American Cinematographer - December 1960 - 47

TV CINEMATOGRAPHY
Continued from Page 735

NEW E-Z Professional FILM SPLICER
SETS A NEW STANDARD FOR 16mm

function of the composition of the
scene and which had to be balanced
out by continuous manipulation of
"shading" controls. The iconoscope
is now nearly obsolete, having been re¬
placed almost entirely by the vidicon,
which has an excellent gray scale char¬
acteristic free of spurious signals and
does not require continuous operation
of the shading controls. Another tele¬
vision film camera, the flying spot scan¬
ner, also has very good characteristics
and, like the vidicon, is used in color
television film cameras, as well as in
black-and-white cameras.
The television system can utilize
only a limited range of densities from
film, and the television film camera
operator must adjust "gain" and
"pedestal" controls (equivalent to
"contrast" and "brightness") to fit a
given film into the usable range of
the television system. While observing
the program signal on a picture moni¬
tor and a waveform monitor (oscillo¬
scope), the operator sets the maximum
highlight and shadow of the film to
the voltage limits of the system. In
order to insure proper reproduction of
the film grey scale, the cinematog¬
rapher should therefore attempt to in¬
clude in every scene objects which
serve as "reference white" and "refer¬
ence black" for the video operator.
These represent the brightest useful
white and the darkest useful shadow
the photographer intends to record.
Their area need not be over one tenth
the total frame area, and their bright¬
ness ratio, representing the maximum
useful brightness range on the stage,
should be about 20-to-l.
Dimensional and Scanning
Characteristics
The limited resolution capabilities of
the television system and the charac¬
teristically small viewing angles re¬
quire that closeups and medium shots
be used as much as possible, and that
wide-angle and long shots be used
mainly to establish perspective or to
carry essential wide-range action. Tele¬
vision receivers are all "over-scanned"
to some degree; that is, some of the
picture is lost beyond the top and bot¬
tom and sides of the picture tube mask.
Obviously, essential action and title
information should be kept inside areas
which will be seen on a majority of
receivers. Practical experience has re-

DECEMBER

* 1960

'So easy you can operate it blindfolded'

9

OUTSTANDING FEATURES

1.

EXCLUSIVE S-cut for minimum interference with picture area.
2. Spring lever splice action maintains uniform loop during projection.
3. Tape-splice ends on frame lines, keeping pic¬
ture area clean and clear.

* Quick, easy and positive-automatic mechanical alignment of film and
splicing tape.
* Uses readily mountable E-Z TABS, no folding or touching splicing tape.
* Precision all metal construction, hardened and ground cutter blades.
matic adjustment for shrunken film.

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This is the latest IMPROVED

CINEKAD JUNIOR DOLLY
Used Nationally by
Discriminating Cameramen
This 3-Wheel Collapsible Dolly Is
especially designed to meet the demand for con¬
venient mobility of cameras on location or in
the studio.

The new model instead of the
4" wheels is constructed with 5"
heavy duty rubber-tired swivel
wheels.
Write tor more details and prices.

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763 10th Ave., N.Y., N.Y., PLaza 7-3511

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PORTABLE MOVIE LIGHT
Smooth, even 3400° K light
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Telephone 2-1168

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753
American Cinematographer - December 1960

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