Wolf’s Advent Calendar 2018

By Walter Bluemel

from the International Photographer March 1934 pg.4

THE most remarkable difference between the work of the professional and the amateur cameraman is not in the equipment used, but in the way it is used. The amateur today has at his disposal a variety of 16 mm. movie equipment which in perfection and versatility compares very favorably with the equipment used in Hollywood studios.

In principle, standard and sub-standard apparatus is very similar, differing essentially in size only. The smaller size, however, does not give it limitations which larger equipment does not have, but, on the contrary, makes it more versatile because of its light weight, as well as greatly cuts down the expense of equipment and film so that the amateur can afford it.

Though in the majority of cases simpler in construction, 16 mm. is made with the same mechanical precision that is to be found in standard equipment and, with the newest types of cameras, the numerous accessories and the modern high speed, fine grain panchromatic films available, there is no reason why the amateur should not in the majority of cases be able to get as good results as the professional.

[Read more…] about CINEWOLF X-MAS-SURPRISE 05: The Amateur Can Learn From the Professional

by CHARLES LANG, A. S. C.

THE INTRODUCTION of Fast Film brought with it great benefits to all types of cameramen, and with it too, new problems to be surmounted. I doubt, however, if any class of cameramen received quite so many of either as have those of us who, either from preference or necessity, work with a low key of lighting. Here was a new film which can inherently make our work much simpler, but which also makes us adopt a new technique if we wish to utilize its greatest benefits.

In the first place, Fast Film allows us to use less light. In the second place, it is naturally inclined to yield soft gradations; I doubt if it is possible to get a really over-contrasty picture with it. But—and there’s the rub—this very tendency to soft gradation which is a great advantage to the normal worker, can be the undoing of the unwary low-key worker. The reason for this is that whereas the normal worker, sometimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally, almost invariably lights his set for quite a high degree of brilliance, the low-key worker, on the other hand, habitually works with extremely soft lightings, which, when coupled with the naturally soft characteristic of the new film, is very likely to become over-soft, and flat.

[Read more…] about CINEWOLF X-MAS-SURPRISE 04: Some Thoughts on Low-Key Lighting