Last week, this gorgeous Pathé Cinematographe came into the shop to be cleaned and serviced before being offered for sale to some lucky person. I have only had time to do a quick walk around to take a closer look at the incredible engineering and amazing forethought that this camera represents. This Pathé is housed […]
A First Look at an Amazing Pathe Cinematographe Hand Crank Camera Read More »
I have a bunch of 16mm cameras that came into my inventory along with other things and have been lounging, neglected, for quite some time. As 16mm is having a little bit of a resurgence, it seemed reasonable to try to find homes for these beginner friendly cameras. The star of this week’s labors are
Resurrecting a Bunch of 16mm Cameras: ARRI, Bolex, Krasnogorsk Read More »
I am taking a couple of days off this week, but before I do, I wanted to go through the accessories that come with the ARRI BL 4S camera I began repairing last week. The first thing I looked at was the follow focus unit, which would not … follow focus? What I discovered was
Repairing the ARRI BL 4S Follow Focus Read More »
As I suspected, and you can see clearly in the attached pictures, the camera and shutter drive belts on this ARRI BL 4S had shredded and desperately needed to be replaced. Replacing the belts in these BL cameras is a monumentally difficult task. The BL 4S is one of my very favorite cameras, but it
ARRI BL 4S – Finally on the Bench Read More »
This past Sunday, July 28, 2024, was the last live demonstration of the Dykstraflex at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, for now at least. Now it heads back into storage and some continuing restoration work. My heart was warmed by the huge crowds that came to see this amazing machine at work, and listen
A Farewell to the Dykstraflex (For Now) Read More »
I have a soft spot in my heart for the Showscan system as I was lucky enough to be part of the team in John Russel’s shop that built the first few cameras that were used to test the system. The three cameras that we built were based on Mitchell FC cameras. We also built
Showscan #001 and #102 Back for a Visit Read More »
As I mentioned previously, I have been working on cleaning up some Super Baltar lenses in between other jobs. This week was dedicated to servicing, lubricating, and collimating 2 of the 3 sets of Super Baltar lenses I will have available soon. When Bausch & Lomb introduced the Super Baltar series of lenses in 1960,
The Saga of the Super Baltars Continues Read More »
As part of my involvement with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences History and Technology Subcommittee, we have been hard at work getting the Dykstraflex cleaned up and ready to be exhibited at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. This was a long and tedious process, involving a fair amount of logistics, cleaning,
Preparing for May the 4th: The Dykstraflex at the Academy Museum Read More »
Some 40+ years ago, I had the privilege of being one of the engineers and cameramen at the Universal Studios Hartland visual effects facility. One of the many things I designed and built there was a 3-axis motion control model mover. My friend Peter Anderson rescued part of one of these model movers and kept
A Visitor from the Past – the Hartland 3-Axis Model Mover 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 »
