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Make A Bust Of Yourself!

Sculpture is easy with this new European technique. All you need to know is how to take a good photograph.

ALL you need to be an expert sculptor these days is a good camera—or rather a pair of cameras!

With a new technique recently devised in Switzerland, it now is possible to make amazingly accurate sculptured likenesses of yourself and your friends simply by snapping a photograph, superimposing the image on a mound of clay, and then whittling it down to size. Here’s the way it’s done: Two cameras are placed side-by-side as shown in the illustration, with the person whose image is to be created seated in focus before the lens. Alongside the two cameras is a machine which projects a screen on the model’s face.

Photographs are then taken by the two cameras at the same time.

The resultant photos show a screen-lined face taken from two different angles, the screening naturally resulting in a criss-cross diagram on the model’s features. Next, the cameras are transformed into projectors by simply removing the backs and substituting a strong light in their places. Now, however, in the exact place where the model sat for his photograph there is placed a mound of plasteline, and the positive transparencies of the two photographs are then projected on this mound, each transparency naturally being projected by the camera that has taken the original picture.

But—when the two screen-lined transparencies are projected onto the face of the actual model, the lines on the screen naturally combine and give the effect of one line, just as seen by the human eye. However, when the positives are reflected on the mound of plasteline—which has a different surface than the model’s face—two distinct lines are visible for each wire in the screen. And therein lies the secret.

To get a mask of plasteline that will be an exact image of the model, all the sculptor has to do is mould and shape the plasteline until the two lines for each wire of the screen come together to make one. In other words, it’s like getting the mound of plasteline into focus.

Results to date with this type of sculpture have been extremely accurate and lifelike. The process is said to save considerable time and effort, in addition to eliminating the necessary artistic background required of normal modeling procedures. An even greater advantage of this new method, however, is that, with it, one needn’t sit for hours while his likeness is being moulded; it takes no longer now than it would to have one’s picture taken.

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IT’S NEW!

SWAMP WAGON’S nine-ft. tall rear wheels have hickory treads steel-clamped to 28 in. rims weighing 700 lbs. Vehicle is designed to clamber over Florida’s soft muck bogs.

TOTCYCLIST Brad Bradley drives cut-down 125 cc Harley Davidson like a pro. Five-year-old was taught to ride 50-mph machine by his Dad. Brad began career at 18 months.

MANY-LENSED Italian Summa camera has revolving turret housing regular lens, wide angle lens and two for direct sighting. It also has hand grips and flash attachments.

NO FANCY PANTS, Solly Davis holds Geiger counter inside Goodyear’s new one-piece vinyl film anti-radiation suit Inflated by compressed air, suit is air-conditioned.

BLOW-UP house can be inflated by a man in three minutes. British rubber hut is nine ft high with floor space of 30×19 ft. It has all comforts of home—phone, lights.

SINKPROOF claims Danish inventor Clous Sorensen of his novel lifeboat which has its rudder and screw hidden in tube. Mate is strapped in seat under plastic hood.

DIRECTOMAT in Times Square, N.Y., issues a card with directions to get to any station in subway system when destination button is pushed. Great aid for out-of-towners.

SUPER SOFT Terra-Tires allow this plane to taxi at high speed over scattered 2×4 blocks. Goodyear is testing them for use by aircraft on rough ground cluttered with obstacles.

MOTO-VAC sucks up dirt in car when attached to exhaust pipe and engine is started. Nobby British invention comes with 12 ft. hose, operates by exhaust jet extraction.

TINY TV camera developed by Lockheed will give engineers ringside seat when studying the performance of control surfaces on new aircraft during flight operations.

FLASHLIGHT is latest Russian all-weather jet fighter. Sleek craft is swept-wing, twin jet, dual-placed job which gives the appearance of being effective interceptor.

RED TV antennas bristle atop these wooden shacks in the suburbs of Moscow. Soviet citizens like video and many houses that have no running water boast a TV set.

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Save time – Shop here for the photo fans on your Christmas list

These two pages give you some idea of the many useful and inexpensive gift ideas at your photo dealer’s. Visit him soon. He’ll be glad to help you choose just the right gift for every photo fan on your shopping list.

Easy-to-use materials for printing pictures —ideally suited for beginners. Kodacraft Printing Kit, $4.95.

Basic essentials for developing and printing pictures, including roll-film tank. Kodacraft Photo-Lab Outfit, $8.75.

Complete developing, printing equipment, incl. metal printer. Kodacraft Advanced Photo-Lab, $14.10.

For efficient print drying. Counteracts tendency of prints to curl. Use it over and over. Kodak Blotter Roll, $2.88.

Easy to use, load, and pour. Takes 620-120, 616-116, and 127 roll films. Kodacraft Roll-Film Tank, $2.53.

Permits loading and processing of 35mm. films to be carried out in daylight. Kodak Day-Load Tank, $9.30.

New-type printing frame of steel construction. Includes a set of masks. Kodacraft Printing Frame, $1.29.

Adjustable — accepts all sizes of negatives up to 4 x 5-1/2 inches. Kodak Auto-Mask Printing Frame, $2.79.

Converts ordinary tray to efficient, trouble-free washer for prints or films. Kodak Automatic Tray Siphon, $4.50.

Frees both hands for handling equipment and material in the darkroom. Kodak Utility Footswitch, $10.00.

Tilting base, minute and split-second hands, large dial. Covers intervals to 60 minutes. Kodak Timer, $7.20.

Gives precise timing in contact and projection printing, 1 to 57 seconds. Kodak Electric Time Control, $13.50.

Handsome chemical-resistant plastic housing protects all working parts. Kodak Chemical Scales, $9.90.

Cool, Circline fluorescent lamp, integrating-sphere lamphouse are prominent features in each en-larger. Kodak Hobbyist Enlarger (left), $44.00, complete with f/6.3 lens. Versatile Kodak Fluro-lite Enlarger (right), $99.50, without lens.

Lenses for the Flurolite Enlarger range from 50mm. f/4.5 “Ektanon” to 4-inch f/4.5 “Ektar.” From $14.00.

For accurate masking of enlargements —use It with any vertical enlarger. Kodak Masking Easel, 11 x 14, $9.60.

For determining correct printing time —saves both paper and time. Kodak Projection Print Scale, $1.15.

Feature – packed view-type camera —permits one-to-one close-ups. Kodak Flurolite Camera Combination, $60.00.

Permits use of 35mm. film with Flurolite Enlarger or Recomar-type cameras. Kodak 35mm. Film Adapter A, $45.00.

Includes three cups for darkroom work with both papers and films. Brownie Darkroom Lamp Kit, $1.75.

New darkroom safe-light that provides direct or indirect illumination—or both. Kodak 2-Way Safelamp, $4.50.

Can be used either from a drop cord or in a wall plug. Includes safelight filter. Kodak Darkroom Lamp, $4.70.

Attaches to wall, shelf, bench. Includes switch, cord, safelight filter. Kodak Adjustable Safe-light Lamp, $7.40.

Expertly made, offers sound protection together with smart appearance. Kodak carrying case. From $2.65.

Adapts de luxe model Kodak Tourist Cameras to take «Kodachrome Film. Kodak Tourist Adapter Kit, $13.25.

Permits use of economical Bantam-size (828) color films. Kodak 828 Adapter for Kodak Reflex Cameras, $4.59.

Automatically trips shutter, permits photographer to get into picture. Kodak Auto-Release, $3.86.

Provides dependable “flash” for most internally synchronized cameras. Kodak Standard Flasholder, $8.25.

Sensational new battery-condenser flash system. Kodak Ektalux Flasholder (Standard Bracket), $29.75.

Condenser – type power for dependable “flash.” Kodak B-C Flashpack, $2.95 (without 22-1/2-volt battery).

Twelve-inch reflector focuses readily from wide to narrow light beam. Kodak Vari-Beam Clamplight, $10.50.

Permits close-range picture taking with most fixed-focus cameras. Kodak Close-up Attachment, $1.63.

Now a filter designed for inexpensive box cameras—emphasizes clouds. Kodak Cloud Filter, $1.72.

Provides an excellent means of darkening the sky and clouds in color pictures. Kodak PolaScreen, $6.75.

Shades the camera lens and reduces sky flare-attaches directly to adapter ring. Kodak Lens Hood. From. $1.65.

Popular yellow (K2), red (A), and green (XI) filters to fit most cameras. Kodak Wratten Filters. From $1.65.

Two compartments hold 4 filters, adapter ring, lens hood. Kodak Combination Filter Cases, $4.25, $4.95.

New-type slide-feeding mechanism, cool operation, elevating device. Kodaslide Merit Projector, $26.10.

2×2 projector and screen in a single unit. Usable in fully lighted room. Kodaslide Table Viewer, 4X, $49.50.

Projector, screen, slide changer in one unit. Kodaslide Table Viewer, Model A, $97.50.

Compartments for 240 cardboard or 96 glass slides. Kodaslide Compartment File, $3.94.

Protects 140 cardboard or 55glass slides—keeps them organized. Kodaslide File Box, $1.57.

Holds 360 2 x 2-inch or 160 stereo slides. Kodaslide Flexo File, $1.25.

Prices subject to change without notice and include Federal Tax where applicable. Consult your dealer.

EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY, ROCHESTER 4, N. Y.

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We Shoot Newborn Babies

by Robert Clark

WHEN I wound up my war service in the Navy five years ago, I thought all my “shooting” days were over. But now Bob Danielson and I are scrambling about like second louies on a recruiting tour rounding up a corps of expert marksmen to patrol hospitals all across America— and shoot newborn babies!

Who’s this talking—Public Enemy No. 1? No—not even No. 101. Strangely enough everyone likes having us around—doctors, nurses, parents by the thousands—even the cute little tykes themselves. And our shooting is done not with a bang-bang but with the click-click of cameras formerly installed in the wings of Navy Hellcat fighters to record split-second combat maneuvers.

The idea for snapping portraits of new babies before even mama knows how her little precious looks occurred to me when I myself was passing out cigars. Since I was a news photographer in Washington, D. C., I naturally wanted to scoop the world on the arrival of the capital of my own baby boy. The hospital, though, refused to let me take his picture. It seems they thought that if I didn’t scare him to death with the flash, the nasty little germs in my old shutterbox might get him. But it’s not so easy to squelch a good newspaperman.

On the second day after the big event I slipped into my wife’s room when the baby was with her—and just happened to have an extra camera handy under my coat. I shot a fast picture of my two-day-old son, then raced out to develop it.

Its clarity and personality surprised everyone including Papa. For the next few days I was so busy grinding out prints for relatives and friends of the family I hardly had time to visit the hospital.

I started wondering how I could work out a scheme to take pictures of newborn babies without having to fear for my life if I got caught with a camera in the hospital nursery.

I had a lot of high hurdles to clear, though, before I perfected a photo setup that would satisfy the rigid hospital stand- ards of sanitation and safety—and at the same time take good pictures.

“Your equipment will have to function automatically and be so simple any nurse can operate it,” doctors insisted.

But they did like the idea of new-baby photos as an additional means of identification to prevent the possibility of tragic mixups. And from my point of view, I felt sure the proud parents would show their delight in the photo service by buying lots of pictures.

Just as I was settling down to work out a practical system for baby shooting that would make everybody happy, the Japs upset all my personal plans by blasting Pearl Harbor. I shelved the baby project and sailed off to join the Navy.

Even at war, though, I didn’t forget my idea. Later, while I was serving as photographic officer aboard the big carrier Midway, a machinist pal and I spent our spare time studying the Fairchild K-25 aerial, camera that we were using in the wings of our F6F fighters.

I kept wondering if they might be converted for my baby-shooting idea.

Although the K-25 had the right shutter speed, there were other major problems I had to work out first. For one thing, to take a picture at a fixed distance in the hospital nursery, the camera had to be regeared. For another, it had to wind the film and be ready automatically for the next exposure.

After the war, I plunged headlong into the baby business again. I wrote hundreds of letters to manufacturers to find someone who could make special lenses, shutters, motors and speed reducers for a redesigned aerial camera. I never found anyone who had in stock the exact equipment I wanted. I still have to hire an expert machinist to make up by hand the special parts I need for my cameras.

Getting the proper light for photographing babies was tough. A constant light causes baby to squint—or, worse yet, makes those big, beautiful eyes shut tight. Finally, an invention by Dr. Harold Edgerton of Massachusetts Institute of Technology helped me solve the lighting problem. I synchronized my aerial camera with Dr. Edgerton’s highspeed, repeating flashlight. With this arrangement, I found I could snap baby’s picture in quick, gentle light, no stronger than daylight. Doctors approved this setup since it was completely safe for baby’s tender eyes.

After a total of six years’ experimental work in perfecting the first practical camera for my hospital project, I decided to try it out at Keyser, West Virginia. Like the stage show that opens on the road before its Broadway appearance, I wanted to test my equipment on a small scale before installing my photo “show” in Washington’s big Garfield Memorial Hospital. The debut was a success and got good notices from both doctors and parents.

So, I moved into big time at Garfield. The installations there cost me about $3000. I amortized this outlay over a five-year period as a part of my stay-in-the-black program.

The Garfield units began to pay off immediately after I had installed them. Others that I have set up in hospitals along the Eastern Seaboard and in Missouri, Texas and Oregon also are hitting the jackpot. In January, 1949, I teamed up with Bob Danielson, an alumnus of the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration and formed the Hospital Pictures Service Corporation. He’s pooled his resources with mine and taken over the business side while I concentrate on the technical angle. “Easy does it” is our motto. We prefer building up slowly and letting the business pay as it rolls along.

Biggest expense in our business, we find, is the cost of making the cameras. Though we had to redesign the K-25 to fit our non-combat needs, we still use ordinary roll film and film processing and enlarging equipment of standard commercial make. Demands for Hospital Pictures Service, the name we gave our outfit, pour in faster than we can build the cameras. Right now, though, our baby-photo equipment is doing a terrific business in 33 hospitals. And more are in the works.

“How do you get the picture of Junior with his eyes so wide open?” proud papas often ask as they admire the handsome candid portrait of their bright-eyed darlings.

The answer is, we snap them when they’re well rested after their naps just as feeding time approaches. On the day after birth, nurse wheels baby under the permanently installed cameras in the nursery. After rolling the crib into the proper position, she steps on a foot lever. P-s-s-t! the photo is made in one five-thousandth of a second-—before baby can even think about screwing up that pretty little face in a startled squint.

“Why do you have to wait till the second day before taking the pictures?” some of the eager parents want to know.

Well, that first day baby’s tired because he’s just done a man-sized day’s work by coming out into a strange, new world. But by this second day he’s gotten his strength and he’s at the peak of the pulchritude. Two-day-old babies are really beautiful—and a look through the picture files will convince even the most cynical bachelor.

Generally the hospital attaches a baby picture to the mother’s admittance card as a part of its permanent record. Not only are these clear, portrait photos an important aid in identification but also they allow specialists to make a more careful study of their tiny patients whenever a remedial operation becomes necessary.

We finish off a larger print for the parents, who, of course, don’t have to buy the picture unless they want it. But practically all of them do—and ask for reorders, too!

Every two days I or one of my associates go to the hospital to pick up the film. Before we enter the nursery to service the camera unit, we prepare ourselves like a doctor about to begin a major operation. Scrubbed, capped, gowned and masked, we comply with every antiseptic regulation in order to protect baby from possible exposure to germs.

We process films from the Washington area at our local office. Hospitals in other cities throughout the country are handled by franchise operators who have obtained, from our home offices at Box 29, Cambridge 39, Mass., contracts for specific territories and the use of our new specially manufactured “Hospix” camera. These franchise owners vary in their photo skill. Some are professionals; some are advanced amateurs. Still others are businessmen who contract with a wholesale finisher for the technical work.

Along with the equipment, we supply helpful information and the record and bookkeeping systems that we’ve found best through trial and error. We try to do everything we can to help our operators avoid the same mistakes we’ve already made.

Having franchise owners put up an advance rental on their machines eases the heavy outlay we must make in order to build the cameras.

As the news of our unique baby-photo service spreads, our mail gets bigger and bigger. Besides letters of appreciation from delighted parents whose children already have been photographed, I even get letters like this: Dear Mr. Clark: I am expecting a baby in March.’ I would like to go, if possible, to a hospital using your picture service. Will you kindly tell me which ones in this area have it?

We still have to disappoint a lot of these mothers-to-be—but the way our business keeps growing, we hope it won’t be long before we can shoot practically every newborn baby in America. •

Movies of Combustion Process

WITH a view to improving automobile engines, two German scientists have invented a camera which records on a film the procedure of combustion in auto and other motors under varying conditions.

The fuel at various pressures is injected into a steel chamber provided with glass walls by means of a valve which distributes the finely reduced fuel particles. The light of a 30,000 volt electric spark, formed between two electrodes, is then projected into the injection chamber for the photograph; The time of each exposure is one-millionth of a second.

THE STEREO Realist

(the camera that puts 3rd dimension on film)

is preferred by people Who know picture taking and picture making

John Wayne and Nancy Olson say.

“Take it easy . . . with Stereo-REALIST. It is amazing how simple this camera is to operate. And it takes the most beautiful, true-to-life pictures we’ve ever seen.”

There’s no doubt about it—Stereo-realist takes the kind of pictures you’ve always wanted. They’re beautiful beyond description, with full, natural color and thrilling, realistic three dimensions.

What’s more, the Realist is so easy to use that people who never before owned a camera get outstanding pictures on their very first roll of film. It’s economical, too, producing 29 stereo pairs from a 36-exposure roll of 35 mm. film.

You have to see Realist pictures to fully appreciate their exciting beauty. Ask your camera dealer to show you some. Once you do, you’ll agree that the Realist is the ideal camera for your personal pleasure . . . and to use as a sales tool in your business. David White Company, 305 W. Court Street, Milwaukee 12, Wisconsin.

STEREO Realist

THE CAMERA THAT SEES THE SAME AS YOU

Portable Photo Copier Folds Like a Trunk When Carried

Entirely self-contained, a portable photo copying machine now on the market is complete with camera having an adjustable focus, spool of sensitized paper, built-in severing device that cuts paper to proper size, and all the developing chemicals. When folded for carrying it closes up like a trunk. It is not necessary to drain the liquids. The camera has a self-timer synchronized with the lights to turn them off when proper exposure has been given. Material to be copied is held by the front of the case which drops down and can be adjusted vertically. Made in two sizes, the larger unit weighs sixty-eight pounds and the smaller thirty-eight.

Photo Lab Flies to Front

THIS “flying darkroom” can turn out 20,000 photo prints a day. A complete photographic processor, it is designed to fit inside the detachable fuselage of the Fairchild C-120, latest version of the Flying Boxcar. Developed by the Air Materiel Command, the photo-multiprocessor will make photographic intelligence immediately available in front-line military areas.

By changing solutions in the tanks and making minor adjustments, the multiprocessor can be used either for processing aerial strip film or for printing finished pictures. It can handle 600 feet of black-and-white negatives an hour. With additional tanks, color work can be processed.

In the printing phase, developed negatives are fed into one end of the machine. After the paper has been exposed under a battery of lights, it moves forward automatically through various chemical and wash tanks. Finished, cut prints, either 9 by 9 in. or 9 by 18 in., come out the other end. The machine is built in detachable sections for easy assembly and dismantling.

Salesmen Beware!

This photo of the model Winchester (p. 146, Feb. ’52 S&M) was taken with an antique box camera and I couldn’t get as close as I’d like to. I used a powdered graphite method for the blued steel effect on the wooden model and it sure made the breech shine in the fading sun. I am now ambitiously looking forward to the Colt .44 as the next wooden gun project. That sign at the entrance of the driveway really works—no more bother with insurance, magazine, or other salesmen.

Guernsey Farm – Charles A. Wegner
Pittsville, Wisconsin

You shouldn’t have tipped your hand, Charlie. Next thing you know you’ll have some salesman trying to sell you powdered graphite . . .

Railroads Run Special Cars For Amateur Photographers

IN ADDITION to their special trains for hikers, bicyclers and other hobby enthusiasts, railroads are now running special observation trains for the accommodation of amateur photographers. Many unusual photos are obtained as the amateurs “shoot” passing trains, entrances and exits from tunnels, sharp curves, etc.

To provide additional material for unusual photos, the railroads permit the amateurs to visit their shops so that locomotives, tenders, cars, and roundhouse equipment can be photographed. The popularity of the idea can be judged by the fact that on a trip to shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad at Altoona, Pa., more than 1,600 amateurs participated.

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MIGHTY MIDGETS OF FILMDOM

MODERN total war has the bewildering effect of changing our values, eliminating many of the things which seemed essential in peacetime and giving a terrific boost to the importance of others.

Microfilm is in the latter class.

Strangely, these little films have now attained gigantic value because of their small size. They are suddenly mighty for the very reason that they are midgets. Even the larger type is only as wide as a man’s thumb from tip to first joint. The smaller microfilm might be compared roughly to the size of the nail on that section of the thumb. Yet, they are doing a Herculean task.

Industry has awakened to the fact that engineering drawings, contracts, corporation records, insurance policies, building plans, checks, correspondence and hundreds of other irreplaceable documents are vulnerable to bombing raids, especially to the fires which inevitably follow. Recorded on microfilm, instead of perishable paper, these valuable records may be stored in fireproof and bombproof vaults for an indefinite period in about one or two percent of the space they formerly occupied. About 400,000 films a day are exposed for this purpose.

The Army and Navy, with the cooperation of postal authorities, are microfilming the mail of service men. The “V-mail” letters are filmed so that millions can be shipped in a few packing cases to faraway lands where the messages are printed just like photographs on thick paper, folded into half the original size, and distributed to men hungry for word from home. Huge numbers of microfilms are being used for this patriotic task.

Newspapers are hurriedly microfilming their back files, museums are copying their works of art, hospitals are photographing X-ray plates, libraries are pre- serving their volumes. And spies and propaganda agents are having a field day, thanks to the mighty midgets of the photographic world.

The Chinese, always an ingenious people, have matched America’s V-mail with what is called bee-mail, a clever spy system based on the fact that a bee will return to its hive as long as the queen reigns. During most of the war with the Japanese, the Chinese have been on the retreat because of their lack of mechanized equipment and combat supplies. As their lines move backward, their spies capture a number of bees from a farmer’s backyard, carrying them in tiny cages. Microfilming their messages and printing them on very thin paper, they attach the paper to the bees and release them. The bees wing their way back to the hive at a speed of 30 to 40 miles an hour just as efficiently for short distances as homing pigeons which are employed in the same manner. The message is picked up at the hive. This system works both ways across the lines.

Most of the atrocity and propaganda articles which filter mysteriously out of conquered nations like Poland to see the light of day in American newspapers are transmitted to this country by refugees who have concealed microfilms around their persons and baggage, or by spies who turn them over to allied agents in neutral nations like Switzerland or Portugal. A single microfilm will easily transmit from 5,000 to 10,000 words of information printed in fine type.

Many of the anti-Nazi publications which continue to circulate in a wide underground network throughout Europe are read in the form of small photographic prints from microfilm, or are enlarged and published in hideaways from articles transmitted by microfilm.

As in the case of the Chinese and the bee hives, this use of microfilm works both ways, to get facts into the United States and to get them smuggled out. Nearly every important spy trial since America entered the war has revealed that Nazi and Japanese spies are making full use of microfilm. In one case a hidden movie camera caught the spies in the act of operating with the mighty midgets. In this case, too, the small size of microfilms is the key to their value.

The little fellows certainly lend themselves to concealment. One popular method of transmitting spy messages is to pry up the sole of a shoe, particularly if it is rubber, slip the film in and let the sole fall back into place. Fountain pen caps will hold a microfilm and the pen, too. Trimmed down, microfilms are concealed beneath a postage stamp. The new style filter pipe in which the stem fits over the interior section where pipe and stem join, is helping spies. Microfilms are slipped between rows of matches in a paper match container. No one notices if a spy discards an apparently empty paper match container, or hands it to an assistant. In addition, microfilms may be hidden in the nose, in seams of clothing, in a woman’s coiffure and they are even slipped into capsules, usually of silver, and swallowed.

They fit nicely in the back of watch cases and in one instance a trapped Nazi spy was found to have bleached a microfilm and substituted it for a lens in his eye glasses, indicating that the Germans have a process which will restore the message on the bleached film.

But they have more respectable war purposes, too. In cases where one war plant wishes to farm out contracts for intricate mechanical parts to a number of other concerns, the objects themselves or the detailed plans are being microfilmed and shipped by air mail. At the receiving end, these pictures are enlarged and scanned in a reader, or photographic prints are made. Weeks of delay are avoided. A tiny spot can be blown up as big as a door mat.

They are valuable for the making of templates, when not too large, for the metal may be coated with sensitive emulsion and the pattern printed right on the plate.

Testing airplanes has been speeded up along with experimental flying to discover the efficiency of various types of plane de- sign and equipment. It has been standard practice for a test pilot to make a flight in the morning with a pad of paper and a pencil on his knee for notes. He spent the rest of the day calculating what his instruments recorded and preparing his data for other tests the next day. Now a microfilm camera goes aloft with him, constantly recording the facts told by his instruments as he concentrates on flying the plane. On landing, he is able to scan records within an hour or two and then take the craft aloft for additional tests.

New uses crop up constantly. The state of New York recently destroyed 7,000,000 canceled checks, filming them so that the record was just as good with a saving of 99 percent of the storage space. Draft numbers are always microfilmed so that they show the date and time they were drawn to establish the proper order. The famous Westinghouse time capsule, buried deep under the site of the New York World’s Fair for the benefit of future generations, contained microfilm records which will give a complete picture of contemporary civilization.

One great newspaper, the New York Times, microfilms its pages daily and readers may subscribe for the film edition, which is mailed to them. Another, the Philadelphia Inquirer, keeps its back files in this manner and even supplies a Philadelphia library with copies so that anyone can search for an item with a microfilm reader which throws the type into clear enlargement. This is far simpler and easier than thumbing through hundreds of pages in a bulky volume which soon wears out. The editions for an entire month occupy little more space than a bar of soap.

Tiny films were used as far back as 1870, during the Franco-Prussian war, to fly messages out of besieged Paris by tieing them to the legs of pigeons. However, it is only during recent years, and particularly in the last few months that the business of microfilming has boomed. This volume concerns itself principally with the haste of business concerns to protect their records from bombing and, possibly, sabotage by fire.

A number of new companies have sprung up because of this available business, also a number of theories about the best methods of microfilming. These theories deal largely with the size of the film, whether they should be filed in strips or rolls, and type of equipment.

One of the leaders is the Microstat Corporation of Norwalk, Conn., founded by V. E. Pratt, a former advertising man. After he retired from business, he set up a workshop in his barn in Silvermine, Conn., and in 1938 completed the first model of his microstat camera which takes pictures, enlarges, prints and projects them. Now, microfilming trucks of his company thread the highways across the nation.

His instruments are completely motor controlled. They will separate lines packed together as closely as 3,000 to the inch. Their focus is calibrated accurately to .00025 of an inch. They make duplicates on transparent paper, photo-sensitized tracing cloth and transparent acetate. A whole book can be condensed on a dozen inches of film.

In addition to this device, the Pratt company has developed a six-pound film reader. Although it is so small it can be carried in a suitcase, it can hold a million pages of material copied on microfilm.

Among his other inventions which will be produced for sale after the war are a teledex reader to replace the cumbersome big city telephone book, and an optigraph reader which will make books easier to read.

Another leader is the Recordak Company of New York City, an affiliate of the Eastman Kodak Company. On its equipment, records can be condensed to about one percent of their volume. A 100-foot strip of 16-mm. film will reproduce 2,352 letters or 4,812 filing cards. The film is stored in a carton 4 by 4 by 1 inch. Copies of books can be microfilmed as fast as the pages can be turned. Bank checks can be recorded at a rate of 140 a minute. On its machines, 1,600 pounds of V-mail can be reduced to less than 15 pounds, which indicates the approach of trans-Atlantic airmail in volume.

Aside from microfilming, its big brother, photocopying, is performing much the same commercial function. The principal difference is in the size of film used, the larger film having advantages and disadvantages, according to the job.

All types of film, most of which were developed by Du Pont and Eastman Kodak, are fire and water resistant acetate and will “keep” for generations if properly stored.

These mighty midgets are booming business right now and it looks like an attractive field for an ambitious man, but the truth is that machines are rarely sold since it is almost impossible to obtain the materials essential to their manufacture. Instead, microfilming has tended to become a service, operated by experts. Later on it will probably be different.

The boom is not likely to end with the termination of the war. Microfilms, in postwar jobs may be as important as the mighty midgets in “uniforms” are today.

TAKES COLOR PICTURES IN 3 DIMENSIONS AT SNAPSHOT COST*

THE NEW VIEW-MASTER PERSONAL STEREO CAMERA

NOW…FOR THE FIRST TIME, you can take personal pictures of family scenes, children, friends, travels in the thrilling “come to life” realism of full color and THREE DIMENSIONS… at actually less than the cost of ordinary black and white snapshots! The amazing new View-Master Personal Stereo Camera brings three dimension picture taking, formerly a rich man’s hobby, within the means of the average family. For double enjoyment color pictures taken with the View-Master Stereo Camera can be viewed in a View-Master Stereoscope or projected in two dimensions in a View-Master Projector. Don’t miss the thrill of three dimension pictures. Plan now to SEE… and TRY the sensational new View-Master Stereo Camera.

Each step in View-Master’s system of stereo photography—from taking the picture to final enjoyment of the mounted stereographs, has been simplified to save time, effort and money. The View-Master uses readily available 20 or 36- exposure rolls of standard 35mm color film. Picture cutting is done with a semi-automatic View-Master Film Cutter. Stereographs slide easily into pockets of durable, seven- scene View-Master Personal Reels. Other features of the camera eliminate film waste, prevent double exposures, and provide automatic re-wind while taking pictures. Because of its amazing simplicity, as well as low cost of operation, the View-Master is the ideal Stereo Camera for family use. Ask your Camera Dealer for literature describing the View-Master Personal Stereo Camera in detail.

WORLD’S SIMPLEST-TO-OPERATE THREE DIMENSION CAMERA Even the most inexperienced amateur can operate the View-Master Stereo Camera with ease and confidence. View-Master’s revolutionary “EXPO-SURE” CALCULATOR banishes guesswork; eliminates complicated lens-time-light calculations… and assures bright, true-to-life stereo pictures every time.

BUILT FOR A LIFETIME OF TROUBLE-FREE SERVICE The new View-Master Personal Stereo Camera is a compact instrument, precisely engineered for fine three dimension color photography. Features include—sturdy, die-cast aluminum body; View-Master anastigmat f/3.5, 25mm, coated, color-corrected, precisely matched lenses; universal focus; synchronized, guillotine type, before-the-lens shutter; built-in automatic flash switch; and many others. View-Master Stereo Pictures, mounted in durable, seven-scene View-Master Reels, are easy and safe to handle. Over 150 stereo pictures can be stored in 4x4x1 inch space. Reels and envelopes provide space for picture and subject description. Ask your Camera Dealer for complete information about the many exclusive operational features embodied in this sensational new camera. If your Dealer cannot supply information write to SAWYER’S Inc., Box 490, Portland 7, Oregon, for free folder describing camera.

THE NEW VIEW-MASTER PERSONAL STEREO CAMERA RETAILS FOR $149 (INCL. FED. EX. TAX)

*ACTUALLY LESS! Average cost for #620 black and white snapshots is 12-3/4c. View-Master pictures mounted for viewing are only 11-9/10c.

A Repeating “Flashbulb”

THE dream of photographers for years, here at last is a repeating “flashbulb”— and it is an extremely high-speed flashbulb, too. Whereas ordinary flashes take photos at from 1/20th to 1/200th of a second, this shoots at 1/20,000th! Made by Edgerton, it uses a portable power unit.

The World’s Smallest Camera

WHAT is probably the world’s smallest camera is illustrated below. This camera was made by the Eastman Kodak company and is a masterpiece of construction; being no larger than a thumb nail, and yet perfect in every detail and capable of taking pictures which are mechanically perfect.

Three months were required in the construction of this midget, every part having been made by hand. A leather case, with a finger loop, has been made to hold it.

how to give your shots new life

For pictures with a natural, lifelike snap and sparkle . . . with remarkable detail and definition, no camera fills the bill the way a Leica does. The supreme resolving power of its lenses . . . their amazing versatility open up a whole new world of picture possibilities. And any kind of picture-making is simple with a light, compact, precision-perfect Leica, designed for almost automatic ease of operation . . . carrying . . . maneuvering. Ask your photo-expert Leica Dealer.

Leica
makes better pictures easier
E. LEITZ, Inc., 304 Hudson St., New York 13, N.Y.

Air Photos Made by Army Pigeons

TINY aerial photos, snapped by a little camera attached to a carrier pigeon, are being made in Germany, where these birds are trained for military purposes. One of the small cameras, fastened to a pigeon’s body, can take six automatic snapshots while the bird is in flight. They give views so clear and accurate that they can be used as the basis for military maps and charts. Thus another office, that of the air photographer, is assigned to the birds that were found to be of great value during the World War.

A carrier pigeon has been known to carry a message as far as 1,040 miles, but one hundred miles is said to be as far as should be attempted with pigeons under a year old. The average rate of flight is thirty-seven miles an hour. During the war the messages were made on a fine paper or film and inclosed in a goose-quill capsule. This was attached by a waxed silk thread to a feather in the pigeon’s tail.

ODD “PINWHEEL CAMERA” CATCHES LIGHTNING

Vagaries of lightning bolts are recorded with a “pinwheel camera” devised by Prof.

John G. Albright of the Case School of Applied Science. At the height of an electrical storm, the shutters of the cameras mounted on a wheel are opened, and the wheel is rotated rapidly by hand. A multiple lightning discharge along a single path is recorded as a series of parallel streaks, and a study of the film gives a clear picture of its behavior. Through the curious arrangement of the cameras, every part of the sky is covered.

Triple Lens Windshield Camera Spots Traffic Violations
MOUNTED on the windshield, a new triple lens camera, operated without diverting the driver’s eyes from the road, records three distinct views of traffic violations encountered while driving. The camera also records the time and date when used and the film shifts automatically for the next picture.

One of the views taken by the camera is a large one showing the car of the violator in its relationship to other cars, pedestrians, traffic lanes, etc. The smaller views give a close-up of the car from which the license plate number can be ascertained.

The inventor, H. C. Fairchild, of Washington, D. C., proposes adoption of the camera by the police authorities as a means of reducing the flagrant violations of traffic regulations by having volunteer observers mount the cameras on their cars. Photographs could be sent to state motor vehicle bureaus where warnings or fines could be issued.

UNCLE SAM GETS GIGANTIC CAMERA

Big enough for an eight-year-old child to walk through, a camera that can use any plate from four by five inches to four by four feet, has been designed for the U. S. Geological Survey. It is suspended from an overhead track twenty-five feet long and four feet wide. This suspension prevents vibrations from the ground or building interfering with the apparatus. The great size provides for copying with the greatest precision and accuracy.

Of the total weight of practically three tons, the bellows alone weigh 450 pounds.

Its length, closed, is thirty inches; fully extended, it is eight and one-half feet. Even this is not enough for some of the work the camera is required to do, and additional length is provided by a thirty-six inch cone. The camera can enlarge eighteen diameters, or reduce a ninety-six inch drawing to two and one-half inches. The copy holder, weighing 1,000 pounds, moves on the track in either direction, and both it and the camera are mounted on roller bearings. Wet plates, dry plates, or paper may be used in the cameras.

CAMERA ON GUN TO TRAP CROOKS

Photographic identification of fleeing criminals may be obtained with a recently perfected camera which is attached to a pistol or rifle and worked by the gun’s trigger. The lens used can work at an opening of F/3.5, which permits the camera to be used in comparatively poor light and at high speed. The small negatives are sharp enough to be enlarged.

Fading memories or fadeless movies… which you bring back?

Words cannot tell, occasional snapshots cannot capture the moving splendor of your travels. Bring back a record, adequate and imperishable, in priceless, personal movies.

But choose your movie camera carefully. It will be too late to reconsider when you have returned from your travels. Choose the personal model of the Bell and Howell professional studio cameras that film producers have relied upon for more than 23 years in making theater movies. Choose Filmo.

Several Filmo models serve well every personal movie requirement. All are mechanical masterpieces; each one so simple that it can be operated by a child. Filmo 70-D, illustrated, with three-lens turret, seven speeds and variable spy-glass viewfinder, costs $245 and up in its Sesamee-locked Mayfair case. Others range from $120. Good camera dealers will recommend and demonstrate them for you. Or write today for the illustrated folder, “Travel with Filmo.”

All Filmos Use 50 or 100 ft. Films

For black and white pictures, Filmo Cameras use Eastman Safety Film (16mm.) in the yellow box— both regular and panchromatic—obtainable at practically all dealers’ handling cameras and supplies. Filmo Cameras and Filmo Projectors are adaptable, under license from Eastman Kodak Company, for use of Eastman Kodacolor film for home movies in full color. Cost of film covers developing and return postpaid, within the country where processed, ready to show at home or anywhere with Filmo Projector.

BELL & HOWELL

Filmo

“WHAT YOU SEE, YOU GET”

Bell & Howell Co., Dept. O, 1804 Larchmont Avenue, Chicago, Illinois
New York, Hollywood, London (B. & H. Co., Ltd.) Established 1907

TINY FISH “SIT” FOR ODD PORTRAITS

MAKING close-up “portrait” photographs of tiny fish and other forms of aquatic life is the unusual hobby of Lynwood M. Chace of Swansea, Mass. Clad in rubber boots and equipped with a net and pail, Chace scours the shallow waters of near-by ponds and marshes for interesting fresh-water specimens, which he deposits in a small glass-walled aquarium set up on a table in his photographic studio. After lights have been carefully arranged to obtain the best effect, the camera is placed with its lens a few inches from the side of the aquarium, as shown in the illustration above. When the fish swims into focus, the shutter is snapped, and Chace has obtained another striking “fish portrait.” Sometimes he focuses three cameras on three aquariums at the same time, so as not to miss anything of interest.

HUGE CAMERA READS METERS TO COUNT TELEPHONE CALLS

Special cameras of new design are taking the place of human meter readers who check and record, each month, the number of telephone calls for which you are to be billed. In the larger cities, a single telephone central office may employ as many as 10,000 individual registers or meters, and teams of clerks have been required to read them. Photographing twenty-five meters at a time, the cameras give a quicker reading and one that is proof against error.

Digital Dexterity
Anyone can dance on his feet but only this fingerman of the French bistros can make his digits tango.

Camera helmet

Like some action in your movies? Mount your camera on the POV (Point-of-View) helmet professional stunt men use. While you’re skiing, cycling, or mountain climbing, a visor frame tells you what you’re shooting—hands free. $130. Gilbert-Waugh Productions, 3518 Cahuenga Blvd., W. Hollywood, Calif. 90068.

Stereoscope Holds Seven Views Mounted on a Disk

Still making a bid for popularity, the old parlor stereoscope is now being offered in a compact, “streamline” form, showing pictures mounted in disks that contain seven colored stereographs each, instead of the traditional card that holds but one view, Tripping a lever at the top of the new stereoscope, which is made of durable plastic, brings the next picture into place, and this may be repeated until the seven have been seen. Originals for the views are made with a special miniature camera, using natural color film. Pictures are paired opposite each other on the disk, and when viewed through the apparatus they give a three-dimensional effect.

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Photographic Hocus-Pocus

EVERY now and then, the best of us get the itch to break away from straight, serious photography and amuse ourselves and our “public” with photo-magic and tomfoolery. Sometimes our dabbling leads us into the production of interesting pictorial effects; at other times, our results turn out surrealistic or plain crazy, but amusing nevertheless.

Next time you get the urge to wander from the straight-and-narrow, why not try manipulating cheap dime store lenses or those from discarded old spectacles? Despite the chorus of frowns you’ll get from the owners of expensive “precision” lenses, your picture quality can be as good as theirs if you work carefully; and your subjects can be much more interesting.

We know, to begin with, that when a magnifying lens is held at the proper distance from any object, the latter will appear enlarged when viewed through the lens. Now, why can’t we take a picture of this effect as it appears to the eye? You’ll get a result something like Figure 1. Here the magnifying lens was placed at the precise distance that would produce a sharp enlarged image of the eye.

When you attempt this for yourself be sure to cut your lens opening down to the limit in order to bring everything into sharp focus. That means a long time exposure, which may be hard for the model to hold; so, to play safe, make the exposure by open flash. There are many other poses employing a magnifying glass in this way which will make good picture material.

You can work the reverse effect by using a reducing glass instead of a magnifier. Reducing lenses may be procured at art stores or removed from old spectacles. In this case, instead of getting a magnified image showing through the lens, you’ll get the image in smaller scale as in Figures 2 and 4.

The lighting for this type of picture should be directed at the subject matter. None should be allowed to strike the lens and reflect into the camera. Therefore, the lamps should be placed between the subject and the lens.

If you own a camera that takes an interchangeable lens board, you can also perform some multiple lens tricks. Just make a duplicate lens board out of stiff cardboard and mount three or four spectacle lenses of identical focal length on it. With this in the camera, in place of the regular lens board, you will get the peculiar effect of four identical reproductions of your subject matter on a single film. You can also get a variety of design effects by tilting your camera or mounting the lenses in different patterns of three or four.

However, to get good sharp pictures with these cheap lenses, you’ll have to fit them with small diaphragms so that only their center portions will be used. You can make the diaphragms by simply punching 1/4-inch holes through black paper and pasting these over the lenses. The approximate f/ values of these apertures can be figured out by dividing their diameters into the focal lengths of the lenses.

In shooting portraits with this multiple lens board, best results will be obtained if the subject is posed against a black background. Where light backgrounds are used or bright outdoor scenes are photographed, the light transmitted by each lens tends to cast a slight fog over the entire film, causing flat results in the finished print. However, you can overcome this, by slightly underexposing the picture and overdeveloping the negative in a contrasty formula such as D-11. A hard grade of paper used for the print will also pep up the contrast.

With a multiple lens board having two lenses mounted side by side, you can produce a set of identical twins who will “act” in perfect unison. Other interesting effects will result from mounting lenses of different focal length on a single lens board. In this case, your subject will be reproduced in a variety of sizes.

To prepare this type of lens board, mount the shortest focal length lens directly on the board, and those of longer focal length, alongside, on focusing tubes made of rolled cardboard. This will permit the focusing of each individual lens after the shortest one has been brought into focus. However, the apertures of the longer focal length lenses will have to be made slightly larger so that each will transmit the same amount of light to the negative. This can be determined accurately enough by studying the brilliance of each image on the ground glass, and enlarging or reducing the aperture for each lens until all images are of equal brilliance.

These few examples of lens trickery just scratch the surface. You will find that you can spend month after month exploring related possibilities suggested by these several illustrated cases.

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A Vest Pocket Movie Of Yourself

New drop-a-coin camera turns out portraits which wink and smile.

HAVE you ever wondered what you would look like in the movies? Well, you will soon have the opportunity of finding out—and you won’t have to go to Hollywood or spend money on a screen test, either!

A New York inventor, Stanley Pask, has recently perfected an invention which is a vest-pocket edition of a motion picture studio. Al H. Woods, famous New York play producer, has financed the invention, and before long folks all over the world will he able to step into a little booth, drop a coin in a slot, and step out six minutes later with a movie of their own features. Here’s the way it works: You step into an attractive booth, built like a miniature Japanese pagoda or Spanish villa, sit down in front of the electrically driven camera, which is hidden from view except for the lens, and start it in action by dropping a coin. All you have to do then is look pleasant, smiling, closing your eyes, winking, and registering other attitudes you wish to be recorded on the finished film.

Six minutes later a folder emerges from a slot, in the shape of a little book, in the center of which, under an oval opening, appears your face. Over the photo is a piece of celluloid with a number of fine opaque lines running vertically down it, 64 of them to an inch. Moving this with the finger, ever so slightly, causes the photo beneath it to reproduce the facial expressions you assumed in front of the camera, giving an illusion of motion to the features.

How is this done? Theoretically it is easy to explain. Twenty-five different facial attitudes are snapped by the camera, and all are imposed over each other on a single photo print, which is marked off with a number of vertical lines which conform with those on the piece of celluloid. Moving the celluloid screen thus blots out certain parts of the picture, which are in turn brought out when the screen is moved further along. Like a moving picture, which is made up of a succession of “stills,” it is the rapidity with which each picture follows on its predecessor which gives the effect of motion to the eye.

In practice, the main difference between the pocket movie and the full-size brand is that the miniature uses a celluloid screen to “mesh” with different poses of the picture, thus presenting them in succession to the eye, while the large machines project the individual poses on a screen by means of lights and lenses.

Before perfecting his camera, which is called the “Movie-of-U,” Inventor Pask spent two years perfecting the harmony of screens which is the secret of his machine. Just as he was on the point of completing his invention, Mr. Woods heard of it and became so interested in its possibilities that he was instrumental in forming the corporation which is now marketing Pask’s machine. It is calculated that the machine will gross $90 an hour in receipts when properly located.

Already several units have been installed at Coney Island, Niagara Falls, and numerous other resorts throughout America. At this writing the Argentine rights have been sold, and negotiations are under way for sale of Mexican and Cuban rights.

Several theatres have sent in orders for machines to be placed in their lobbies. All of which helps to prove that there are still millions to be made by a man with an idea!

Even Google Earth is getting in on the act now.

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KITE TAKES AERIAL PHOTOS

You don’t have to hire a plane and pilot to get good air shots of ground objects.

By E. J. Roy

FOR many years, the idea of making photographs from a kite has been in my mind. This year, I decided to do something about it. First was the kite design, and having had considerable experience with various types of kites, I finally selected a design for a triangular box kite with wings.

The large six foot model flies very steady once it is above the wind eddies near the ground. As a protective measure, I first send up a four foot model, which acts as a sort of pilot and prevents the camera-carrying kite from plunging and swaying. It also provides extra lift and steadiness, once the camera kite is at photographing altitude.

I must stress the excellent flying qualities of this smaller kite. There is nothing like it. A four foot model, with the weight kept down to 12 ounces (balsa and silk), flies with the line near the vertical. This kite is my own design and many people have copied it just for the sheer fun of kite flying. It will stay up as long as the slightest breeze remains.

The six foot camera kite is made with 3/4 x 1/2-in. white pine. Sitka spruce is the best choice, if available. The cross arm is 5/8-in. birch dowling. The relative dimensions are simple—six feet high and six feet wide. The triangular section is 2x2x2 feet and the arms extend two feet on each side. A study of the photo and drawing of the frame work is self-explanatory.

The covering on the large kite is light nylon. The camera I use is a home-made affair, but could be any kind of light camera with a good lens. Mine is a plywood box with film holder or film pack adapter, held in place with rubber bands. A between-the-lens shutter is operated by a small kitchen type spring-driven timer, The little arm which is normally used to strike the bell on this timer was used to release the shutter. The accompanying aerial photos were made with this simple device. The timer is set to release the shutter at exactly six minutes after the kite is launched and is synchronized with my wrist watch.

The camera is secured to the leading edge rail of the kite with one bolt so that it maybe rotated upward or downward to get either a vertical or oblique view as desired. The camera is also mounted so that it points either to the left or to the right of the towing line, thereby avoiding photographing it. It may be mounted either vertically or horizontally. My photos have been made at heights from 100 to 500 feet using a 100mm lens on 2-1/4 x 3-1/4-in. film. Exposure is usually 1/100th of a second at f-22 on Super Pan Press film.

Now, as to the procedure in making a photo: First the lightweight 4-foot kite is sent up to about 200 ft. The small kite may be dispensed with if the wind is steady and at 12 mph or better. I use a strong cotton line with a tensile strength of 65 pounds. The line from the small kite is tied to the center of the cross arm on the camera kite, and with a good wind the four foot kite will lift the large kite, which weighs about 5-1/2 pounds with camera. Now I snap the line to the camera kite, draw the dark slide, set the camera diaphragm and shutter, set the timer, consult my watch and away they go. At about three minutes with a good wind (9 to 12 mph) the camera will be looking at an awful lot of real estate. But, if I want a real aerial shot I keep paying out line till about five minutes have elapsed. Then I just hang on until the crucial moment. If the wind slows down at anytime, the large kite will begin to lose altitude. Reeling in slowly will maintain position. In fact, the kites may be kept aloft in dead air by reeling in at a fair speed. I am surrounded by water and have never had one dunked.

After the kites are up, it is easy to estimate the area being photographed by sighting the angle the lens takes. Corrections can be made by walking the kites to one side or other as desired.

In a 12 mph wind these kites exert a pull of about 15 to 18 pounds. Just try to wind in 500 feet of line with a 15 pound steady pull. The answer of course, is an electric drive on the reel. If I have an assistant he can haul in as I wind, which makes it easy enough. I am certain that serious aerial photography can be done in this simple and economical way, as the photographs shown will attest. Color work would be simply a matter of using color film. In any case, let me state that I got the thrill of my photographic life when I pulled down the kites and developed my first aerial negative, and I know you will, too. •

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“Candid Camera” Gets Surprise Photographs in New Hobby

A NEW hobby, one that also offers opportunities for money making, has arrived from England. It’s the “candid camera,” a concealed camera that gets intimate pictures without the subject knowing he is being photographed. The results are so surprising, and often so amusing, that the hobby has taken England by storm. Hardly any social function is complete without several guests carrying the concealed cameras.

The “candid camera,” strangely enough, was developed in this country and has been on the market for years, without its possibilities being appreciated. It is simply a tiny affair, shaped like a watch, 2-1/8 inches in diameter and 7/8 of an inch thick, taking pictures 7/8 by 5/8 inches. The tiny lens, concealed in the watch stem, is good enough to get indoor pictures, and the films enlarge nicely to several times their original size. Rolls holding 10 or 20 exposures can be accommodated in the case.

The watch-camera was originally a device for detectives, until news photographers found it could be used to advantage in places where ordinary cameras were barred. A photograph of the electrocution of Mrs. Ruth Snyder in Sing Sing prison—a picture that caused a sensation in newspaper circles —-was taken with one of the cameras. The photographer wore it on his ankle, like a bracelet, and so got by the scrutiny of the guards who were looking for cameras. In the death chamber he crossed his legs, pulled up his trousers a bit, and proceeded to shoot pictures of the scene.

A favorite trick with newspaper photographers in court rooms and other places where cameras are barred is to make a small hole in a hat, and then hold it on the lap, with the camera inside. A view finder, which comes with the camera, is detachable, and with practice it can be aimed like a revolver. The film winding device gives an audible click each time a new film is wound into place, so an entire roll can be shot without looking at the camera.

Another camera particularly adapted for taking out-of-doors pictures without the knowledge of the subject is a German importation, with a fine Carl Zeiss lens. It is disguised to look like a prism field glass, but the objective lens is merely a blind, and the eye piece is part of a prism finder. When it is held to the eye you apparently are looking off in the distance, but actually are seeing objects and persons standing off at one side. Pressing a button opens a door in the side of the instrument and trips the shutter. A film pack is fitted into a flat space on the opposite side of the case. Owing to the excellent lens the camera works up to 1/300th of a second, permitting its use indoors, if you can find some excuse for using a field glass in the house.

The “candid camera” hobby got its start in England a few months ago when a photographer shot unexpected pictures of Queen Mary.