Restoration

The Dykstraflex: Restoring the Motion Control System That Changed The World - Part 2

The Dykstraflex: Restoring the Motion Control System That Changed The World – Part 2

Happy Star Wars Day, everyone! May the 4th be with you! Thanks for joining me for part two of this walk down memory lane as I show you a little bit more of what went into the restoration of the Dykstraflex motion control camera system. For the uninitiated among you, this was the groundbreaking motion […]

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The Dykstraflex: Restoring the Motion Control System That Changed The World - Part 1

The Dykstraflex: Restoring the Motion Control System That Changed The World – Part 1

Please join me as I take a walk down memory lane and show you a little bit of what went into the restoration of the Dykstraflex motion control camera system. For the uninitiated among you, this was the groundbreaking motion control camera system that brought to life the most exciting special visual effects that first

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A newspaper style page announcing that the Pathé Professional Studio camera and Motion Picture Apparatus Company tripod we have been restoring are now available for sale on cinemagear.com. There are five images of the camera from all sides on its included tripod.

Now Available: A Magnificent Pathé Professional Studio Camera and Gorgeous Motion Picture Apparatus Company Tripod

I only regret how long it has taken me to get this camera and tripod cleaned up and restored, for they are both excellent examples of fine early motion picture equipment. The Pathé camera has a long history of being copied by other makers, like the Lubin camera and the Wilart, because of its wonderful

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Seven images of a Motion Picture Apparatus Company wooden tripod with pan and tilt head in various stages of cleaning and repair.

A Classic Tripod for a Classic Pathé Professional Camera

I have an amazing archive of old, unrestored tripods from many different eras that have been sitting, waiting their turn to be joined with the right camera. When the clean-up of the Pathé Professional camera was complete, this tripod seemed like a match made in movie heaven. I rescued this Motion Picture Apparatus Co. tripod

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Repairing a Fries 3x65 15-perf Pull-Across Movement

Simple Jobs Are Never Simple: Repairing a Fries 15-perf pull-across 3×65 IMAX-format movement

A client asked me to inspect 2 more Fries 15-perf pull-across 3×65 IMAX-format movements. At first, this looked like it would be a simple project as I rebuilt a similar movement to these recently. However, no simple repair is ever as simple as it seems, and during my initial examination of the first of these

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Pathe 35mm wooden hand crank cinematographe motion picture film camera

A First Look at an Amazing Pathe Cinematographe Hand Crank Camera

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

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Twentieth Century-Fox Cine Simplex camera no. 114

Twentieth Century-Fox Cine Simplex no.114 – Off to a New Life!

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

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