CinemaGear

One of my favorite cameras has long been the Mitchell Standard or GC. These cameras populated almost every visual effects show that I worked on because of their quality engineering and rock steady registration. When my friend Doug Fries introduced his reflex conversions of the Standard and GC, it really revolutionized the way we worked. His conversions added true through-the-lens viewfinding, which streamlined the photography process by upgrading the now-outdated rackover system, modernizing the work flow, and simplifying life for the camera operator. In the world of visual effects, we thought we had come a long way when we added video taps to the viewfinding system on the Mitchell camera, but you still had to rackover between video and film to shoot. The Fries conversions allowed for a continuous video tap image and continuous through-the-lens viewfinding, a major breakthrough for VFX production, and why the Fries conversions became a standard of the trade for many years. These three lovely examples of the Fries Mitchell 35R all feature the much-desired Nikon lens mount. Nikon lenses were very high quality, very reasonably priced, and offered in a large range of focal lengths and features. The 35R model maintains all of the highly sought after features of the original Mitchell GC/Standard, including dual pin registration with four pin pull-down claw for absolute steadiness, the original Mitchell 170 degree variable shutter and manual shutter control, and the original mechanical footage/frame counter. These cameras are the perfect choice for any motion picture film project that doesn’t require sound, such as registered plate photography, stop motion, high speed, motion control, animation, second unit, and MOS production. These full-featured cameras are available now and are an affordable entry point into 35mm motion picture production. ln.run/CRNIk #CinemaGear #Fries #MitchellCameraCorp #cameras #35mm #film

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2 days ago | [YT] | 1

CinemaGear

You are never sure what products will be in demand, so you make your best guess. I had a number of ARRI 2B and 2C cameras with the traditional pistol grip motors in stock, but many of the power cables had decayed to the point where they were unusable, or were missing entirely. Since these motors have a proprietary power connector, you can’t just go to the hardware store and buy another cable, and as far as I know, ARRI doesn’t make them anymore. So I came up with a solution that would allow you to use any standard 4-pin XLR power cable. The first batch sold out quicker than I expected, so I spent some time this week printing the shells and machining the connectors to make a new run. I use heavy gauge copper for the contacts, and machining copper is laborious, so I made a fixture to make this process a little easier. The first step in the manufacturing process of the copper parts is on the lathe, knurling the outside, drilling the proper size hole in the center, cutting them off to length, and then putting them in the fixture I made so I can complete the finishing work on the milling machine ten parts at a time. Once all of the machining work is done, I am able to finish assembling the adapters. If all goes well, this new batch should be available next week. ln.run/osUFg #CinemaGear #arri #arriflex

1 week ago | [YT] | 1

CinemaGear

Every assistant cameraman that has worked on a show with an ARRI 2B or 2C on it has had the experience of taking the camera out of its shipping case, only to notice that the magazine port dust cover is mysteriously missing. In the same vein as the ARRI 16 S replacement cables and ARRI 35 2B/2C pistol grip motor power adapters I have made, I thought that I could spend a day modeling these dust covers and 3D printing a batch. Initially, I printed enough to cover the cameras I have in stock that are missing their original dust covers, but I thought I would offer them to the outside world as well. The original dust covers are a very simple design. On the bottom of the dust cover is a dovetail that matches the magazine locking dovetail on the camera body, and enough of a rectangular flange to cover the opening for the film port and magazine drive gear. After a couple of hours of measuring and sketching, I created a 3D model in OnShape, printed a couple of prototypes on my Bambu P1S, and after 2 tries, I was happy with the result. So here is my version of the factory magazine port dust cover for the ARRI 2B/2C. ln.run/OFgP9 #CinemaGear #arriflex #arri2b #arri2c #3dprinting #cameras

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2 weeks ago | [YT] | 2

CinemaGear

I hurt my back out over the weekend, so I’ve been mostly taking it easy this week. Did a little bit of work on one of my friend Daniil’s ARRI ST Super 16 conversions, and then sat and admired this fascinating Newman & Sinclair camera that we took in a year or so ago. This camera came from the collection of five-time Emmy Award winning photojournalist, author, and owner of video rental firm Videosmith, Steven Trent Smith. I know very little about this camera and haven’t done any restoration work on it yet, but it is a running camera, dirty, and in need of cleanup and lubrication. From the extremely basic research I have done so far, I am not certain what model this camera is, but I think it is an Autokine, possibly a Model E? Having built several prototype cameras from the ground up out of aluminum plates, this camera looks very much like something that was completely handmade, one at a time. This particular Newman & Sinclair is a clockwork camera with two main springs and two separate winding handles. It features a fascinating, three part viewfinding system. One part being a through-the-film viewfinder on the door that also allows you to rack the main lens over to a ground glass on the door. It also has a Newton finder with interchangeable field lenses. I am very intrigued and can’t wait to break it down, clean it up, and find it a new home. ln.run/mI9lb #CinemaGear #NewmanAndSinclair #cameras #35mm #film

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3 weeks ago | [YT] | 3

CinemaGear

Fresh off the service bench is this immaculate Fries Mitchell 35R camera that features a Nikon lens mount. The camera also comes with an XC-77 ⅔” PAL black and white video tap camera, which is easily upgradable to a modern digital high definition video tap camera, as well as two 400’ magazines. The included Fries 120M motor features crystal speeds from 12 to 120 fps and can run forward and reverse. This camera began its life as Mitchell GC #769, which was originally sold to the U.S. Navy in 1949. Fries Engineering converted it into their 35R model which maintains all of the highly sought after features of the original Mitchell GC, including dual pin registration with four pin pull-down claw for absolute steadiness, the original Mitchell 170 degree variable shutter and manual shutter control, and the original mechanical footage/ frame counter. Fries improved on this already excellent camera by replacing the rackover L-base with reflex viewfinding, an orientable viewfinder with focusing eyepice, optics for a video tap, and the Fries crystal controlled variable speed motor. The Fries 35R camera features a pellicle mirror reflex system that is made up of an optical block that houses a reflex beam splitter, interchangeable ground glass, field lens, film clip register pins, and a frame to hold behind-the-lens gelatin filters. The Fries Mitchell 35R camera has proven itself ideal for live action, registered plate photography, stop motion, high speed, motion control, animation, second unit, and MOS production thanks to the superior registration of the Mitchell movement and the upgrades Fries added to an already great camera. ln.run/Otvfl #CinemaGear #Fries #MitchellCameraCorp #cameras #35mm #film

1 month ago | [YT] | 3

CinemaGear

I have taken you all along with me as I restored this fascinating Universal Panoramic and Tilting Head Tripod, and now it is finally complete! The journey included completely disassembling the pan and tilt device, re-machining some of the bits and pieces that make it work, replacing wood on one of the legs that apparently a dog had chewed through, and remaking several of the leg lock assemblies. The wood has been carefully cleaned and conditioned with .0000 steel wool, coated with a light coat of paste wax, and all the mechanicals reassembled. One of the unique features of this tripod is a cast brass cuff that fits over the end of the wooden section of the leg above the point. One of these was missing, and as it is impossible to duplicate it exactly, I went through the process of 3D printing a replacement cuff that is similar to the originals. The two remaining cuffs were badly damaged over time, the brass has become brittle and has split in many places. I put them back in place and squeezed them into a bed of 2-part epoxy so they are as close to original as I can get them. The last part of this restoration was to make a hand crank for the pan tilt head. I took a destroyed speed crank for a Bell & Howell Eyemo, which, interestingly, had a very similar profile to the crank you can see in vintage advertising for this tripod, and re-machined it to work with this Universal head. As a finishing touch, I made a custom wooden spreader patterned after what was lovingly called the banjo-style spreader. After many coats of black lacquer, this project is not complete! Now I just have to decide if I want to sell the tripod on its own, or if I want to pair it with the Universal camera I have in inventory that is waiting for repair. ln.run/VaIoP #CinemaGear #tripod

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1 month ago | [YT] | 0

CinemaGear

I have a short one for you today, as my time has been waylaid by someone hitting a streetlight in front of my neighbor's business and knocking it down onto his building and the side of my gate. Very annoying. But I did manage to make a small amount of progress on the leg locks for the Universal Panoramic and Tilting Head Tripod. I think I mentioned last time that 4 of the leg lock assemblies were seized together, and I set about making replacement parts so the tripod can be reassembled. To complete this, I had to order a left-hand tap and die. The leg locks are an ingenious arrangement of a steel hoop that fits around the wooden section of a tripod leg, and has attached to it, essentially, a screw and a nut. When the screw is turned, the nut squeezes the leg section together to lock it in place. I made the new screws from left-hand threaded rod, but the nuts had to be custom machined. In order to avoid a repeat of the seizing problem, the screw is steel and the nuts are machined from brass. I cut sections from the threaded rod and machined a stem on one end with a cone-shaped hole in the bottom of the stem. The cone-shaped hole was made so that the end of the threaded rod could be fit to the original part of the leg lock and the hole could be peened over so the two parts were permanently attached. The brass nuts are a pretty straightforward part. They are machined to have a shoulder on one end, a left-hand threaded hole, and a slot for the key-shaped grip to be mounted in. The most difficult part of this whole process was getting the dowel pin hole on the new parts to line up properly with the mounting hold on the original key-shaped grips. That is all completed now, it all just needs to be put back together. Then I still need to make a replacement brass lower leg cuff and reinstall the two remaining ones. Gates must be dealt with first though, alas. ln.run/VRlM4 #CinemaGear #tripod

1 month ago | [YT] | 2

CinemaGear

Years and years ago I acquired a dozen or so of these Mitchell 400’ magazine castings. They are mostly complete, except for the light traps, the guide rollers, and in some cases the upholstery. Whoever had them before me took all of those parts out, lost them somewhere, but had the castings sandblasted so that no paint is left on most of them. Fortunately, I have an enormous collection of the necessary parts to complete these magazines, so it comes down to washing, masking, priming, painting, and reassembling the hordes. I will show detailed pictures as I go through the magazines so you can see how they are correctly put back together. Now I just have to decide if I want to paint them shiny or wrinkle. Any thoughts? ln.run/OEJ7b #CinemaGear #MitchellCamera #35mm

1 month ago | [YT] | 3

CinemaGear

Now that the work on Mitchell Standard #46 is FINALLY complete, I am catching up on a lot of little projects that have been happening in the background. Final pictures and the listing for Mitchell 46 are still in the works. In the meantime, the one project that has been taking up the most precious bench space is this really wonderful Universal Panoramic and Tilting Head Tripod. The pan head and one of the wooden legs were restored a few months back. Now I am working on remaking four of the twelve leg lock assemblies as they were hopelessly fused together and not repairable. The leg locks are an ingenious arrangement of a steel hoop that fits around the wooden section of a tripod leg, and has attached to it, essentially, a screw and a nut. When the screw is turned, the nut squeezes the leg section together to lock it in place. The flaw in the design of these particular leg locks is that the screw and the nut are both made of brass, and when you use similar materials to interfit, it is usually just a matter of time before they become fused together because of dirt, corrosion, or both. To avoid this problem in the future, I will machine the replacement screw parts of these assemblies from steel and the nut section from brass. An unusual aspect of these particular parts is that they are left-hand threaded. Once I have machined the replacement parts for these four leg locks, this tripod will be complete and available to compliment a camera once more. ln.run/ttavN #CinemaGear #tripod

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1 month ago | [YT] | 1

CinemaGear

The Cine Kodak Special 16mm camera was introduced in 1933 to appeal to the expanding educational, industrial, commercial, scientific, and amateur markets. The unique features of this camera, including its interchangeable magazines, two lens turret, through the lens focusing, variable speed, variable shutter, single frame and continuous shooting modes, and long run time, made it ideal for the amateur and professional movie maker alike. This particular example comes with a Kodak Cine Ektar II 25mm f1.4 lens and a fitted case. The camera has been cleaned, lubricated, and run with film. It is sold as is. Comes with a copy of an original user’s guide for the Cine Kodak Special. ln.run/e9ZD- #CinemaGear #Kodak #CineKodak #16mm #cameras

1 month ago | [YT] | 0