Page:The peregrine falcon at the eyrie (IA cu31924084757206).pdf/90

 70 better, it is well to acquire the habit of working in the dark. A little practice soon enables one to change plates by touch and to store exposed plates in light-tight boxes by the same means. The best book for learners, in my opinion, is Watkin's manual. When using panchromatic plates I acquired the habit of time-development, and now seldom see a plate till it comes out of hypo. King, liking the panchromatic results, but not altogether trusting this work in the dark, wrote to Wratten and Wainwright for a safe light, and when the deep green glass came he was disappointed to find that his candle would not shine through it, so I advised him to send it back and say he found a piece of board painted green did equally well. As regards shutters, I believe in testing them with a Wynne's shutter-tester before using them, as the speeds the makers give are quite unreliable. I have three shutters fitted to my camera. A time and instantaneous is fixed on the front and carries a flange on which the lens screws, so that the shutter is behind the lens. The other surface of the front has two little catches for a silent studio shutter, which I can fix on by taking out the back of the camera, the tube passing out by a hole in the front board. The less you bring your hands into sight by having to manipulate the front of the camera the better, and when doing so gloves should be worn and all movements be very slow. Then the most expensive and least useful is the focal plane shutter at the back. In choosing a shutter, the great desideratum is noiselessness. A mackintosh focussing cloth is useful, and other accessories I have acquired by associating with other bird-photographers are a magnifier for use in focussing, and in connection with this I think it pays to grind one's own screens in order to get a fine grain. Then a blackened brass cylindrical hood, to screw on to the lens front and project two or three inches, is useful against sun and rain. The Sinclair tripod screw is another acquisition, and the Rambler tripod as good as any I have tried. I believe in keeping a note-book in which, as far as possible, all details are entered directly after the exposure, the other half being used for notes on the birds, which I enter on the spot with a red dwarf stylo. Wherever available I have placed under prints the full particulars of exposure. For educational purposes I think that mine will be