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 »
One of the most outstanding pieces of film gear from Lucky Brown’s collection was this complete Twentieth Century-Fox Cine Simplex camera. This camera came with all of the accessories, including the matte box, eyebrow, sidefinder, magazines, the full set of Baltar lenses, automatic slating device, eyepiece, follow focus, and pretty much all of the other
Twentieth Century-Fox Cine Simplex no.114 – Off to a New Life! Read More »
After countless interruptions, numerous wrinkle paint failures, much choking on magnesium dust, and stripping and re-foaming all of the original cases, the VistaVision Butterfly camera and all of its accessories is finally ready to find a new home! This updated Mitchell VistaVision “light-weight hand-held” production camera features a Nikon lens mount; a crystal motor with
VistaVision Butterfly 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 »
I am a big fan of the ARRI 35 BL series of cameras. The movies I shot for Lucky Brown I shot with an ARRI 35 BL 4S as the first unit camera. At the time, it was very affordable, and it had all of the features I was looking for. When I took in
Arriflex 35 BL 2 Camera Package 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 »
You might remember this Fries 3×65 IMAX format camera from the repairs I did on the movement last spring. The owner brought to my attention that people who have shot with this camera in the past were concerned with the way the pull-down claw and registration pin assemblies were held in place. Their feeling was
Fries 3×65 IMAX Format Camera, Revisited (Again) Read More »
Last week someone asked if I could show the basic care and feeding of a Unit “I” Shuttle and where the major oil points are. I originally showed the Unit “I” Shuttle as I was preparing to install it in this Acme Model 6 camera, so I thought I would give an overview of my
The Acme Model 6 and Basic Maintenance Read More »
I know that I said I was going to work on the new display shelving unit for the showroom first thing in the new year, but I needed to get all of these pieces of VistaVision equipment cleaned up, repaired, and put away before I begin to make all that saw dust. I also have
VistaVision 400′ and 1000′ Magazines – Technicolor? Read More »
Things were moving along as expected with the VistaVision Butterfly camera. I got all of the 400’ magazines cleaned, serviced, and painted. Got the camera cleaned of corrosion and spot painted inside and out so it looks pretty again. Made a new power cable, serviced the movement, and ran everything. All looked great until I
Small Setback on the VistaVision Butterfly Camera Read More »
