After countless interruptions, numerous wrinkle paint failures, much choking on magnesium dust, and stripping and re-foaming all of the original cases, the VistaVision Butterfly camera and all of its accessories is finally ready to find a new home! This updated Mitchell VistaVision “light-weight hand-held” production camera features a Nikon lens mount; a crystal motor with […]
VistaVision Butterfly Read More »
The new shelving unit is completed at long last! And the original shelving unit has been painted to match (somewhat). We have spent the last couple of days toting barges, lifting bales, and lugging cameras to and fro as we attempted to reorganize the showroom. It’s still a work in progress, but we are too
Reorganizing the Showroom 2024 Read More »
I know I said back in January that I was going to work on a new set of shelves for the showroom, but I have been swamped with so many other things since then and am only now getting a moment to start that project. In the meantime, this lovely Moviecam SuperAmerica has returned after
A Moviecam SuperAmerica, and Too Many Other Projects Read More »
I am glad that so many of you feel as warm and fuzzy toward the Arri 35 BL series of cameras as I do. As I dug deeper into the many, many cases that came from Lucky Brown’s collection, I discovered that the BL2 also has the extension viewfinder, three Cooke Speed Panchro lenses, lens
I am a big fan of the ARRI 35 BL series of cameras. The movies I shot for Lucky Brown I shot with an ARRI 35 BL 4S as the first unit camera. At the time, it was very affordable, and it had all of the features I was looking for. When I took in
Arriflex 35 BL 2 Camera Package Read More »
Last week’s brilliant solution to modify the Fries 3×65 15-perf pull-across camera was partially unsuccessful when the camera was run at speed. Join me as I rethink the problem with the pull-down assembly on this Fries 3×65 camera movement.
Fries Engineering 3×65 15-perf Camera Movement Modification, Again Read More »
You might remember this Fries 3×65 IMAX format camera from the repairs I did on the movement last spring. The owner brought to my attention that people who have shot with this camera in the past were concerned with the way the pull-down claw and registration pin assemblies were held in place. Their feeling was
Fries 3×65 IMAX Format Camera, Revisited (Again) Read More »
Last week someone asked if I could show the basic care and feeding of a Unit “I” Shuttle and where the major oil points are. I originally showed the Unit “I” Shuttle as I was preparing to install it in this Acme Model 6 camera, so I thought I would give an overview of my
The Acme Model 6 and Basic Maintenance Read More »
As we have established in the recent past, wrinkle paint does not do well in the rain and the cold, both of which we have had in Los Angeles this week. So much as I wanted to be finished with the VistaVision magazines this week, that had to be put on hold again until the
A Glance Inside an Acme-style Unit “I” Shuttle Read More »
I know that I said I was going to work on the new display shelving unit for the showroom first thing in the new year, but I needed to get all of these pieces of VistaVision equipment cleaned up, repaired, and put away before I begin to make all that saw dust. I also have
VistaVision 400′ and 1000′ Magazines – Technicolor? Read More »
