{"id":2827,"date":"2025-12-15T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/?p=2827"},"modified":"2025-12-12T16:02:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T00:02:11","slug":"a-fond-farewell-to-bell-howell-2709-1015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/2025\/12\/15\/a-fond-farewell-to-bell-howell-2709-1015\/","title":{"rendered":"A Fond Farewell to Bell &amp; Howell 2709 #1015"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I am so happy to send this classic <a href=\"https:\/\/ln.run\/f0toV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Bell &amp; Howell 2709 <\/a>camera to its new home this week. Its new owner is planning to give it a new life shooting movies once again. This camera has a long history, originally purchased by the US Department of the Interior in 1936. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/bell-and-howell-2709-1015-2-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"A grid of 4 images of Bell &amp; Howell 2709 serial number 1015: (top left) the inside of the camera door with the movement removed; (top right) the movement out of the camera; (bottom left) the movement disassembled; (bottom right) the movement being cleaned.\" class=\"wp-image-2823\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/bell-and-howell-2709-1015-2-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/bell-and-howell-2709-1015-2-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/bell-and-howell-2709-1015-2-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/bell-and-howell-2709-1015-2-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/bell-and-howell-2709-1015-2.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Later in its life, Camera Equipment Company did an extremely good rackover conversion, giving this 2709 the rackover feature that made the Mitchell Standard so popular. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/bell-and-howell-2709-1015-3-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"A grid of 4 images of Bell &amp; Howell 2709 serial number 1015: (top left) one side of the camera with the magazine mounted on top and the door closed; (top right) the other side of the camera; (bottom left) a close-up of the hand-crank side of the camera; (bottom right) the inside of the camera with the movement reinstalled.\" class=\"wp-image-2824\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/bell-and-howell-2709-1015-3-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/bell-and-howell-2709-1015-3-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/bell-and-howell-2709-1015-3-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/bell-and-howell-2709-1015-3-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/bell-and-howell-2709-1015-3.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>We acquired this camera from a small studio in Chicago where it was used to make animated local commercials, as well as titles and visual effects for small features. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/bell-and-howell-2709-1015-4-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"A view of Bell &amp; Howell 2709 serial number 1015 threaded with film and the camera door and magazine doors open.\" class=\"wp-image-2825\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/bell-and-howell-2709-1015-4-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/bell-and-howell-2709-1015-4-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/bell-and-howell-2709-1015-4-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/bell-and-howell-2709-1015-4-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/bell-and-howell-2709-1015-4.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I wanted to make sure Bell &amp; Howell 2709 #1015 was ready to make movies again, so while I didn\u2019t take it completely apart, I disassembled most of the camera and the movement to make sure everything was clean and properly lubricated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video aligncenter\"><video height=\"1920\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1080 \/ 1920;\" width=\"1080\" controls poster=\"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/bell-and-howell-2709-1015-story-1.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/bell-and-howell-2709-1015-reel-1.mp4\"><\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The culmination of this exercise was getting to handcrank the camera for the first time in many years. I haven\u2019t practiced my handcrank rhythm, so it wasn\u2019t very steady, but at least I can show the camera in motion with film. Now it heads on to its new home abroad, ready to make movies once more. Bon voyage!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I am so happy to send this classic Bell &amp; Howell 2709 camera to its new home this week. Its new owner is planning to give it a new life shooting movies once again. This camera has a long history, originally purchased by the US Department of the Interior in 1936. Later in its life, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2822,"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":[33,11,17],"class_list":["post-2827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cameras","tag-35mm","tag-bell-and-howell","tag-17"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2827","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=2827"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2829,"href":"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2827\/revisions\/2829"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemagear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}