New arrivals! After many twists and turns with Fedex, we finally took delivery of equipment from the collection of Gunnar Blanke, a filmmaker from the Denver, CO area. Lots of neat stuff in this collection, including a Mitchell NC that was purchased by Lookout Mountain in 1959, two Mitchell GCs, an Akeley Gyro Head, a […]
An Estate Purchase Out of Colorado Read More »
It’s alive! The FC friction head restoration is finally complete! Here, you can see the friction head supporting Mitchell FC camera sn.8. Mitchell friction heads have a surprising number of parts that all had to be reconditioned or remanufactured in order to make this unit complete again. The casting hides 10 steel friction plates, 14
The Mitchell FC Friction Head Is Complete! Read More »
After much struggle, hammering, prying, wiggling, pushing, and pulling, I was finally able to completely disassemble this much abused unit. It is shown here in its current state, all the pieces cleaned for rust, petrified grease, and stripped of the old, crumbling paint. I still need to make a couple more parts before everything gets
An Update on the Mitchell FC Friction Head Read More »
A pan/tilt head for our John Wayne Grandeur camera! My friend Michael Geiger came across this partial original Mitchell FC friction head and was nice enough to sell it to me. It arrived missing the top plate, tie-down screw, castle nut, handle attachment plate, and the telescopic handle. But, it has an original Mitchell FC
Mitchell FC Friction Head Restoration Read More »
Among the crate of tripods we acquired last month, we were delighted to discover this original Eclair Camerette aluminum tripod and friction head. This was exciting because we could finally pair one of the Camerettes from our collection with its intended tripod. The Eclair Camerette and this unique tripod were introduced to the US market
Eclair CM3 camera on Eclair tripod Read More »
Among the crate of tripods we posted last week was this most interesting piece from around 1922. It is labeled only by the company that retailed it, Herbert & Huesgen Co. of New York. Herbert & Huesgen was established in 1908 by Henry Herbert and Charles Huesgen, and was a major importer and retailer of
Herbert & Huesgen Professional Tripod for Motion Picture Cameras Read More »
This week I thought we would share an unboxing. Well really an un-crating? A visitor to our website offered me this crate of nearly 40 tripods and pan tilt heads. After letting the crate sit in quarantine over the weekend, we were finally able to unpack it on Monday. Inside we found an eclectic collection
A Tripod Un-crating Read More »
About three years ago, I bought the contents of a storage unit, mostly to acquire a Stein two strip color camera and some vintage lenses. Included in this purchase were what I thought were three 1920’s vintage pan tilt heads. None of them had wooden legs on them at the time of purchase. Among those
Motion Picture Apparatus Co. Precision Ball Bearing Tripod Top Read More »
Originally introduced in 1946, the Mitchell 16 professional motion picture camera incorporated the features and design that had made Mitchell’s 35mm cameras so successful. The Mitchell 16 was advertised as a more compact package, well suited to 16mm cinematography. Alongside the camera, Mitchell introduced a full complement of accessories, including a sidefinder, tripod, and friction
Mitchell 16mm Friction Head Read More »
We have been working on finishing the setup of the showroom this week, and pulled this interesting item out of storage. It is labeled as a Pan and Tilting Head for Use with Anti Aircraft Triangulation Camera, Type CMZ-3B and was built by the Mitchell Camera Corporation for the United States Navy. Beyond that, we
Mitchell Pan and Tilting Head for Anti-Aircraft Triangulation Camera Read More »
