82 



RECREATION. 



I use a 4x5 folding camera, fitted with 

 Bausch & Lomb lens and shutter. This 

 makes a good picture if one has all day to 

 take it in; but many times the object is 

 moving. It is annoying, after focusing 

 the camera carefully on an object, closing 

 the cover on the ground glass, closing the 

 shutter, changing shutter from T to 25th 

 or 100th of a second, setting the diaphragm, 

 putting in the plate holder, setting the shut- 

 er, and pulling out the slide, to find the 

 object has died of old age, or gone out of 

 range. 



As the focusing scale is only put on tor 

 looks it is of no use whatever. I do not see 

 why some company does not make the view 

 finder adjustable focus, and have it so at- 

 tached that it would be in focus when the 

 lens is in focus. That would make the 

 folding camera a great deal more popular, 

 and it would be almost as ready as the box 

 camera, with the advantage of taking up 

 much less room and having a better lens 

 and shutter. I agree with those who avoid 

 snap shots and never take one if I can 

 avoid it. I am getting more interested in 

 the camera, and losing interest in the gun 

 every year. If all hunters would use the 

 camera more and the gun less we should 

 have lots more game to photograph. 



Walter Scott, Stillwater, Minn. 



ANSWER. 



Of course there are cameras made with 

 twin lenses in which the view on the ground 

 glass is precisely that which is formed by 

 the lens making the picture. With such 

 lenses one may simply look at the ground 

 glass and press the bulb at the proper time, 

 without any focusing other than that re- 

 quired to make a sharp picture on the 

 ground glass. It is not necessary to have 

 these cameras fitted with any different lens 

 and shutter from that employed in the reg- 

 ular camera supplied by the camera manu- 

 facturers. 



Success in photography, however, as in 

 shooting or anything else, depends on the 

 proper use of the apparatus and dexterity 

 in manipulation. It would be just as rea- 

 sonable for a man using a muzzle-loading 

 shot gun to talk of the impossibility of bag- 

 ging a flying bird when he had first to take 

 out his powder flask, measure his powder, 

 pour into barrel, put in a wad, measure his 

 shot, put on cap, replace ramrod and when 

 ready to take aim find that his bird was in 

 the next county, as to make the comparison 

 you make in regard to loading a plate 

 camera after the subject to be photographed 

 is under way. You should never try to use 

 an ordinary folding camera for snapshot 

 work. 



As to the focusing scale being of no use : 

 Any one who has a film camera knows he 

 is obliged to rely on the finder. Nine- 

 tenths of the snapshot work in athletic 



fields, at race meets, regattas, games, etc., 

 is done in that manner, and countless num- 

 bers of most excellent pictures are obtained 

 in that way. — Editor. 



HELP FOR AMATEURS. 

 - In setting off flash powder without a 

 flash lamp use a lighted wax taper tied to a 

 cane. You can then reach the powder 

 without leaving the camera and the open- 

 ing of the shutter — flash — closing the shut- 

 ter can be done more quickly. In private 

 dwelling rooms, where much background is 

 included, place the tin plate on which the 

 powder is sprinkled about 2 feet from the 

 floor. The light goes up and the papered 

 ceilings and walls reflect the light enough 

 for that portion of the picture. Thus the 

 lower part of the view is more evenly 

 lighted. — Exchange. 



When wishing to be in a photo yourself, 

 landscape or otherwise, instead of buying 

 rubber tubing use a coarse black cotton 

 thread. This never shows in a picture, and 

 you can go with it any distance from the 

 camera, running it over grass, sticks and 

 stones without breaking. Run thread from 

 shutter down from camera underneath a 

 heavy stick and then over the ground to 

 where you are standing. — Exchange. 



Many amateurs make their enlarging 

 trays of thin wood, covered inside with 

 rubber cloth, and some then coat with 

 varnish or other material, but these are 

 bulky and not so easy to handle as a 5 or 

 10 cent tin from the tinshop of the size you 

 want. If the tinsmith has not one he will 

 make any size and depth up to 8 x 10 for 15 

 cents, or less, out of plain tin or as cheap a 

 metal as he has. A half pint of asphaltum 

 varnish costs 15 cents and will give 2 coats 

 to a half dozen trays. I have never found 

 metol or quinol affect it yet, or it the prints, 

 and the water dries off from them quickly 

 after use. — Exchange. 



WATERPROOF GLUE FOR WOODEN 

 DISHES. 



Soak a '^alf pound of best glue in cold 

 water until quite soft ; melt in glue kettle. 

 Wher quite dissolved, pour in one ounce 

 of h~': saturated solution of bichromate of 

 potash, and st: r well. It is then ready for 

 use. Apply with brush. Put the article so 

 treated to dry in full daylight for a day or 

 2 and then apply strong alum solution. 

 The vessel is then ready for use, but must 

 be washed first. 



Mrs. Blinks — There's hardly any living 

 with my husband; he doesn't know any- 

 thing. 



Mrs. Winks — There's no living at all 

 with my husband; he knows everything. — 

 Chicago News. 



