XXIV 



RECREATION. 



TEN TO ONE SHOT 



That 



Anybody can take pictures 



with a 



' REFLEX [UU 



That 



* 1 cannot be taken with any other 



A Camera, Focal Plane Shutter, and Focusing finder, 

 showing full-sized image combined* 



Reflex focal plane shutters supplied to any reversible back Camera 

 Send for illustrated catalogue, 



REFLEX CAMERA CO., Yonkers, N. Y. 



Mention Recreation 



UTILIZING OLD NEGATIVES. 



Old and otherwise useless negatives are 

 always at the amateur's disposal, and a way 

 to utilize them should be taken advan- 

 tage of. This applies to over exposed, 

 over or under developed and spoiled nega- 

 tives, or to plates not exposed but otherwise 

 worthless. 



Prepare a reducing bath of ferricyanide 

 of potassium and hypo in water in any suit- 

 able quantity of each so long as it works 

 fast enough. The following works well : 



Hypo i ounce 



Water 8 ounces 



to which add Yz ounce of ferricyanide, pref- 

 erably previously dissolved. 



The negatives used should be dusted 

 and softened in water for a short time be- 

 fore immersing them in the reducing solu- 

 tion. Then they should be put in the solu- 

 tion face up and rocked a few minutes 

 until the solution is evenly distributed over 

 the face of the plate, with no air bubbles. 

 Leave them in the solution until all the 

 blackness is gone and the plates seem clear. 

 If this does not occur in 10 minutes the 

 solution should be strengthened by adding 

 some ferricyanide. 



After being thoroughly washed, a plate 

 may be placed face up in any suitable sensi- 

 tizing solution for a few moments, the one 

 I first experimented with being a blue 

 print sensitizer, although sensitol or any 

 other sensitizing solution will give good 

 results. 



If a blue print sensitizer is used the plate 

 should dry in the dark and be put in the 

 printing frame the same as blue print paper, 

 printed about 30 minutes in the sun and 

 then well washed. The print may be exam- 

 ined by looking through the glass from the 

 back. If over printed it may be reduced and 

 greatly improved in color by flooding with 

 a solution of bichromate of potash after it 

 has been washed for some time. When 

 the bichromate has been washed off and 

 the plate dried, the result will amply 

 repay the trouble. In this way good 

 lantern slides and transparencies may be 

 had at a nominal expenditure of time and 

 money. — B. C. Koloff, in the Camera and 

 Dark Room. 



ASCERTAINING CONTENTS OF UN- 

 LABELED BOTTLES. 

 A correspondent wishes to find out 

 whether the contents of an unlabeled bottle 

 be sulphate of soda, carbonate of soda, or 

 carbonate of potash. If he will add a little 

 hydrochloric acid to a solution of the salt 

 it will effervesce a trifle, and, if sulphite of 

 soda, give off a suffocating odor, or rather, 

 sulphuric acid gas. A little of the salt left 

 exposed to the air for a few hours will 

 soon determine which of the other 2 chemi- 

 cals it is, should it not be sulphite. If it is 

 carbonate of soda the crystals will get 

 more or less white and dry. If carbonate 

 of potash, they will become more or less 

 damp and liquid, according to the moisture 

 in the air. — Camera Craft. 



