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 »
I have come as close to completion on the Fox Cine Simplex as time allows. This camera is 95% complete and in good working order, with the exception of a few parts that make the automatic slater and follow focus units work. Some of the parts that attach the automatic slater to the camera are
An End of the Journey, and Some Reflections Read More »
The camera is all back together and, as you’ll see in the video, it is amazingly quiet. I hope you will forgive the road noise in the background, but frankly I just couldn’t drag the camera back upstairs where it is quieter. At the end of the video is a demonstration of the unique rackover
A Penultimate Update on the Fox Camera Read More »
My disappointment was palpable, though not unexpected, when I turned the camera on for the first time and heard the terrible sound of the shutter scraping against the innards of the camera. The journey now returned to taking the camera apart again, and removing the camera from the rackover cradle so I could get to
Oxidation Troubles with the Fox Camera Shutter Read More »
After powering up and running the camera for only a few seconds, I noticed that the camera was producing a horrible scraping noise. The noise was very similar to what you get on a Mitchell camera when the shutter blades scrape against the forward-most light trap. This, unfortunately, was a sign that I needed to
Not So Silent, Silent Camera Read More »
While I was struggling this week with a strange shutter noise on the Fox camera, I helped a private collector from back East to transfer these two amazing cameras to another private collector here in Los Angeles. The first camera is a 1910 Debrie Le Parvo Special, which is unique in that the camera housing
Two Beautiful Hand-Crank Cameras, ca. 1910 Read More »
A number of people were curious about threading a bipack magazine. Those of you that have done this will know that it is not as straightforward as one might think. I don’t know if this is the best or only way to thread a bipack magazine, but this is the way I have done it
Threading a Bipack Magazine Read More »
As I bring the Fox camera closer to running film for the first time in many years, I thought it was very interesting to show how much thought went into the simple magazine. Anyone who has loaded a film magazine knows the frustrations associated with that process, especially those in the visual effects end of
Ingenious Features of the Fox Camera Magazine Read More »
Mitchell Standard #532 was originally purchased by the United States Army Signal Corps in 1943. We acquired it in 2021 from the camera inventory of John Lemmon Films, Inc., a studio based in Charlotte, North Carolina who specialized in clay animation. When the camera arrived in our shop, I found that the variable shutter blade
Mitchell Bi-pack Animation Camera Read More »
Every once in a while, it is the simple things that make me really excited. My friend Mark Mervis was able to help me add a Panavision matte box to the Super R-200 camera, making the camera a more complete production package. I am hoping my lead on a Panavision battery and charger will come
Adding a Matte Box to the Panavision Super R-200 Read More »
