At 20:42 1/16/00 , Dirk Wright asked:
>What's the story behind the 24mmx36mm format? Was it twice the cine format
>or something? It would have made more sense to make it fit an 8x10 print,
>which would be 24mmx30mm.
Yep! You got it.
OM Content (sort of):
The film we use in our beloved OM's was developed by Thomas Edison's lab
for his Kinetoscope in 1889, right down to the rectangular sprocket holes.
It was originally ordered from Eastman as 70mm roll film (for still
cameras) with a request to slit it down the middle into 35mm strips.
Edison's lab perforated the slitted film with four rectangular holes on the
side of each frame. The original cine frame was 24x18mm. The name for
35mm cine film for many years was "Edison size." Oskar Barnack doubled the
frame size when he turned the film sideways in his camera for a "landscape"
format. You're right about 8x10 or any other standard print size 5x7 or
larger, and you'd have to ask Oskar why not 24x30mm. MF 6x4.5cm is a lot
closer to the larger print aspect ratios.
Two Notes: (1) The original 35mm cine frame was for "silents" and had to
be narrowed to allow for the sound track with the advent of "talkies." (2)
The Lumiere Brothers also used 35mm which debuted in 1895, but it had
different sprocket holes and I have no idea what their frame size was.
Next time you go to your favorite camera store, you can truly date yourself
by asking for your film "Edison size" please!
-- John
P.S. I had to look some of this stuff up to try to get the dates right and
found the details about how Edison procured the film from Eastman.
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