American Cinematographer - May 1933 - 8

May 1933 *

American Cinematographer

9

Ai'ZRTUrOS riA.ti.UQ

To determine the parents of the various filters, that is the
manufacturer, another letter would be placed before the let¬
ter indicating color. Let's take a yellow filter. If it is made
by Eastman it can either be E-Y or K-Y. If it is a Scheibe
Filter it could be S-Y, etc., and a Harrison Filter would be
indicated as H-Y.
The numbers after the filters could indicate their factor.
Of course this is very difficult as the factor is different with
each film, not only each type of film, but the film made by
the different manufacturers.
However, the lightest colors could then be designated by
the smallest numbers and the darkest colors by the highest
numbers. While it possibly would not be amiss right now
to place the factor figures on them for Super-sensitive film
as that is being used practically TOO per cent by the profes¬
sional, still the future may offer the camera man something
different in a film base that will be in popular use, or the
film manufacturer might devise something of an important
nature in color sensitivity that would change these factors,
and any factor filters applied now would be obsolete.

Names of
Filters Need

It would then merely be a matter for the manufacturers
of filters to give their factors for the various types of film
in use. This is necessary now and it would be no greater
hardship to continue that method.

Standardizing
Says
Elmer Dyer, A.S.C.

T

HAT there is need for some common nomenclature
for filters has been evident.
And that every filter
manufacturer has his particular nomenclature for each
filter is also evident.
Yellow filters parade under various cognomens consisting
of letters, numbers and possibly other identification marks
that have not come to light.
There is no standard form of identifying any particular
filter so far as all the makers of filters are concerned.
The Wratten filters made by the Eastman company
designate their yellow filters as K filters, their red filters
as A filters and so on.
Other manufacturers merely give them a number regard¬
less of their color.
If these designating symbols could be standardized for all
makes with possibly the addition of the manufacturers' mark,
there would be less confusion among those who use filters.
Cameramen, and photographers in exchanging information on
experiences they have had with filters will invariably have
to preface their description of the filter with its color.
In
view of the fact that all filters are color filters why wouldn't
it be a sane thing to designate each color by the first letter
of that color.
Let's say the yellow filters be known as "Y" filters, the
orange filters as "O" filters, the red filters as "R" filters.

However, the essential thing is the naming of the filters,
to eliminate the confusion that now exists. So that the users
may know immediately their colors and thus quickly de¬
termine the purpose for which they were designed, the
colors they are to affect and the results to be given.
The aperture ratio table printed on this page could be
used for determining the stop with each given factor. Or
the tables now in vogue published by the different manu¬
facturers would still serve their fine purpose.
All manufacturers of film have standardized on the nam¬
ing of their film in relation to its speed.
We know the
value of Orthochromatic, the value of Panchromatic and
the value of Supersensitive.
Each manufacturer has indi¬
cated their film by one of these prefixes.
With the wider use of these newer films, filters have
also come into more popular demand. The new film has
a greater color range, is sensitive to more colors than the
old, and for the proper corrections at times it is abso¬
lutely necessary to use filters. The use of the filter in my
experience seems unlimited. The many combinations that
can be effected seem endless.
In outdoor work they are
employed almost constantly.
But we no sooner learn the
nomenclature of one type of filter when another is offered
us by someone else with an entirely different identifying
system used on them. It is almost like learning the Chinese
alphabet.
Each letter I am told represents a word.
You
have to learn as many letters as there are words in your
vocabulary to know how to write Chinese,
The same is
almost true of the designators for Filters.
To use a common denominator would not take anything
from any of the present manufacturers of filters.
They
would make their use more easy to understand.
In addi¬
tion to learning their values, one must keep tucked back
in his mind the unrelated lettered name it now carries or
the unrelated number. Let's have order.
American Cinematographer - May 1933

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