The Brattleboro reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1907-1912, 1908-10-30
INDOOR SNAPSHOTS.
A New Plate That Now Makes Posi-
BILE That Difficult Feat.

Improved rapid plates have now made il
possible to take good snapshots in a half
light with ordinary lenses-so we are told
by G.. Mareschal in the course of an arti
Gle on recent Photographic progress, con
tributed to La Nature paris, Aug. l5)
The snapshot dates, he reminds us, only
from about twenty-five years ago, when
the first gelatine plates appeared, and the
possibilities of instantaneous photography
were realized Shutters were then invent
ed, and afterward portable cameras. Says
the writer:
makers of plates improved their emul.
sions little by little, and finally reached a
| limit that it was supposed could never be
passed because of the size of the grain,
which, it seemed, would assume impossi-
| BILE proportions as the sensbility in
creased, rendering the negative unstable
Shutters were also improved in CORE
spending degree with the rapidity of the
plates and also with the luminosity of the
object lenses. The latter had quite small
apertures--abou one.tenth the focal
length in the case of the largest.
at thus became necessary to improve
the detectives, and this was done by the
invention of the anastigmatic type, which
admitted, with small size and weight, of
relatively large apertures-up to one-quar-
ter the focal length or even a little more.
This was the epoch of large snapshots,
but photographers were still not satisfied.
always quicker was the motto of the
amateur, and the shutter was still further
improved; it was recognized that the best
results were obtained when this was
placed, not near the object lens, but next
to the plate. Thus, especially with the
apparatus invented by Guido Sigristi, run
ming horses have been photographed at
right angles to the courses and at short
distance. At present the objective and
the shutter seem to have reached their
maximum speed; and it is the plates that
are being further improved. The Messrs:
Lumiere have made an emulsion called
more rapid than their 'blue-label' plate. |
with as fine grain. Thus the limit of
the snapshot has been pushed further |
back. To photograph objects moving with |
the highest speeds in full sunlight this
was not necessary. as such feat was al
ready possible; but it is sometimes neces-
sary to work in halflight. in cloudy
weather, in spots not well lighted-here
the interest of the problem betrays itself.
With the Sigristi apparatus it was already
possible to take portraits in a studio ?
without posing; but now the objects may
be taken in movement with shut
ter speed of 1850 of a second.
''The consequences of this new triumph
Ire very considerable for commercial pho
jography, which has languished somewhat
n recent years. 1t is not generally neces-
,ary, of course, to make as rapid snap
hots as those referred to, which are ex-
,eptional In most cases one-tenth of a
econd is quite sufficient; so that the old
detectives, with which the cheaper por-
able cameras are fitted, which were Of
en- abandoned because they gave good re- i
ults only in full sunlight, may now be q
sed again, and photography will take
ew lease of life with the amateur. These =,
Id detectives are generally very. good, +
provided they are furnished with dia- /
hragms which reduce their aperture to j.
enth or twelfth of their focal length.
n these conditions they give, with the
ew plates, the same results as anastig- |
rats of large aperture with the emulsions
itherto employed. I
"The treatment OF the new violet
lates is not more difficult than that of Il
rdinary plates; it is necessary only to
Ike extra precautions in charging the \
anne, which should preferably be done Z
complete darkness. The development
lould always be begun at distance from -,
lie lantern and with cover on the tray. n
hese, however, are elementary precau- "
ons to which all amateurs are accus-
med who desire to obtain good mega W
YES. Translation in the Literary Di- +
ST