To go along with our ongoing restoration of Mitchell Standard #46, we are currently in the process of researching the history of the camera’s first owner, the Christie Film Company. Brothers Al and Charles Christie founded the Christie Film Company in Hollywood in 1916 and produced short and feature-length comedies through 1933. The Great Depression […]
Some Help with a History of the Christie Film Co. Read More »
The Moviecam Super America MK II is an extraordinary 35mm sound silent motion picture camera featuring Super 35 format and a PL lens mount. When it was introduced in the 1980s, the Moveicam Super America (and its successor the MK II) represented a seachange in the design and functionality of professional motion picture cameras. The
New This Week: Moviecam Super America MK II Read More »
Recently, the Panavision SPSR went to its new home, but we were lucky enough to hold on to the Panavision zoom lens that was originally packaged with the camera. Rarely available for private ownership, we are offering this extraordinary lens separately and it is available now here: https://bit.ly/3izJXrg The lens is a Panavision 20-120mm T3
Panavision 20-120mm Zoom Lens Read More »
Around 1983 I built this single frame rear process projector for my friend and colleague David Stipes. This lovely piece of machinery was used to project background plates into matte paintings and tabletop miniatures. We used it on such projects as “Ice Pirates”, “Real Genius”, “V”, “Trancers”, an episode of “The Twilight Zone”, and many
1983 has come back for a visit! Read More »
Progress at last! Sadly Mitchell 46 has been far more butchered than I had anticipated. Still, we shall persevere. I managed to get about 90% of the working pieces out of the camera casting, though the shutter shaft stubbornly remains in place due to corrosion. The screw that holds the focal plane shutter to the
Undoing What Has Been Done – Mitchell Standard 46 Read More »
I am still healing from surgery, so I haven’t been able to get back to Mitchell 46 yet, but should be able to by late next week. Fingers crossed! When I was sorting through the cache of Baltar lenses I posted about recently, I also discovered a pair of Wollesak Raptar 10in (254mm) lens cells.
Some Interesting New Lenses This Week Read More »
I have been working minus one thumb this week after having some minor surgery last week, and am unable to lift anything over 5lbs. for a few more days, so a brief update this week. I was able to calculate how much material needs to be added back to Mitchell Standard no. 46, as well
Wounded Camera, Wounded Engineer Read More »
The starting point to restore Mitchell Standard #46 is to determine exactly what and how much material was removed from the original casting. The problem with this particular camera is that the previous owner machined away all of the material that registered the dovetails, the rackover registration plate, and the rack gears that slid the
Assessing the Damage: Mitchell Standard sn. 46 Read More »
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
A New Project Begins: Mitchell Standard sn.46 Read More »
The Twentieth Century-Fox Cine Simplex camera represented a revolutionary change in the design and intended use of a studio sound production camera. From its inception, this camera was designed specifically to be sound silent without the added size and weight of a blimp housing. To achieve this, the camera’s designers rethought everything about how the
Fox Cine Simplex Now Available! Read More »
