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 […]
Light Bulbs of Yore Read More »
One of the more surprising and interesting relics we found in the Lucky Brown MovieTech collection was this outwardly nondescript wooden case. We were first intrigued by the MGM decals on the top and front of the case, how heavy it was, and by the name Ray June inscribed on the lid. Inside this custom
Ray June’s Filter Cabinet of Curiosities Read More »
Way back in 2019, I was asked to rebuild the missing sections from the Dykstraflex camera moving system so that a working Dykstraflex could be demonstrated at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Galactic Innovations event. This project happened on a tight schedule, and in the middle of me moving my business across
Further Adventures with the Dykstraflex Read More »
A friend of mine pointed me toward an estate sale of a former USC professor last week and I found a couple of interesting relics that begged me to bring them home. This home in Westwood, CA had the most amazing and eclectic collection of just about anything you could think of, from a player
Estate Sale Finds! Read More »
The other day I was reminiscing with a new client about early motion control cinematography and I happened to mention one of the various versions of video taps that I built long ago. That spurred me to dig this out of storage for a nostalgic look. The concept behind this video tap was not to
A Look Back: Drop-In Video Tap for Mitchell Standard or GC Read More »
New arrivals: From the Rocco Gioffre collection is a small cache of wonderful items, including some fascinating ancient Cinema Engineering relics I built long ago. In the back row you see a single frame animation motor with a motion control interface box, an RCA friction head with pan handle, some Baltar lenses, some Cooke Speed
New: From the Collection of Rocco Gioffre Read More »
Another frequently asked question I get, along with how to thread a camera, is how exactly to get the magazine ready for shooting. I hope I am not boring you all to death with these how-to posts, but I want to make sure to answer some of the more interesting questions I have been getting.
How to Prepare a Mitchell Magazine for Loading with Film Read More »
Recently we noticed a glaring omission from our website. Somehow we never listed this lovely Tandberg reel-to-reel cine tape recorder! Terrible! This unit was serviced by the late Dennis Buhrmann, a master audio technician. The Tandberg was an alternative to the Nagra location recording system and includes many of the same features. Available now! https://bit.ly/3vncZS8
Tandberg Model 11P Reel-to-Reel Tape Recorder Read More »
I wanted to share one more truly amazing item from John Hora’s collection before the end of the year. John was involved in a project in 2012, along with fellow cinematographer Douglas Knapp and director David Strohmaier, filming a three-panel Cinerama travelog about Los Angeles in the original Cinerama style. Additionally John was part of
I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday, ours was nice and restful. Now that we’re back, I have spent the week hunting everywhere for a suitable replacement grease to finish my work on the Freehead. According to the camera manual, the original grease used in the hydraulic damper for the Freehead was water pump
Good Grease Hunting Read More »
