This year’s budget for equipment purchases has already been spent, but I got an offer that I just couldn’t turn down. Mostly, I wanted the two geared heads, one Worrall and one Mitchell, but the package also came with a trio of Fries Mitchell cameras and a couple of lenses. This equipment came out of
Another Fries Camera Haul? Read More »
I know I said last week that this new Pathe camera was going to be a future project, but before I could safely put it away, I needed to mitigate as much of the corrosion of the brass parts as possible to prevent any further decay. When I brought the camera over the bench to
A Quick Cleaning of Pathe Professional sn. 1086 Read More »
As I was going through my inventory of Arriflex 400’ magazines, I noticed that quite a few of them suffer from a missing or severely damaged “title block” (as the ARRI parts breakdown identifies it), you know, that silver piece in the middle of the magazine door. In the past, I have either painted over
3d Printing a Replacement ARRI 35 Series Magazine “Title Block” Read More »
Today we rejoice, for Twentieth Century-Fox Cine Simplex camera sn. 105 is finished! Or as complete as I can get it with the parts that I had. Despite its looks when I first examined this camera, the heart of the system was still in repairable condition. The most complicated part of this project actually turned
Completing My Restoration of Twentieth Century-Fox Cine Simplex Camera sn. 105 Read More »
A short one today as my battle with Twentieth Century-Fox Cine Simplex camera sn. 105 rages on. The folks who designed this amazing camera went way out of their way to isolate as many things as possible from the housing of the camera to prevent noise and vibration from escaping the camera box. The components
Shutter Woes with Twentieth Century-Fox Cine Simplex camera sn. 105 Read More »
My work on Twentieth Century-Fox Cine Simplex camera #105 continues on, this time with reinstalling the sprocket, the film keepers, the buckle trips, and starting to reinstall the movement. One of the interesting notes is how the movement is installed in this camera. There is another set of steel plates that are laminated to what
Cine Simplex # 105 – The Restoration Work Continues Read More »
Despite my grand ambitions of assembling the main drive components and reinstalling the movement in this Twentieth Century-Fox Cine Simplex camera, sn. 105, I was stopped by one of those silly little things that stops so many projects. Last week I mentioned the steel plates sandwiched around a piece of leather that work as a
The Odyssey of Cine Simplex Repairs Continues Read More »
A friend of mine brought this Twentieth Century-Fox Cine Simplex Camera to me well over a year ago to see if it could be cleaned up and restored to working condition. I have been busy with many other projects, so I am just now getting to it. The camera appears to have been neglected and
Resurrecting Another Treasure: Twentieth Century-Fox Cine Simplex Camera #105 Read More »
Back in stock! I think I mentioned last week how hot it has been here, so I wasn’t doing anything too strenuous. Well, it’s still hot and humid this week, but I sat down in the air conditioning to finish the restock of ARRI 2B/2C power adapters. I had 3D printed enough shells to make
Back in Stock: A New Batch of ARRI 2B/2C Power Adapters Read More »
One of my favorite cameras has been the Mitchell Standard or GC. These cameras populated almost every visual effects show that I worked on because of their quality engineering and rock steady registration. When my friend Doug Fries introduced his reflex conversions of the Standard and GC, it really revolutionized the way we worked. His
A Trio of Fries 35R Cameras – Now Available! Read More »
