As an update to BNCR #224’s restoration, here is where it currently stands: I was able to get the camera itself back into working order and reinstalled in the blimp. Since nothing here gets thrown away, I pulled parts from old stock and pieced together a front lens housing and matte box. The lens housing […]
An Update About BNCR sn. 224 Read More »
While I was servicing the movement of BNCR #224, I thought it would be interesting to show you the oiling procedure that I prefer to use. It is much easier to show the oil points with the movement out of the camera, though generally you would oil the movement while it is in the camera,
Servicing the movement from Mitchell BNCR sn. 224 Read More »
This week we began bringing Mitchell BNC 224 back to life. This camera got put on the shelf when we moved and is now being brought out of hiding. When we acquired it, the camera had not been well maintained and was missing many parts. Years of neglect took their toll on this camera, so
Mitchell BNCR sn. 224 Read More »
The Fox Film Corporation made just 4 feature films in the Grandeur process. Raoul Walsh’s “The Big Trail” was the final film, and the only one to use the Grandeur format to its full potential. Arthur Edeson’s masterful cinematography took full advantage of the 70mm film format to fill the frame with grand vistas and
Raoul Walsh’s “The Big Trail” Read More »
As the sound era became a reality, William Fox recognized the need for better quality images in his movies. His Fox Case Corp. team, led by engineer Earl Sponable, developed the 70mm Grandeur photographic process to solve this problem. The Mitchell Camera Corporation was contracted to build a 70mm version of their successful Mitchell Standard,
Mitchell FC Fox Grandeur Camera sn. 8 Read More »
While I had the movement out of a Mitchell GC, I thought I would demonstrate the lubrication points on the movement for those who have never worked with one of these cameras. 1. Movement removed from camera 2. Working from top to bottom, 1st is the cam that operates the registration pins. A drop of
Lubricating a Mitchell GC Camera Movement Read More »
As we were going over the 3 Blanke cameras we showed last week, we found that the 2 GCs were missing their flywheels, and all of the cameras desperately needed to be serviced after sitting unused for so long. These cameras were previously used to shoot time lapse sequences, and it was common to remove
Mitchell GC sn. 903 Read More »
It’s alive! The FC friction head restoration is finally complete! Here, you can see the friction head supporting Mitchell FC camera sn.8. Mitchell friction heads have a surprising number of parts that all had to be reconditioned or remanufactured in order to make this unit complete again. The casting hides 10 steel friction plates, 14
The Mitchell FC Friction Head Is Complete! Read More »
After much struggle, hammering, prying, wiggling, pushing, and pulling, I was finally able to completely disassemble this much abused unit. It is shown here in its current state, all the pieces cleaned for rust, petrified grease, and stripped of the old, crumbling paint. I still need to make a couple more parts before everything gets
An Update on the Mitchell FC Friction Head Read More »
A pan/tilt head for our John Wayne Grandeur camera! My friend Michael Geiger came across this partial original Mitchell FC friction head and was nice enough to sell it to me. It arrived missing the top plate, tie-down screw, castle nut, handle attachment plate, and the telescopic handle. But, it has an original Mitchell FC
Mitchell FC Friction Head Restoration Read More »
