CinemaGear 2022 - A year in review

2022: The Year in Review

/ Cameras, Lenses, Restoration / Arri, Fox Cine Simplex, Mitchell 46, Mitchell Camera Co, Mitchell Standard, RED, Restoration

As we wind down 2022 I wanted to revisit some of the highlights of the past year. Starting off the year, we were hard at work bringing the amazing Fox Cine Simplex camera and Freehead Camera Mount back to life: http://bit.ly/3hwC8WC

Twentieth Century-Fox Cine Simplex Camera
Twentieth Century-Fox Cine Simplex Camera
Twentieth Century-Fox Cine Simplex Camera

After an in-depth restoration of the Dykstraflex camera crane and trojan head for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences back in 2019, I had the privilege of doing a detailed service on the Dykstraflex camera this year. It was a joy to see what the engineers at ILM had built in so little time: http://bit.ly/3WnWOyI 

The Dykstraflex camera in the Vista Vision shooting position with Nikon lens mounted
A look at the inside of the film side of the Dykstraflex camera
The Dykstraflex camera with the movement removed

Next we took on the extensive restoration of Mitchell Standard #46, a project that we will continue to work on in the new year: http://bit.ly/3W3AwT8

Mitchell Standard sn.46 camera in pieces
Mitchell Standard 46 on its rackover L-base
Mitchell 46 fade-in/fade-out brake, caliper, flywheel, and trip rod

While work continued on Mitchell 46, we shared a couple of useful guides to oiling and threading a Mitchell Standard or GC camera: https://bit.ly/3Sc0hhK (preparing the movement), https://bit.ly/3qZ49ap (preparing the magazine), https://bit.ly/3BtwXxX (threading guide).

oiling a Mitchell Standard movement
Preparing a Mitchell 400' magazine for loading with film

In the later part of the year, we acquired a set of RED Pro Prime lenses and modified the stock PL mount on the 18mm lens to work most PL mounted spinning mirror reflex film cameras: https://bit.ly/3f6wysY

A comparison of the PL lens mounts on the RED Prime 18mm, the RED Prime 50mm, and the Uniq Optics 100mm.
A comparison of the beauty ring before and after machining.
18mm RED Prime successfully mounted on an ARRI 2B with PL mount conversion.

And most recently, we did a modification of an Arriflex medical camera so a client could build their own film scanner: https://bit.ly/3UN1RbM 

A stock medical ARRI camera
Showing the fiber optic light pipe and marker hole in the aperture that must be machined away
The process of stoning and polishing the machine surfaces of the aperture plate, and the reassembled aperture/pressure plate assembly
A comparison of a stock ARRI film gate to the one I modified for this camera

Thanks as always for joining us on this trip down memory lane and coming along for the ride as we worked on these projects and many more during 2022. Really appreciate all of your comments and support. I hope you will continue following our continuing efforts to bring this classic film equipment back to life.