ANGLED - MIRROR `Response`

Bill Reid  (C.R.C.  Editor) 

Geoff Ashworth`s article in the July CRCN (Pages 8 & 9) has stirred some interest and as I mentioned in the Didcot Meeting Report, I gave a demonstration of the plastic screen material by holding it in front of a 16mm cine projector, showing the excellent picture quality it gives. A number of members wrote in response to the problem of finding a suitable "Angled-Mirror" which is necessary when trying to copy cine films, to either video or with a 35mm camera. To date Geoff reports that 14 CRC members have ordered his material. 

Frank White (Area 13) kindly gave an address and phone number of:- Mirrors (Surfacecoated) Specials, Vacuum Coatings (Scientific Mirrors) Ltd., 25. Lea Bridge Road, London. E5. Tel. 0181-806-7335. Frank states: "I have used them for making mirrors for a back projection cabinet, with good results". 

I wrote to this company but my letter was returned by the Post Office as "Address Unknown", so it seems this firm has moved,or possibly may have gone out of business.... Anyone have any idea where they have gone? 

Eric Mitchell (Area 20) wrote:- "Regarding the angled mirror that you require, if you find an obsolete Microfiche viewer (I bought one for just a few pounds at my local auction, check the mirror before buying by lifting the front screen and pulling it towards you). You will find a suitable mirror for your purpose in it, also the front screen is a rear projection screen. Simply Blue tack the mirror on to any horizontal surface and place your projector and camera at 45 deg. to it. Alternatively use your enlarger with the mirror tilted up at 45 deg. and place your camera horizontally. A colour enlarger will allow colour correction, or the filter packs from Jessop, in the enlarger drawer. These mirrors are silvered on the surface instead of the rear, so allowing this type of use. These mirrors are not usually square, use the shorter edge nearer to the projector. 

To clean this type of mirror use soft cloth or cotton wool and washing up liquid or wetting agent. 

Before breaking the viewer to try putting a negative into the holder and project it onto the wall opposite, once focused turn off the lights, blue tack a piece of printing paper on the wall where the image was, turn on the viewer, and make a print. Across the room may take over one minute, just experiment. 

Eric Weatherill (Area 11) writes: "The article  by Geoff Ashworth on Slide copying is excellent. I immediately wrote to him, enclosing a cheque for a piece  of his projection material. It came excellently packed, in two days! I have still to frame and use it, but I have high hopes. Just one use of it - it will enable me to take copies of family slides going back umpteen years, on print film. My wife, Jo has been crying out for them for years". 

Bill Brown (Area 11) also asked about producing prints from his slides: "It is a sector of photography that has been at the back of my mind for some time but have never pursued the matter. It came to me during recent months when sorting out photos and personal papers etc., of my late wife who sadly died earlier this year. Many photos of happier days are on transparencies and could be better displayed in an Album. There may be other members who also have photos that could be better placed in album. 

There are some advantages too. Slides would still be the first step and after taking a print the slide would still be available for projection. On a day out or some such only one camera would be needed and only one type of film and on return to base process the slides and select just those required for the album. It could encourage the use of slide film and would possibly reduce the problem of arriving home with a few un-exposed frames of both types of film, and, horror of horrors, we should not be abandoning the `Slide` in favour of other types of film, merely extending the potential of the Reversal material". 

Geoff`s screen material should be ideal for producing prints from slides. However, if YOU know of better methods for producing prints we would appreciate knowing about it. Rita Pearle has since replied and said she intends buying a sheet of Geoff`s screen material and will be experimenting with both slide and colour negative film --- so watch the Newsletter for further news. 

From Roy Salmon`s (Area 3 Co-ordinator) December local newsletter:- "Try GFA Portrait if you want to copy a print or make a neg from a slide. It`s low contrast compensates for the increase in contrast when you copy - and you don`t have to buy yards of the stuff. A 24shot cassette will set you back around £4.50 or 36 exposures for £5.82 and needs nothing more than the standard C41 processing". 

Bill Wilson (Area 22) phoned to explain that he uses a simple wall Mirror Tile, which can be purchased from any D.I.Y shop. They are sold in 4" & 6" square, sizes and can be cut to the required size and fitted into a box or frame at 45 degrees and gives an acceptable image from your slide or cine projector. 

Soon after completing this article Eric Mitchell phoned to say that he had found a mirror from a Microfiche projector, and kindly delivered it during travelling south from Bedford. For a very reasonable charge I now had the requirements to try some cine to video transfer. 

The mirror is quite large and is glued to a metal frame. It could be cut to make up to 3-4 mirrors of useable size. However I was keen to give it a try and set the projector, mirror and plastic screen up, on a temporary basis.  

The two difficult parts is getting the mirror standing straight up and finding a frame to fit the plastic screen to, and make completely taught. The mirror was placed against a wall and squared up by packing crunched up sheets of newspaper shoved behind it and held firm at the base by a couple of heavy books. 

The screen material required a more permanent fixture, and this was an old picture frame. The material could be cut to suit the small cine picture required (Appx. 4-6 square inches) but as you require a larger picture size for slide copying, it had to remain at full size, at this time. The plastic material was laid over the back of the frame,and taped at the top, then following around the edges making sure the material remains taught before making the final fix. 

The projector should be aimed at the mirror at appx. 45% and the screen placed at the same angle, in reverse, and moved towards the mirror to fill the screen with the projected image. The video camera, being fitted to a firm tripod is aimed, at right-angles, to the screen and moved or the zoomed, to fill the screen. As you know, there is a small area of the outer edge of the projected picture which is discoloured or reflects the film gate. Zoom in a small way to gain the full area of even light. I is probably best to use a zoom range of 50-55mm, which gives a more `normal` view. As the camera is pointed directly at the light source, set the exposure to the Front-lighting mode to force over-exposure by a stop or two. 

Some while back I tried simply pointing the video camera at the screen and got `almost` acceptable results and was expecting considerable improvement using the mirror and plastic screen method. However, due to personal circumstances, of late, I have`nt been unable to get back to more serious trials. If any of you have already had results  please let me know.