Looking at old photos and catalogs it seems like it was fairly common outside the USA that projectors had a flip down lens sometimes in addition to a single lens in the projector and other times it seems it was used with a 3 lens turret. What type of lens was this and what AR was it used for?
I'm assuming an anamorphic ? But not a 2x that we typically used in the USA? Maybe more like what we called a 'reverse' anamorphic? IIRC putting that in front of your 1.85 lens would roughly give you a similar width picture to your 1.85 one. Or was it used with like a 1.66 ? If it was used with one of the other lenses I could see the flipping mechanism saving you from buying a 2nd lens but if it was used with different lenses why not have it attached to said lens which was how it was usually done in the USA?
Based on the other things in the photos it seems like these flip down mechanisms pre date automation so that would not explain it. Were other countries having to commonly deal with multiple aspect ratios pre 1950's and it was just a magnifier that made for quick changes? In the automation age with turrets they still seemed to exist and didn't appear to be automated which makes it even more puzzling.
In the USA the similar ish looking thing we had was in the automation age. It was before they sort of figured out the rotating turret. The fixed projector lens was the 'prime' lens sized to be used with the 2x anamorphic. They then stuck the anamorphic and a magnifier on the automated slide mechanism and that would give you a common height 1.85 and 2.39 complete with a degraded 1.85 image and more surfaces to get dirty and miss aligned but since trailers were flat it was a way to do it automated.
I'm assuming an anamorphic ? But not a 2x that we typically used in the USA? Maybe more like what we called a 'reverse' anamorphic? IIRC putting that in front of your 1.85 lens would roughly give you a similar width picture to your 1.85 one. Or was it used with like a 1.66 ? If it was used with one of the other lenses I could see the flipping mechanism saving you from buying a 2nd lens but if it was used with different lenses why not have it attached to said lens which was how it was usually done in the USA?
Based on the other things in the photos it seems like these flip down mechanisms pre date automation so that would not explain it. Were other countries having to commonly deal with multiple aspect ratios pre 1950's and it was just a magnifier that made for quick changes? In the automation age with turrets they still seemed to exist and didn't appear to be automated which makes it even more puzzling.
In the USA the similar ish looking thing we had was in the automation age. It was before they sort of figured out the rotating turret. The fixed projector lens was the 'prime' lens sized to be used with the 2x anamorphic. They then stuck the anamorphic and a magnifier on the automated slide mechanism and that would give you a common height 1.85 and 2.39 complete with a degraded 1.85 image and more surfaces to get dirty and miss aligned but since trailers were flat it was a way to do it automated.
Comment