And, BTW, motion picture and still 35mm each have slightly different perfs, but they can be run through the same cameras. I forget, offhand, the difference, but the difference is slight.
PE
There were slight differences in the perforation pitch, ie, the distance between the holes. 35mm movie camera stock have slightly oval holes, and their spacing is critical when it comes to running them in motion picture cameras. I have been told by a cameraman that the pitch differed a bit in the films made in different regions of the world. He showed me an Arriflex and a Mitchell with adjustment settings for the pitch variations.
Movie print (release positive) film have perforations which are rectangular and similar to the ones found in "still" film. The BW versions are often Blue-sensitive only and have rather slow speeds- think of BW photopaper but on a long strip of acetate.
Movie film would run in still cameras without problems. The Leica was designed around 35mm movie film, coming out first as a 'short end' tester for testing short movie film for exposure. However, running 35mm meant for 35mm still cameras would mean trouble. We tried to run about 5 metres of film cut from a still bulk roll and the camera chewed up the film after about 3 seconds. The film ran only that much (at 24 frames per second, about 1.5 feet/sec) before the camera's pull-down claws got confused and started grabbing the film in places outside the perforations.
The original Picker article was indeed confused. Bulk film bearing the name of a still camera stock will contain the same film. However some bulk film sold are really "shortends". Shortends are the film left in the movie camera magazine which cameramen don't usually use because they would run for just a few seconds. Or sometimes these are cut from surplus movie film stock.
Movie film don't have frame numbers, but they are printed with 'footage' numbers, as well as information about the film's stocks on the edges outside the perforations. In some BW stock, the footage can be read from
undeveloped film. This allowed the camera operator to pull out a length from the magazine and read off from the raw stock directly. These footage numbers are critical for movie applications like editing or sound synch'ing.
The soundtrack area runs inside the perforation, next to the picture area. There is nothing special about this part, nor is it sensitised or coated differently. Often this area remains blank, to leave an area for the soundtrack to be printed on later.
Years ago, I got some Tri-X (it had an EI of 320) and Agfa which came in cans the same size as regular bulk still film. Unlike regular bulk film, these stocks were reeled in "daylight" spools which allowed the film can to be opened and handled in subdued light. The spools were flanged (I think they were labelled as #1 or #10 spools) with solid metal sides. These were meant to be used for small 35mm movie cameras (like the spring-wound Elmo used by newsreel cameras) which allowed daylight loading. The 30m length of film run for around 1 minute. This film, with their spool fit' daylight loaders perfectly. And the stocks also bore no frame numbers.
Jay
