Now that the Fox Cine Simplex camera is finished, it is time to take up another long-term restoration project. I won’t be working on this one full time, as there is much other work to be done, but it is finally time to begin bringing Mitchell Standard sn. 46 back to life. In its previous life, this camera was crudely “converted” to a pseudo-reflex configuration, and the genius that did this conversion cut away much of the bottom of the camera where it meets the rackover L base, the face of the camera where the light trap that covered the shutter would be, removed the fade-dissolve and variable shutter mechanisms, and most sadly, discarded the original L base and shutter control section. Most of the rest of the bits and pieces are original to Standard #46; so this project will involve restoring the original camera casting so the rackover gives, stop plates, and rack gears that used to be on the bottom of the camera are returned to their proper positions. Material needs to be added back to the face of the camera so the shutter light trap plate can be reinstalled. For the shutter control system, the parts we have need to be reinstalled, missing parts need to be machined, and the variable shutter/fade-dissolve mechanism needs to be reconstructed. This will be a long term project, and I will bring you glimpses of it as I make progress. Many years ago now, I acquired this camera along with my friend Bill Wertz with the intention of us putting it back together, together. Sadly, Bill passed away recently, and life’s schedules never let us begin this work. So I dive into this project in honor of Bill.
