Mike Minchin
The origin, the idea of Lens Charts, was that when we went into colour and could only use zooms, a number of us were upset that we would lose the discipline of using fixed lenses. Neither did we like the aesthetic effect of always zooming on shot in lieu of tracking. Basically we preferred that on-shot zooming should be reserved for special dramatic effect.
The great advantage of using the standard 4 fixed lenses was that the relative angles of view fitted the frequently used standard sizes of shots on actors : FS, MS, MCU, CU. In practice it meant that all one did was flip the lens to get to the next size.
It was Peter Granger who came up with the initial solution : a chart with the standard angles of view, but it was an enormous sheet of paper (possibly 2 sheets sellotaped together) – very bulky in the crew briefcase, and one needed a fair acreage of "back-of-flat" to put it up. At that time we only had the J lenses, so the camera needed to be tracked in to the smallest rectangle at minimum focus (and in that way one could check the zoom’s end stops were correctly set). Then the zoom was zoomed fully out, and the widest end stop could be checked. Then you set each of the intermediate pre-sets to match the appropriate graticule. Away to rehearsals and "changing shot size" could be done on the buttons, noted on your camera cards, just as the old fixed lenses had been. There was a secondary advantage to working this way. If your lens package needed to be changed during the day, or even the whole carcass, then a few moments with the lens chart allowed you to regain all the information you’d been working with earlier.
But, as I’ve said, the large sheet of paper was not my favourite solution, and I had the idea that all you need was a vertical strip, as it were carved out of the larger one. The thin strip didn’t need acres of flattage – just an edge. The original chart, and my version of it, were produced on ?Azoflex? paper (not sure of the name – it was used to produce studio plans; I used the machine in the lighting office intended for lighting rig plans) and I drew a number of lens charts (10?, 12?, 15?) on a single sheet of tracing paper. Once printed I cut the separate charts and rolled them for distribution to those who liked the idea.
Dave Bull, our Head of Cameras at the time, asked me whether he should order all crews to carry them, which horrified me. It was strictly a demand situation as far as I was concerned.
When the K lenses came in, all I had to do was to add a smallest graticule and tell users how to use it.
People continued to use them for some years.
Bill Jenkin
A lens chart is shown below (although the top is missing on this one):
(Click on the picture below to see larger version:
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Vernon Dyer
We used them at YTV in the 1970s (I don’t know how we acquired them – legitimately I hope!). We glued them to a piece of 2" x 1" wood so you could hold it on a desk or whatever or prop it up against a flat. One benefit on drama shoots in confined spaces was that if the lens was right and the shot was right you were in the right place, no danger of being in another shot however near you needed to be.
Those were the daysPS – some people called it a Minchin stick. (Verb: to minch = to line up a zoom lens)
Dave Lawson
When I went to Wood Norton on attachment as a lecturer in 1989 I found that someone, I know not who, had made a chart for the lenses in use there but I found it a little inaccurate so I set to and made up a more accurate version which was also much shorter than the original ‘minchin’ version due to the shorter MODs. I still have my new version somewhere.
I had been using the original at Pebble Mill for many years, often being the only one on a show to do so. At least I could be sure I was in the right place each time. When the 2001s were retired, the MOD method of setting the distance no longer worked so a new version was made by trial and error and a tape measure and fixed on a piece of 2×1. It stayed in the tech store for many years. I tried to get it when the place was closed but I was too late.
