{"id":2175,"date":"2024-04-05T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-05T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/?p=2175"},"modified":"2024-04-04T15:27:41","modified_gmt":"2024-04-04T22:27:41","slug":"vistavision-butterfly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/2024\/04\/05\/vistavision-butterfly\/","title":{"rendered":"VistaVision Butterfly"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>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 \u201clight-weight hand-held\u201d production camera features a Nikon lens mount; a crystal motor with 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, and 32 fps as well as variable speed control; Fries Engineering spinning mirror reflex system; NTSC video tap; four 1000\u2019 magazines; four 400\u2019 magazines; a CP swing-away matte box; a clip-on matte box; two 36V battery chargers; magazines belts; power and video cables; and cases for all. In our limited research time, we have only been able to find one publication that specifically mentions these cameras, a January 1956 issue of <em><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/paramountworld19112para\/page\/n81\/mode\/1up?view=theater&amp;q=vistavision\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Paramount World<\/a><\/em>, which talks about how this new \u201clight-weight hand-held VistaVision\u201d camera was first used on the feature <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0049523\/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_6_tt_8_nm_0_q_the%2520mountain\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u201cThe Mountain\u201d<\/a> starring Spencer Tracy, Robert Wagner, and Claire Trevor. In my distant memory, I recall an article in American Cinematographer showing the camera operator laying on his back, shooting hand-held with one of these cameras. So, while lightweight is a relative term, these cameras were certainly lighter and smaller than the elephant ear cameras. This would make a wonderful collectors piece, or a fabulous production camera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery aligncenter has-nested-images columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/VistaVision-Butterfly-1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" data-id=\"2172\" src=\"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/VistaVision-Butterfly-1-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"VistaVision Butterfly camera with 400\u2019 magazine, Cinema Products swing away matte box, and video tap.\" class=\"wp-image-2172\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/VistaVision-Butterfly-1-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/VistaVision-Butterfly-1-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/VistaVision-Butterfly-1-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/VistaVision-Butterfly-1-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/VistaVision-Butterfly-1.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/VistaVision-Butterfly-2.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" data-id=\"2173\" src=\"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/VistaVision-Butterfly-2-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"A four panel grid showing (top left) 1000\u2019 magazine standing in front of two cases; (top right) 400\u2019 magazine standing in front of two cases; (bottom left) clip-on matte box in its case; (bottom right) 36v battery chargers in their case.\" class=\"wp-image-2173\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/VistaVision-Butterfly-2-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/VistaVision-Butterfly-2-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/VistaVision-Butterfly-2-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/VistaVision-Butterfly-2-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/VistaVision-Butterfly-2.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/VistaVision-Butterfly-3.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" data-id=\"2174\" src=\"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/VistaVision-Butterfly-3-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"A snapshot of an article from the January 1956 issue of \u201cParamount World\u201d talking about the first use of the \u201clight-weight hand-held\u201d VistaVision camera.\" class=\"wp-image-2174\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/VistaVision-Butterfly-3-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/VistaVision-Butterfly-3-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/VistaVision-Butterfly-3-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/VistaVision-Butterfly-3-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/VistaVision-Butterfly-3.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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 \u201clight-weight hand-held\u201d production camera features a Nikon lens mount; a crystal motor with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[33,80,36],"class_list":["post-2175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cameras","tag-35mm","tag-restoration","tag-vistavision"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2175"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2176,"href":"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2175\/revisions\/2176"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}