Evening star., 1953-12-13
Camera Angles

On a wind blown little sand
dune above the beach stood a
beautiful young girl in a brief
red bathing suit. The breeze
whipped her blond hair as
she smiled out across the water
toward the sun.
Below her dozen feet stood
a young man peering intently
into the ground glass Of a view
camera pointed toward her.
Satisfied with what he saw, he
closed the shutter. inserted a
cut film holder. took q meter
reading and shot the picture.
When he pushed the slide
back into the holder, however,
1t would not go all the way.
"Now, what?" he muttered.
"I don't want to lose that
Kodachrome. Cost me a buck
and half for that one sheet
of film"
He Withdrew the slide and
tried again but it still would
not seat fully into the holder.
The sheet of film apparently
had jumped out Of one side OF
the holder guide and was par
TALLY loose inside the camera.
What to do: Take the holder
off the camera and ruin the
film?
Puts Comero in Cloth Bog
After pondering a bit he
went to his car and got a two
foot-sQuare black cloth bag
with a couple of short sleeves"
on either side. Taking the
camera off the tripod, he put
the whole thing inside the bag
and tipped it shut. Then, in
serting his hands in the sleeves
he proceeded to do some mys-
terious furnbling aroun d.
Taking the back of the cam
era, he retrieved the wayward
Kodachrome and reinserted it
in the holder. The picture
was saved. not to mention the
cost of the film.
This true episode is just
one example how that little
used gadget. a changing bag,
can save it's cost in a short
time. An informal poll of anna
teur photographers in Wash
ington Gin connection with a
survey of cameras and other
equipment they own) showed
only about one in a dozen
owned a changing bag. Yet
that handy gadget is a real
time and dollar saver every
cameraman should know about
and use.
What is a changing bag?
Just a couple of pieces OF
light-tight rubberized cloth
seWed on the two sides. At one
end is inserted a Upper to
close the mouth" At the
other are two sleeves into
which the photographer in
serts his hands. Elastic around
the ends of the sleeves keeps
the light out.
Other Times Bog Is Useful
The example cited is but one
way a changing bag is useful.
Suppose the photographer had
shot up all of the film in his
holders, yet wanted to take
some more pictures while the
light and clouds were good. He
could put his exposed film and
holders in the bag, unload and
put the film in an empty car
ton, then reload with fresh
film. All this without having
to hunt up some commercial
photographers studio and
borrow his darkroom to reload.
I took a changing bag along
on a month-long vacation into
the Canadian Rockies. I also
took developer and flxer. AS I
shot pictures, I developed
them on the spot. Ones that
did not turn out just right
were shot again. That is much
better than developing them
after returning home only to
find a light leak had ruined
half Of them. Having a chang
ing bag and developing gear
along helps fill in those cloudy
days, too, when the shooting
is not so good.
There are other uses. Sup
posing your cut film magazine
jams. With a bag along, you
can take it apart, straighten
out the mess and then go on
shooting. Maybe your 35-mm.
film which you loaded your
self on the SpoolS pulled free
when the last shot was taken.
Without any way to reroll the
film. the cameraman is stymied
unless he has his changing bag
along and can open the cam
era, take out the film and re-
roll it back into the casette. On
a long trip, it is aggravating
and perhaps costly to have one
camera put out of commission
this way. A bag also helps
when the paper leader on roll
film tears or jams.
Pinch Hits as Dorkroom
Then there are the photog-
raphers who have no dark
room. They use the family
kitchen, even as I do, winter
or summer. In summer it is
hard to black out the window
during the daytime, and it
gets dark so late you can't un-
load film till 8 pm. or later.
The handy changing bag solves
this problem.
For our handicapped shut
ter-snapper, also. bag earns
its keep when he wants to
take color film out of the
holders and insert. black and
white for portraits. He need
not black out his kitchen-a