A Review of the Question of 16-mm Emulsion Position<!--<xref ref-type="other" rid="fn1-10.5594_J09872">*</xref>-->

Abstract

There are several standards anomalies in 16-mm little realized no only by many engineers but also by many of those who daily use the medium. — While there is but one 35-mm emulsion position—the standard position, the emulsion facing the light-source—there are two emulsion position in 16-mm—the “standard” position, in which the emulsion faces the screen; and the “non-standard” position, in which the emulsion faces the light-source. What the non-standard position films may lack in millions of feet used per month, is made up in great measure by their 5 to 1 processing-cost ratio and their higher first cost. — Commercial projection equipment generally has ignored these more costly films and chosen to compete in the low-cost low-quality black-and-white print market. Not one projector manufacturer supplies as standard equipment today a directional loud speaker of suitable efficiency and transient characteristics for high-quality reproduction; only one manufacturer supplies as standard equipment a sound projector whose sound optics are one-half mil in width and may be refocused properly to project “non-standard” emulsion position prints. — While 16-mm black-and-white print quality is generally bad and the resultant projected picture and sound likewise bad when compared with 35-mm theatrical projection, this condition can be corrected almost overnight if Government specifications for 16-mm prints and for 16-mm sound projectors and loud speakers will call for modern 16-mm materials, modern specialized 16-mm methods, and modern equipment. Unit cost increases for the improved quality are inevitable; the increase in effectiveness, however, will far more than compensate for the relatively small increases in unit costs that result. One commercially available system for achieving the desired standard of quality is described.