Happy Star Wars Day, everyone! May the 4th be with you! Thanks for joining me for part two of this walk down memory lane as I show you a little bit more of what went into the restoration of the Dykstraflex motion control camera system. For the uninitiated among you, this was the groundbreaking motion […]
The Dykstraflex: Restoring the Motion Control System That Changed The World – Part 2 Read More »
Please join me as I take a walk down memory lane and show you a little bit of what went into the restoration of the Dykstraflex motion control camera system. For the uninitiated among you, this was the groundbreaking motion control camera system that brought to life the most exciting special visual effects that first
The Dykstraflex: Restoring the Motion Control System That Changed The World – Part 1 Read More »
When last we talked, I shared with you a collection of lenses that were used by visual effects master David Allen. With the exception of one particularly stubborn zoom lens, I have finished cleaning, lubricating, and collimating all of the lenses I shared. This week I promised to give you a look at one of
A Fries Mitchell 35R from the Studio of David Allen Read More »
Recently, my friend Chris Endicott dropped off this large collection of classic lenses belonging to the late, great Dave Allen for me to clean and restore. For those few of you who may not know of David Allen, he was an amazing stop motion animator, visual effects pioneer, writer, director, and producer. Dave was working
The David Allen Collection Read More »
I don’t recall exactly which group of equipment this Gibraltar Quick-Set pan tilt head arrived with, but I couldn’t bear to just throw it away, despite the fact that it arrived with seemingly no way to mount it to a tripod, and no pan handle. I decided it would be ideal if I could make
Repairing a Gibraltar Quick-Set Pan Tilt Head Read More »
Amongst the remarkable antique camera haul I shared with you a couple of weeks ago was, what at first glance, looked like a very gently used Auricon tripod with friction head. When we pulled the tripod out of its shipping tube, it had been disassembled, the legs separate from the pan tilt head. At this
Mending a Slightly Wounded Auricon Tripod Read More »
I only regret how long it has taken me to get this camera and tripod cleaned up and restored, for they are both excellent examples of fine early motion picture equipment. The Pathé camera has a long history of being copied by other makers, like the Lubin camera and the Wilart, because of its wonderful
I have an amazing archive of old, unrestored tripods from many different eras that have been sitting, waiting their turn to be joined with the right camera. When the clean-up of the Pathé Professional camera was complete, this tripod seemed like a match made in movie heaven. I rescued this Motion Picture Apparatus Co. tripod
A Classic Tripod for a Classic Pathé Professional Camera Read More »
I was away much of the week doing my civic duty as a potential juror, so actual projects were on hold once again. In between waiting in the jury room and freedom, this absolutely stunning collection of motion picture cameras and equipment came into the shop. We only have time to give you a brief
An Amazing Camera Haul! Read More »
A client asked me to inspect 2 more Fries 15-perf pull-across 3×65 IMAX-format movements. At first, this looked like it would be a simple project as I rebuilt a similar movement to these recently. However, no simple repair is ever as simple as it seems, and during my initial examination of the first of these
