B&H ad in LIFE Magazine September 16, 1957
Toronto. The second release of Thomas Dolby‘s CD “The Golden Age of Wireless” (after the song “She’s Blinding Me With Science” became a hit single in 1982 and was added to the CD) was the inspiration for this post. In August of 1983, I was in Atlantic City, NJ on a week long security conference. As I wandered around one of the many casino’s, I heard a familiar tune – it was a small group covering Dolby’s famous song.
George Dunbar spotted this 1957 ad for a Bell & Howell 8mm movie camera (p145) using an electric eye mechanism to adjust exposure as the bright daylight shifted in intensity with the clouds and shadows.
The ad touted a “computer” that translated light into movement of the aperture. The tiny 8mm film demanded a short focal length lens which by the laws of physics has a wide depth of field regardless of the normal range of apertures. I don’t ever recall seeing a camera with coloured electric eye cells, but that may have been me since I tended to ignore 8mm movie cameras in those days.
