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 […]
Further Adventures with the Dykstraflex Read More »
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
Revisiting CP 65 Showscan Camera sn. 101 Read More »
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
Finishing Repairs on the Arri 35 BL 4S Read More »
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
Arri 35 BL 4S Drive Belt Replacement Read More »
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
Happy Star Wars Day! Read More »
And so we come to the end of my project repairing the Fries Engineering Ultra 70 3×65 IMAX-format camera. This project was quite challenging. Coming up with retrofit parts that would preserve the function and integrity of the movement, but still be serviceable in the future, required a lot of careful thought and planning. Because
Fries Ultra 70 3×65 Camera – Back in Action! Read More »
Last week’s adventures ended in the machining of a successful replacement hub blank for the Fries Ultra 70 IMAX format camera. This week, I machined the required features onto the hub blank so the flywheel could be permanently mounted to the movement and timed correctly to the shutter drive. The process was straightforward, if a
Fries Engineering Ultra 70 – Hub Battle, Part Deux Read More »
This week I continued work on the Fries Ultra 70 IMAX format camera. It was mainly a week of head scratching, doodles, starting over, and eventually creating successful parts. As I mentioned last week, my plan is to machine a new flywheel hub that will attach to the movement using the remaining threads on the
Fries Engineering Ultra 70 – Honing in on a New Hub Read More »
Back in March 2021, I had a chance to evaluate the Fries Engineering version of the IMAX camera to diagnose why it had stopped working. The immediate problem was pretty straight forward: There is a flywheel that is part of the movement, but that also acts as a coupler between the movement and the shutter
Fries Engineering Ultra 70 Read More »
A friend and fellow collector called me and asked about the Mitchell BNC rackover camera that I just acquired (serial #357). So this is the first of the collection I decided to take a look at. Surprisingly, this camera is in remarkably good condition. The camera turns over smoothly, there is little or no rust
Restoring Mitchell BNC Rackover #357 Read More »
