1408 East Street in Grinell Iowa, 50112 in numberland Says you might make it last 3000 years; I wish I was that important. For those who want to get into the alchemy of mixing their own funny chemicals, you can still order most everything through Kodak via your local photo store and get a week’s delivery For the really weird stuff such as Amidol or Pyrocatechin, try Dignan Photographic, Inc. 12304 Erwin Street in, yes. North Hollywood, CA. They also have an excellent publication. Booklet No. 8, Photographic Chemical Facts and Formulas. Tells you what chemicals do, is more complete and up to date (but is technical only) than Ansel $2.50. The Zone System hasn’t been fully explained yet. Minor White’s book is the most complete account, Ansel has some information about it in The Negative. Both of them are talking from the application viewpoint and it’s a bit like describing the Elephant. They don’t tell you how else it might be done (e.g. Minor figures development times off of zone eight,
E X PA N D
Conceptualizing the image
Ansel off of six) and why. Try Minor but pulleenz don’t get the idea it’s all that clanky. I’ve worked with Paul Caponigro: a lot of the time he’ll merely take one or two readings and make the exposure. Fast Simple. And you get a lot more room for creation, expression and like that. There is a book for telling you how to do platinum, palladium and gum arabic prints. Other processes, too, all of days gone by. Interesting. They ‘re powerful, could be a heavy trip if you’ve got the negatives to print out. A platinum print is a rich brown (not sepia) or glowing silver color and has an incredibly rich swimming misty depth to it. You make the paper, that is, make the emulsion and then coat a stock (gf your choosing! ) with it. I haven’t yet done it but imagine it would be as hard as making DMT (which I haven’t either). And gum arabic prints are made without silver (it’s getting scarce and may disappear from the private market) and can be of any color (not just black and white). I don’t know the price. It is A Handbook for Contemporary Photographers by Arnold Gassen who is an assistant professor of Art at Ohio U. in Athens, O. The Handbook is distributed by Light Impressions, Box 3012, Rochester, N.Y. 14614.
page 22
And for the technically minded, there is Todd and Zakia’s Photographic Sensitometry (Morgan Gf Morgan, publ.) ($9.95 list, 1 bought for $7.95 at the Rochester Inst of Tech. bookstore). This n a well rounded scientific treatment of light sensitive materials. Micro and macro physics, statistical mathematics, etc. While it will tell you more than you want to know, it may have valuable information. For instance, the graphics-oriented person may wish to know primarily how to twist the crittur’s tail in the darkroom, being less interested in the reproduction of a visual experience than he is in the manipulation of the materials. This book would tell him a good bit about ‘effects’, as they’re called scientifically, that he could use. Good luck to make it happen. Stewart Dean West Cornwall, Co
E X PA N D
Conceptualizing the image
page 23
E X PA N D
Conceptualizing the image
page 24
T O TA L P I C T U R E C O N T R O L ZONE SYSTEM MANUAL Three teachers and two books taught me photography. John Collier showed me the objective power of photographs (anthropologists with a Polaroid start far more informative conversations than anthropologists without). Minor White showed me how to go into mild trance to see directly. Jack Welpott showed me that the main obstacle to good pictures is my own ideas and arrogance (an entire class of us shot better pictures–better by very standard– blindfolded than we did in the usual way). Total Picture Control, a good technical unimaginative book, showed me how to use lenses, filters, view cameras, settings, print papers, the whole tool kit, to get what I wanted. It displayed the basic range of possibility. Zone System Manual, by Minor White, gave me Ansel Adams’ zone system of photography in distilled form. The key is previsualization, which is looking at reality through an accurately imagined photographic print, then knowing how to make the calculations and mechanical and chemical adjustments so the print has what you saw, plus any divine grace that happened by.
E X PA N D
Conceptualizing the image
The composite picture at the left illustrates why straight lines must of necessity appear curved in all super wide-angle renditions. Each of its three components was taken with an ordinary camera and a lens of standard focal length. The perspective of each is “normal�: with the camera in level position (center), verticals are rendered parallel; with the camera pointed upward (top), verticals converge toward the top of the picture; with the camera pointed downward (bottom), verticals converge toward the bottom of the picture. Each of these photographs encompasses an angle of approximately 47 degrees. Now, if all three were combined in one single shot encompassing three times 47 degrees, or approximately 140 degrees, how would perspective be manifest? It would appear as in the Panon shot on the opposite page which encompasses an angle of 140 degrees in which the actually straight verticals of the skyscraper are rendered as curves.
page 25
E X PA N D
Conceptualizing the image
page 26
ZONE A “Zone” as a visual unit of measurement is arrived at by altering a standard exposure by one “stop” more or one “stop” less. For example all the values in a scene exposed at f/11 at 1 /25 second would print one “zone” lighter than a print of the same scene exposed at f/16 at 1 /25 second, (Providing While looking at this (Zone System Manual) of course that the two negatives were given identical development time and the same exposure time in the enlarger.) This “one Stop” or “one Zone” alteration, links the “zone” to the classic 1:2 exposure ratio used in photography to calibrate shutter speeds and diaphragm openings or “stops.”
E X PA N D
Conceptualizing the image
INDEX TO KODAK T E C H N I C A L I N F O R M AT I O N Lessons in eye-hand coordination - Keys to holding your camera steady... learning photographic terms...How to record eclipses and starlight... choosing the right film... In the darkroom: theory and technique... photomacrography... graphic arts techniques... infrared... Pictures in extremes of weather (and of extremes of weather)... Projection... filters...extra-long exposures... Scientific photography... Low prices and good mail service make it profitable to pick the brains of Kodak’s researchers and staff photographers. Information useful to novice and pro alike... When you see a picture, this catalog will probably guide your hand. But first you have to SEE... and that is another thing entirely. Suggested and reviewed by Gary Braasch
page 28
E X PA N D
Conceptualizing the image
page 29
E X PA N D
Conceptualizing the image
page 30
C A M E R A A P E RT U R E Two magazines have consistently outstanding photographs. Camera, from Europe, has every issue a whole different kind of hotographs. Of all the magazines we see at WHOLE EARTH this is the one that gets cut up and pinned to the walls.. Aperture, Minor White’s magazine, carries camerawork as a mystical tool, not O Boy God!, but how to see and see until you see through and back.
Conclusions
1. That the photographer is in a poor position to forecast how others will respond to his pictures, (a) Because he was there at the moment the exposure was made, or at least thinks that he was there, (b) Because he assumes that as soon as his camera is paid for that the pictures emerging from it are his. 2. The remedy is to learn to look at his own photographs as if they were made by some other photographer. 3. The remedy, if applied, becomes a discipline that separates the men from the boys. 4. In learning to predict responses it is better for the photographer if he has the direct experience of gathering responses to his pictures than to read extensively about such matters. It is better because the direct experience gives an opportunity to study himself and his work in relation to the world.
E X PA N D
Conceptualizing the image
page 31
E X PA N D
Conceptualizing the image
page 32
GUIDE TO FILMMAKING Ed Pincus is a careful man, once a logician of sorts, now a cameraman, he’s taught still work at the visual arts center, harvard, and now is at the mit film department. His book is carefully done, thorough, nicely indexed, easier to use than the american cinematographers manual, and probably more useful to the student and it only costs a buck fifty. JD
The book is intended to give a fairly precise idea of how much it costs to do various types of films and the way to go about making these films. It is a production manual, including all the information the serious filmmaker will need about the technical side of making movies. A whole breed of filmmakers and potential filmmakers is appearing for whom 16mm is the professional film and super 8mm a serious amateur gauge which someday may be a professional gauge. Much of the information for one gauge is relevant to the other. This book discusses them both, emphasizing 16mm, pointing out the differences in the narrower film. The unedited footage is called rashes or dailies. Almost invariably there is a considerably greater amount of rushes than there is of final; film. The ratio of film shot to final footage is usually between 5:1 , and 10:1. But the ratio varies tremendously depending on the type , of film being made and the method of filming. Peter Emmanuel Goldman’s underground classic Echoes of Silence was done using a ratio of less than 2; 1 for an hour-long film. At the other end of the spectrum, documentary filmmakers who use no script often shoot ratios higher than 40:1, which means shooting over 90,000 feet to end with an hour’s length of film. Often one of the most difficult tasks in writing up a budget for a film is to estimate the amount of footage that will be needed.
E X PA N D
Conceptualizing the image
When there is a script for a film, a great deal of additional footage is shot to give the editor a selection of shots and to guarantee that there will not be any continuity gaps either within scenes or in the storyline. It is not unusual, when two possibilities for a story line exist, for both to be filmed and the final choice delayed until the film is being edited. Often the same action is filmed several times in several “takes� to get different camera angles (positions) and to guarantee that the actors have performed their task well. In much black and white photography, correct exposure for the subject will give you a pale, washed-out, and cloudless sky. A sky darkened too much (by using a heavy filter) will have a phony, heavily dramatic quality. The bluer the sky, the easier it is to darken it and the less filtration needed. When the sky is overcast or misty, filters will not be very effective. The sky near the sun and on the horizon is often almost white and does not respond to filtration. If the film is overexposed, the filter effect may be largely lost. If you wish to bleach a blue sky, a blue filter will do the trick. As in all things, it is often hard to find yourself in film. For some, the way is to make their films alone. For others, film is essentially a group enterprise. In film you may be able to find yourself, understand the world, show others what the world really is, and, finally, change it.
page 33
E X PA N D
Conceptualizing the image
A M E R I C A N C I N E M AT O G R A P H E R Accurate, specific information on what’s new in equipment, techniques, standards, and the attitudes of technicians using them. Also gossip and news about who’s doing what where. Covers all aspects of professional filmmaking from Hollywood Super Panavision 70mm to 8 mm educational loops. The ads, fully as important as the text, are mouthwatering for those with an appetite for Eclairs and such. If you read it regularly you’ll never need Baddeley - you’ll know how it’s really done. Often the information is directly and simply usable; sometimes it stimulates visions of the super cinema of the future. When in school I consulted back issues for a psychology paper on perception. The articles are really interesting and, best of all, there is no film criticism so you avoid all those negative emotions. Suggested by Gordon Ashby Reviewed by Sandra Tcherepnin
page 34
E X PA N D
Conceptualizing the image
page 35
E X PA N D
Conceptualizing the image
page 36
E X PA N D
Conceptualizing the image
FILMMAKERS NEWSLETTER The Filmmakers Newsletter is a clearing house for all and any information pertaining to filmmaking. As such, it’s without any competition and fills a real need for the independent filmmaker. Regular features include a nation wide calendar of special film showings (both underground and classics), free classified ads, detailed information on film festivals, a technical question and answer column, and ideas for building cheap film equipment. They also print interviews, essays, and word of any film workshops, conferences, and schools. They claim to accept paid ads only from companies willing to do business with low budget independent filmmakers. Only one complaint: regular $5 subscription brings the “Newsletter” bulk mail–and the news is often out of date. If festival application dates and film showing times are really important, add $3/year for first class mail. Suggested and reviewed by Phyllis Wilson
page 37
E X PA N D
Conceptualizing the image
page 38
SILK SCREEN BOOKS Two excellent books for beginners and journeymen silk-screeners. I like best: 57 How-to-do-it Chart by Harry L. Hiett “Gives you a quick breakdown, in chart form, of all the necessary steps for making frames, producing your own films, and building your own basic equipment. Shows you how to stretch your slik, both by rope & by tacking method, & how to build jigs for 3-dimensional printing. A practical book for the professional, the student, or the technician.”
The supply outlet likes best: Silk Screen Printing by Eisenberg & Kafka “Devoted to describing each phase of screen processing clearly w. illustrations & photographs. Step-by-step suggestions on techniques & methods, clearning of equipment, color mixing, art & lettering, multi-color screening, etc. Recommended handbook for beginners.” The prices are so reasonable, for a welcome change, I really advise getting both.
E X PA N D
Conceptualizing the image
page 39
E X PA N D
Conceptualizing the image
DIGNAN PHOTOGRAPHIC If you try to find information on the chemistry behind color processing you soon discover that it is hard to come by and the chemicals are equally hard to locate or purchase. Dignan Photographic can help you solve both problems. They publish a monthly newsletter which is full of information and formulas for both color and b&w. Many formulas are simplified versions of commercial brews which make them easy for the novice to use. Their C-22 for developing Kodacolor or Ektacolor film and their unicolor print paper formulas are easy to mix and use. Not only is it interesting but you can easily save 40 to 60%, sometimes more, on your chemical costs. Mixing your own also offers the possibility of doing things not possible with the commercial chemical kits. Dignan Photographic sells most of the chemicals you will need for color or b&w by mail order. Their newsletter covers many major products of Kodak, Agfa, GA F, Fuji, etc. It began being published Sept. ‘68 so you will want to order back issues. If you are a photographer who wants control over a large and important segment of photographic technology Dignan can help you. Suggested and reviewed by Terry Gritton
page 40
E X PA N D
Conceptualizing the image
page 41
K O D A K E K TA G R A P H I C C A R O U S E L I’ve been working with tape-slide shows, and if audience involvement is any measure, tape-slide is fully as effective a medium as flim. I use two Kodak Ektagraphic projectors, with the lamp circuits rigged so that one image can be dissolved into the other. The speed of the dissolve is controlled by a switcher-fader that I designee and built from two household light dimmers and a Spirograph game. I would be happy to share my invention with any other media freaks who are interested. Just write. You reviewed the Kodak Carousel projector in Fall 69. Please tell everyone that the Carousel is good, but not as good as its big brother, the Kodak Ektagraphic. Advantages of the Ektagraphic: 3-connector power cord is permanently attached; Model AF has remote focus control, autofocus, timer, tungsten-halogen lumenized optics, and all other features of the Carousel 860; all Ektagraphics are built more ruggedly than the Carousel; all Ektagraphics will center each slide horizontally, as well as vertically, for precise projection of lap-dissolve slides (important in tape-slide shows); all Ektagraphics have an extra fuze in the lamp circuit. The Ektagraphics are a light gray color, rather than the black of the Carousel Cost is about the same as the Carousel Ektagraphics are only available through audio-visual supply houses, and other establishments that supply equipment for auditorium, school business, and industrial uses.
See your local school district, or write to Kodak for dealers. Most audio-visual houses give up to 20% discount to schools and other good liars, so you can frequently horse-trade an Ektagraphic for less than the Carousel The Ektagraphic AF has got to be the finest slide projector on the market. I also want to tell you about the finest 35mm camera on the market - the Nikkormat FTN. I’ve used a lot of different 35mm cameras, including the Nikon F ($150 more than the Nikkormat), and find the Nikkormat superior to all of them. Camera buyers should ask these questions at least: How complete is the selection of lenses and accessories (who can beat Nikon, Vivatar, Soligor, etc)? How easy is it to change lenses (Canon and Pentax fall down here)? Do I have to move my trigger finger to change shutter speed? Is the thru-the-lense (the only way) meter accurate and dependable? How bulky and heavy is the camera? Is the shutter cloth, or titanium? Does the camera fire quietly and smoothly (the Nikkormat could be a little better in this category)? With a little hunting, you can get a Nikkormat with f:2 50-mm lense for under $220. Jim Mitchell
E X PA N D
Conceptualizing the image
page 42
INTRODUCING THE SINGLE CAMERA VTR SYSTEM A “...basic manual designed specifically to introduce helical scan (1/2 inch, one inch! VTR.” If your school video equipment is run by that education anomaly–the “A V boy”–a hardware freak, fluent in electronics and as open as a programmed reader- this manual will provide talk-back ammunition. Simple definitions, good sense operating instructions, and practical maintenance tips offer the resources necessary to operate the equipment smoothly and to convince even the skeptical of your knowledge about the machines. The technical information and equipment specs and suggestions are also very useful in piercing the bubble of manufacturers hype. But most of the exercises and production techniques are heavily scripted–suffering the patterned dullness of imitation broadcasting. The growing video head scene can probably pass this manual up but schools without portable equipment may find the information worth the purchase. Reviewed by Richard Kletter
Slides or movies can be transferred to video tape by projecting them onto a piece of smooth white posterboard or paper. If a projector screen is used the reflecting particles on the screen are picked up by the camera and will add a grainy appearance to the slide. This may sometimes be desired. Copying sound 16mm or super 8mm films in this manner will produce a slight flutter in the picture. The expense involved in a film chain projector system ($1500 and up) will make you tolerant of the small flutter. If you have a silent film, or a sound film whose sound track is of no concern to you, you can eliminate the flutter by showing it back on a projector with a variable speed control and regulating the control to the proper speed. This will slow down the motion only slightly. Then, if your VTR has audio dubbing capability, you can add your own sound track. If you record sound from a film as you are taping it, try to feed the sound directly into your VTR. Most sound projectors have high impedance outputs which allow you to go from the ‘ aux audio out” on the projector to the “aux input” on the VTR via an RCA-to-RCA patch cord. If this is not possible, place the microphone in front of the projector speaker. Get the speaker as far away from the projector as possible, even in a closet or another room, so your microphone doesn’t pick up the projector noise as it most likely will if you have to place the microphone near the projector.
E X PA N D
Conceptualizing the image
page 43
E X PA N D
Conceptualizing the image
page 44