As we continued our search to find the proper name for the Mitchell geared head, which we still have not found, we came across this charming advertisement that Mitchell placed in “American Cinematographer” magazine in March 1931. In the ad, there are two camera operators, one using a geared head and one a friction head. […]
Trivia About the Mitchell Geared Head and Friction Head Read More »
An interesting question was posed recently to the committee I serve on at the Academy of Motion Picture Art and Sciences asking about the history of geared pan/tilt heads. The questioner was only aware of the Worrall geared head, so many of us contributed our experiences with other styles and manufacturers of geared heads that
Mitchell Geared Heads Read More »
The other day I was reminiscing with a new client about early motion control cinematography and I happened to mention one of the various versions of video taps that I built long ago. That spurred me to dig this out of storage for a nostalgic look. The concept behind this video tap was not to
A Look Back: Drop-In Video Tap for Mitchell Standard or GC Read More »
On Mitchell Standards and some early GCs, you could order an option that had a series of gear boxes that would do automatic fade-in/fade-out over a selected number of frames. Mitchell 46 at one time had this option, but the kind folks who tried to reflex it ripped out most of it and disposed of
Time for a little more work on Mitchell 46 Read More »
Recently, I was contacted by my friend and fellow vintage camera enthusiast Michael Geiger, who had recently acquired Mitchell Standard #125. This camera, like Mitchell 46, had been abused in its previous life. Mitchell 125 was hacked into an animation camera, and whoever did the conversion, removed and discarded most of the original shutter control
A Face-lift for Mitchell Standard 125 Read More »
Another frequently asked question I get, along with how to thread a camera, is how exactly to get the magazine ready for shooting. I hope I am not boring you all to death with these how-to posts, but I want to make sure to answer some of the more interesting questions I have been getting.
How to Prepare a Mitchell Magazine for Loading with Film Read More »
Along with questions about threading a Mitchell camera, I have recently also been getting a number of questions about the proper way to clean and oil the movement in preparation for shooting. This short video demonstrates the method I was taught and have used successfully for many years. I hope it proves a useful resource
Getting a Mitchell Standard Ready for Shooting Read More »
I have been fortunate enough to find new homes for several Mitchell Standards, GCs, and Fries conversions recently. A common question I get about these cameras is, now that I have it, how do I put film in it? This is a reasonable question. And as I looked around online for a video to demonstrate
A Basic Guide to Threading a 35mm Mitchell Standard/GC/Fries Mitchell Film Camera Read More »
The heart of all motion picture film cameras, like Mitchell Standard 46, is the movement (or film transport). When I hand-cranked this camera for the first time, I noticed a bump or hard spot as I was cranking the camera. As I reinstalled the shutter assembly, I made sure that it was free-wheeling and turned
Servicing the Movement in Mitchell 46 Read More »
With many of the significant hurdles overcome, it was finally time to rough assemble Mitchell 46, put a hand crank on it, and hope that all my work would pay off. Mitchell Standard and GC cameras rely on three gears to control the overall camera timing. These gears keep the film that is being fed
Hand-Cranked for the First Time in Decades: Mitchell 46 Read More »
