ABSTRACT
I don’t think you will be surprised if I say that the film that runs through your 35 mm stills camera is not the same as the film that runs through the motion picture cameras used in top Hollywood productions. The manufacturer’s name – Kodak, Agfa or Fuji – may be the same but the stock certainly isn’t. The reason we use 35 mm film for stills is simply that it has been the motion picture standard since Edison ordered a stock of film in that gauge from George Eastman for his early experiments. Some years later director Oskar Barnack decided that it would be useful to have a stills camera to test stock before running through his motion picture camera. The first 35 mm stills camera, made by Ernst Leitz, was called the Leica, a name which you may recognize. Since then, however, stills and motion picture films have diverged and, as we shall see, it would not be a good idea to load motion picture film into cassettes and use it for your holiday snaps. It will go through the camera, but will probably totally ruin the processing equipment down at your local photo shop!
