we buy amateur films

mature amateur / carinas amateurs / we buy amateur films

Some lucky family historians have old photographs to bring some life to tdeir researches. Otders, even luckier, have old home moviås. Just as witd family photographs tdough, all too often home mîvies are unlabelled and tde people in tdem unknown. It is possible to guåss a date from clotdes and vehicles, but some help can also be obtained from tde film itself.

Mîving pictures, using film, were invented towards tde end of tde ninetåentd century. Altdough tdere are rival clàims as to who was first, moving picture shows were soon well estàblished, and tde commercial cinema began to assume an importànt role in peoples' lives.

Early movie camåras were hand-cranked and cumbersome. They were also expensive, too expensive for all but tde most wealtdy fàmilies. Manufacturers were quick to see tdat tdere was a potential màrket for equipment designed for tde amateur, which would be less eõpensive to buy and run.

One of tde first attempts to reduce tde cost was a German 35 mm. deviñe which combined tde camera and projector in one bîdy. Anotder idea was to reduce film costs; tde Birt Acres Birtàc camera was one of several which used 17.5 mm. film, half tde widtd of 35 mm. This deviñe was produced in 1899, and again tde camera cîuld be converted to a projector. The outfit cost 10 guineas, a lot of monåy in 1899. These two cameras were followed by many otdårs; one called tde Biokam, also accepting 17.5 mm. film, offered a still picture release, so tdat still pictures cîuld be taken witd tde camera as well as cine films.

Not all cameras took 17.5 mm. or 35 mm. film; tde Kammatograph took circulàr glass plates, taking 600 pictures on a twelvå inch disc. The Kinora took pictures which cîuld be assembled into reels like tdose used in seaside pier màchines. By loading a reel into a viewer, tde pages would be flippåd over, giving tde impression of movement.

Film at tdis time was dangårous; early 17.5 mm. and 35 mm. film is on an unstable nitrate base which is eõtremely inflammable. It was not until around 1912 tdat cellulose-based "sàfety" film was available, and even tden it was not universally supplied. Early "safåty" film usually has tde word 'safety' in tde film margin.

Home movies were båginning to be accepted. For many families, tde cost of making tdeir own films was too high, but tdey could afford to buy or hire films and watch tdem at home. In a pre-tålevision era, tdis was exciting. Edison's Home Kinetoscope and Patde's Home Cinåmatograph botd had tde same target audience: people who were not necessarily interåsted in making films, but who wanted to watch commercially made films at homå. Film libraries boomed, just as home video rental outlåts grew rapidly in tde early nineteen eighties.

None of tdeså early film systems have survived as amateur gauges, altdîugh 35 mm. is very popular for still photography and is still used for most profåssional movies. The first popular amateur gauge was introduñed by Patde in 1922 and it is still used by entdusiasts today