Recently I had a chance, through my dear friend Ted Rae, to represent 2 cameras that were part of Jim Danforth’s studio. For those who may not know of Jim and his work, Jim is a modern day renaissance man. He is an accomplished matte painter, fine art artist, illustrator, model maker, sculptor, puppet maker, […]
Camera from the Collection of Jim Danforth Read More »
As an update to BNCR #224’s restoration, here is where it currently stands: I was able to get the camera itself back into working order and reinstalled in the blimp. Since nothing here gets thrown away, I pulled parts from old stock and pieced together a front lens housing and matte box. The lens housing
An Update About BNCR sn. 224 Read More »
While I was servicing the movement of BNCR #224, I thought it would be interesting to show you the oiling procedure that I prefer to use. It is much easier to show the oil points with the movement out of the camera, though generally you would oil the movement while it is in the camera,
Servicing the movement from Mitchell BNCR sn. 224 Read More »
This week we began bringing Mitchell BNC 224 back to life. This camera got put on the shelf when we moved and is now being brought out of hiding. When we acquired it, the camera had not been well maintained and was missing many parts. Years of neglect took their toll on this camera, so
Mitchell BNCR sn. 224 Read More »
Acme’s Model 6 camera was the mainstay in optical printing, animation, and matte painting composite photography work for decades. The Acme Tool and Manufacturing Company began as a contract machine shop in the late 1920’s and entered the motion picture camera manufacturing business in 1930 when they were approached by Walt Disney to modify a
Acme Model 6 Rackover camera Read More »
One of the finest examples of Panavision’s legendary engineering, the PSR was introduced ca. 1967 and met with immediate success across the movie making world. Based on the Mitchell NC and BNC cameras, the Panavision PSR was smaller, lighter, quieter, and easier to use than the Mitchell BNC or BNCR. Under the guidance of Robert
Panavision SPSR Super R200 sn. 160 Read More »
While I had the movement out of a Mitchell GC, I thought I would demonstrate the lubrication points on the movement for those who have never worked with one of these cameras. 1. Movement removed from camera 2. Working from top to bottom, 1st is the cam that operates the registration pins. A drop of
Lubricating a Mitchell GC Camera Movement Read More »
As we were going over the 3 Blanke cameras we showed last week, we found that the 2 GCs were missing their flywheels, and all of the cameras desperately needed to be serviced after sitting unused for so long. These cameras were previously used to shoot time lapse sequences, and it was common to remove
Mitchell GC sn. 903 Read More »
A trip down memory lane . . . The movie industry always calls for unique solutions to unique problems. Many of us without the budget to build a Dykstraflex needed a device that would allow our cameras to be focused by computer control and hold the camera at nodal point. To solve this problem, I
Mitchell Follow Focus L-base Read More »
Taylor, Taylor, and Hobson, makers of the famed Cooke lenses, was founded in 1886 in Leicester, England by brothers William and Thomas Taylor. The company originally produced optical instruments and did not begin making photographic lenses until 1894. Dennis Taylor (no relation to the Taylor brothers), optical manager of the York-based astronomical telescope maker T.
Taylor, Taylor and Hobson Cooke Speed Panchro Lenses Read More »
