Happy Thanksgiving!
Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Cinema Engineering and CinemaGear. We will see you again on Monday, November 27th. Have a lovely holiday!
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An Interlude with an Amazing Maurer Camera
I thought the work on the 400’ magazines for the VistaVision Butterfly camera was going to be routine, but lengthy. The weather though decided to interfere with my plans this week by giving us some rare LA rain. Wrinkle paint does NOT like moist air, and while painting magazine number 3 started off well, it
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VistaVision and a Very Hectic Week
I had less time than I was hoping to work on the VistaVision butterfly camera this week as the Dykstraflex once again commanded my attention. I am part of a team that is preparing the Dykstraflex to be moved for display at an upcoming event in the new year. My week also saw me servicing
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Introducing the VistaVision Butterfly Camera
A number of years ago, I acquired this Mitchell VistaVision Butterfly camera with the intention of using it to shoot plates for visual effects sequences. When it arrived, all but one of the magazines were frozen closed and every bit of equipment had case foam adhered to it. I was able to use the one
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A Restored Treasure: The Extraordinary Wilart Camera
I am delighted to share with you all today this fascinating, ca. 1921 Wilart Camera restored by my good friend Michael Madden. Our quick research indicates that this camera was manufactured by the Wilart Instrument Co., Inc. of New Rochelle, New York as their all-metal professional cinema camera. Contemporary advertising from “Motion Picture News” in
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Restoring Mitchell Standard no. 27
Those of you who have been following me for a while now know how much I love and admire Mitchell cameras. A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to have Mitchell Standard no. 27 left in my care for some basic maintenance and tlc. This very early Mitchell camera was bought by MGM some
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Light Bulbs of Yore
Much of this week was taken up with doing the final inspection of several cameras so they are ready to go to their new homes, and I didn’t have time to document this process in all the chaos. While taking a breather from that, I pulled out this group of fascinating old light bulbs that
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An ARRI 16SR and 16M
I love 16mm cameras. I learned how to be a cinematographer with Bolex, Arriflex, and Beaulieu 16mm cameras, but my current business isn’t focused on this format. While I have not done a full service and restoration of either of these cameras, I have scrubbed and cleaned the outside of them, made sure everything was
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A Fond Farewell to the Mitchell 205
There is always a risk in selling something right after it comes into inventory, and the Mitchell 205 was a painful reminder of this. We put the camera on display right as it came in because it’s so pretty, and coincidentally a client came to visit a few days later and fell in love with
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A Last Look at the 16mm Camera Hoard
Winding down our look at the table full of 16mm cameras this week, I wanted to highlight a few more items that I thought were cool. The Arriflex 16 SR turns out to be a working camera under all of that dirt. A quick cleaning and careful examination made me comfortable enough to power the
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