There is always a risk in selling something right after it comes into inventory, and the Mitchell 205 was a painful reminder of this. We put the camera on display right as it came in because it’s so pretty, and coincidentally a client came to visit a few days later and fell in love with …
Before I had a chance to inspect the Mitchell 205, a client came to visit my shop, saw the 205, and had to have it. Getting any camera ready to ship to a client is an involved process, particularly for a camera whose condition has not previously been assessed. As you saw in our previous …
Every once in a while, some of the most unique things come across my desk. A few weeks ago, a friend of mine in Australia sent me pictures of Mitchell Standard #27 which he has been lovingly restoring. If this wasn’t unique enough, he also had something I had never seen outside of publicity photos: …
Mitchell Standard no. 27 and Amazing Original MGM Bungalow Blimp Read More »
Ok, so there was one further delay with me demonstrating the rebuilt TechniCraft sync sound motor on Mitchell BNC Rackover #357, but it’s ready now! While every detail of this camera has not yet been fully examined, I did the basic service to make sure that nothing would be harmed while demonstrating the motor. I …
TechniCraft Motor Running Test: Mitchell BNC Rackover 357 Read More »
A quick recap since my last update on this camera back in March: I have been restoring an original rackover Mitchell BNC (#357), but ran into some difficulties with motors. I first tried the TechniCraft motor that came with the camera, but the motor would not find sync, it just ran wild. Then I tried …
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 …
Last week’s experiments with Showscan lenses got me thinking about the Showscan equipment I have left around the shop. Among these leftover pieces is this CP 65 camera body that lacks most of its electronics and its movement. The camera casting is serial no. 101, and as I looked it over, I thought it would …
Continuing on from my work last week replacing the belts in the ARRI 35 BL 4S, this week I set out to repair the broken video tap. The damage was likely caused by someone mistakenly picking up the ARRI camera by the video tap. I have seen this on a number of other cameras from …
A few weeks ago, a dear friend of mine called with a slight amount of panic in his voice to tell me his venerable Arri 35 BL 4S had stopped working. After a little detective work over the phone, we concluded that the problem was likely with the drive belts, an unfortunately common problem with …
While I continue my long and protracted battle with an Arri BL 4S, I wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a Happy Star Wars Day. As they say, May the 4th be with you! This got me to thinking about the ongoing work I have been doing for the Academy of Motion Picture …
