Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences – CinemaGear

Images from the “Color in Motion: Chromatic Explorations of Cinema” exhibit at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures

A Preview of the “Color in Motion” Exhibit at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures

October 11, 2024 / Cameras

On Saturday, October 5th, my family and I had the privilege of attending a preview of the new “Color in Motion: Chromatic Explorations of Cinema” exhibit at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. I was pleased to find a fairly comprehensive exploration of the history and evolution of color in motion pictures. The exhibit opens […]

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A Farewell to the Dykstraflex (For Now)

August 2, 2024 / Cameras, History, Restoration

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

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An overview of the demonstration and discussion of the Dykstraflex motion control camera system at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on May 25, 2024.

Demonstrating the Dykstraflex: May 25, 2024

May 31, 2024 / Cameras, Company Updates

The culmination of all the efforts that myself, Gene Kozicki, Joe di Gennaro, Peter Anderson, Les Bernstien, Andre Bustonaby, Joe and Miles Lewis, and many of the museum crew, was a live demonstration of the Dykstraflex in the Spielberg Family Gallery on the 47th anniversary of the release of the first “Star Wars” film. On

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Preparing the Dykstraflex motion control camera crane for exhibition at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures: cleaning and lubricating the main track, servicing and lubricating the trojan helmet pan tilt head, cleaning the main track rack gear, pointing out the very high tech paper clips that are gaffers taped to the Trojan head as witness marks for positioning, testing and preparing the motion control computer ready, loading the Dykstraflex onto to truck.

Preparing for May the 4th: The Dykstraflex at the Academy Museum

May 3, 2024 / Cameras, Cameras Support, History, Restoration

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,

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A 4-panel grid showing the model mover arriving (top left); the condition of the model mover upon arrival (top right); a sketch of what the model mover looked like originally (bottom left); the rewiring and replumbing process of the main mast (bottom right).

A Visitor from the Past – the Hartland 3-Axis Model Mover

March 8, 2024 / Accessories, Restoration

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

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Tapping the freshly drilled holes in the lower turntable plate so the lower center bearing of the Dykstraflex can be permanently attached.

Further Adventures with the Dykstraflex

June 16, 2023 / Accessories, Cameras, Restoration

Way back in 2019, I was asked to rebuild the missing sections from the Dykstraflex camera moving system so that a working Dykstraflex could be demonstrated at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Galactic Innovations event. This project happened on a tight schedule, and in the middle of me moving my business across

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A gathering of members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences History and Technology Subcommittee

AMPAS Gathering

November 12, 2019 / Cameras, History

This past Thursday, we had the privilege of hosting a gathering of members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences History and Technology subcommittee. We spent a lovely few hours touring our new facility and talking about what Cinema Engineering Co. and CinemaGear.com are all about. Our meeting and tour was full of

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