|
Page 1: CLASSIC MOTION PICTURE CAMERAS Page 2: MODERN MOTION PICTURE CAMERAS Page 3: DIGITAL MOTION PICTURE CAMERAS Aaton - ARRI - Moviecam - Panavision |
In 1967, Jean-Pierre Beauviala, a young engineer and a great cinema fan, decided to
make a film. When he realized that the equipment he wanted to use did not exist,
he decided to design it himself. He built a prototype, whose main originality
was that it gave a single reference to both film and audio takes. The exact time
the images and the sounds were captured was recorded on both the film stock and
on the magnetic tape: 'time-marking' [in-camera timecode - AatonCode].
When the management of Éclair saw photos of
what Beauviala had produced, they hired him as a consultant engineer. At Éclair,
Beauviala brought out the first lightweight 16mm camera with single system
sound. After Éclair had been bought out by the British producer Harry Saltzman,
Beauviala set up his own company, Aaton s.a.[1970]. Several technicians and
engineers, mostly from the Éclair days, were tempted by the ambition and the
spirit of the adventure, and joined Beauviala in Grenoble.
|
Jean-Pierre Beauviala with doph Agnès Godard Photo by Nelly Florès |
One of the projects was the
'cat-on-the-shoulder' 16mm camera, an intelligent camera, meeting both the
physical and technical requirements of the filmmaker or camera operator:
lightweight, rational, ergonomic. Plus the famous universal time marking.
Intended to alter the working conditions of all users, it also presented much
more promising commercial perspectives for a company that was perpetually on the
verge of bankruptcy. The 'cat-on-the-shoulder' project made rapid progress, soon
winning over camera operators, technicians and buyers at the BBC, Swedish
Television, and then Société Française de Production and French Channel One.
The first mock-up of the 16mm camera was shown in 1971 - it would ultimately be
delivered in 1973 as the Aaton 7A.
Jean-Pierre Beauviala eventually achieved his
initial objective: clear time marking on the film stock and on the audio tape.
By altering the shooting conditions for both small independent filmmaking and
editing, he made it possible for reportage and investigative filmmakers to work
outside of the norms set out for 35mm studio work. His solutions were so seminal
that major international film and video equipment manufacturers attempted to
imitate or steal them. In February 1985, Arriflex sued Aaton, thus causing the
company to go into receivership; however the firm was born again from its ashes.
[From article by Jean-Michel Frodon on the Aaton website.]
The newest Aaton: the Penelope:
|
|
|
The absolutely quiet Penelope 35mm 2-perf/3-perf camera. Shaped for the shoulder, it is also extremely well 'socketed' for the tripod. Penelope is very light: extracted at six kilos from the carrying case, it ends up at eight kilos with a 400ft load, one battery and a prime lens, ready for a nine minute take [24fps w/2-perf pulldown].
See also: 35mm/2-perf & Penelope Delta
Go to the AATON website.| Back to top |
|
August Arnold & Robert Richter |
August Arnold [1898-1983] and Robert Richter [1899-1972] founded their company, Arnold & Richter, in 1917 in Munich, Germany. The company started with producing film printers and film processing machines. In 1924 they developed their first [amateur] 35mm film camera, the Kinarri 35. In 1928, the Kinarri 16 appeared in 2 versions, hand-cranked and with a spring mechanism. In 1937, the Arriflex 35 was introduced. This professional 35mm camera had a revolutionary and groundbreaking continuous through-the-lens viewfinding system by means of a mirror surfaced shutter set at 45° to the lens axis, which allowed the cameraman to view the exact framing without any parallax errors. The camera was designed by Erich Kästner [1911-2005], chief engineer, and August Arnold. The first film made with the Arriflex 35 was 'Menschen, Tiere, Sensationen' [1938, Harry Piel; ph: Karl Hasselmann, Bruno Timm and Fritz von Friedl].
|
Erich Kästner, chief engineer, with prototype Arriflex 35 [1936] |
August Arnold |
In its initial form, the Arriflex 35 had a 200ft magazine and all the cameras were painted smooth gray. The film was transported by a simple single claw driven by an equally simple double-cam gear. The detachable magazines incorporated the sprocket drive which was pre-threaded when the camera was loaded. These magazines could be changed very quickly, and taking into account its light weight it was ideally suited to its wartime use as a combat camera. The first notable use of the hand-held possibilities of the Arriflex in the USA was in the subjective camera opening sequence of 'Dark Passage' [1947, Delmer Daves; ph: Sidney Hickox].
Chronology
1924 Introduction of the Kinarri 35
1928 Introduction of the Kinarri 16
1937 Introduction of the Arriflex 35
1952 Introduction of the Arriflex 16 ST, the first professional 16mm camera
with a reflex mirror shutter
1965 Introduction of the Arriflex 16BL, a self-blimped 16mm camera
1972 Introduction of the Arriflex 35BL, a self-blimped 35mm camera;
see Jack Priestley
1975 Introduction of the Arriflex 16 SR [1982: SRII; 1992: SR 3 (16mm & s16)]
1989 Introduction of the Arriflex 765, a compact, light and silent 65mm
production camera
1990 Introduction of the Arriflex 535 [1992: 535 B]
1995 Introduction of the Arriflex 435
2000 Introduction of the Arricam camera system, developed by ARRI and Moviecam
2004 Introduction of the Arriflex 235, a small and lightweight 35mm camera
[2005 Introduction of the Arriflex D-20, a HD digital camera]
2006 Introduction of the Arriflex 416, a Super 16 camera
[2008 Introduction of the Arriflex D-21, a HD digital camera]
[2009 Introduction of the Alexa, a digital camera]
|
Kinarri 35 |
Arriflex 35 |
Arriflex 16ST |
Arriflex 35BL |
See also: Digital Motion Picture Cameras - ARRI
Go to the ARRI website.
| Back to top |
At the end of the 1960's, Fritz Gabriel Bauer [1941-] set up his own film
production company in Vienna together with director of photography Walter
Kindler. They called their company the Moviegroup, and produced a succession of
commercials. Bauer was dissatisfied with the performance of the cameras then
available. Only the Mitchell could approach the registration steadiness he sought.
He decided to buy a Mitchell and see what he could do with it. Together with Anton
Zögl, the special-effects expert at Moviegroup, they took the Mitchell to
pieces. As Walter Kindler recalls, 'Fritz
began to draw like mad, you could not talk to him. Day and night he sat at the
board. First he built a mirror and a reflex viewer system into a new housing. On
it he built a video tap. The drive, movement and magazines of the old Mitchell
remained in use with some alterations. Then he exchanged the BNC lens mount for
an ARRI mount, in order to be able to use the lenses which were most widely used
in Austria at that time. Finally a new camera was born. He called it the
Moviecam.'
The Moviecam 1 was equipped with ultramodern features, but it still had the
relatively old-fashioned shape of the Mitchell: an angular box with round double
magazines.
In 1975 Bauer bought a Mitchell Mk2 movement and built the Moviecam 2 around it.
Because Fritz Gabriel Bauer did not want to subdue the noise of the camera through sound
attenuation - as competitors did, but wanted to reduce it at source - he thought
about constructing a new, noiseless movement. He designed the BN Compensating
Link Movement with double pull-down claws and two register pins. Its
gentle movement caused relatively little noise, and proved both simple and
extremely reliable. With it, and in combination with further silencing measures,
a noise level of under 20dB was achieved. Since 1978, this Moviecam movement
has been built into all the company’s cameras.
Further development led to the Moviecam Super, which Bauer
developed with the American market in mind. It was eventually named the
Moviecam SuperAmerica.
|
Fritz Gabriel Bauer [1984] |
At the beginning of the 1990's, Bauer
brought out the Moviecam Compact, a versatile modular system which
enabled the cinematographer to configure the device accurately to suit the needs
of the actual shooting situation.
In 1997, ARRI offered Fritz Gabriel Bauer an opportunity... he should design the
new ARRI camera generation. Bauer saw in this offer the chance
to combine ARRI's tremendous range of experience, e.g. in the field of
electronic controls, with his visionary world.
ARRI subsequently bought the company. At ARRI, Bauer developed, together with Walter
Trauninger and their camera development team, the Arricam System, which
combined the basic movement and design of the Moviecam systems with the
precision electronic parts and complement of camera accessories already designed
by ARRI. The Arricam cameras were released in 2000 and remain the
flagship camera line of ARRI's 35mm products. Despite the fact that Moviecam
cameras have not been manufactured for almost ten years, their quality and
features have kept them in service to meet their consistent high demand by
feature film shoots.
|
|
Go to the MOVIECAM website.
| Back to top |
|
Panavision is a motion picture equipment company specializing in camera, lens, and grip
equipment, along with related accessories. Clips from a Panavision promotion film [1996] and 'Behind the Camera: Christopher Challis' [2011]. Robert Edward Gottschalk [1918-82 (homicide)] and Richard Moore [1925-2009; later doph and member of the ASC] founded Panavision Inc. in 1953 while they were working at the Campus Camera Shop in Westwood, California. Gottschalk had met the person who had the American dealership for the Aqualung, invented by Jacques-Yves Cousteau. This inspired Gottschalk to design and build an underwater housing for a Bolex 16mm camera. 'We soon found that the refraction index of water made the field of view too narrow,' Richard Moore recalls. 'Gottschalk then discovered anamorphic lenses that had been made in France many years earlier. We shot an anamorphic demo reel on 16mm film, and Harry Eller, president of the Radiant Manufacturing Corporation, asked to see it. His company made projection screens for theaters. He proposed an association with us providing anamorphic lenses that could be used to adapt theatrical projectors for showing CinemaScope movies.' Gottschalk and Moore assembled a small team, including cinematographer Meredith Nicholson, optical engineer Walter Wallin and optics manufacturing company owner William Mann, in order to manufacture a prismatic [rather than the then-favored cylindrical] anamorphic projection attachment [Super Panatar], which made it possible to change the aspect ratio of the projected image during projection from 1.33:1 to 2.66:1. Panavision lenses ultimately replaced the lenses originally produced for the CinemaScope process by Bausch & Lomb. After the financial disaster of 'Mutiny of the Bounty', MGM sold it's camera department to Panavision. The company now owned cameras and started modifying them. In 1965, Panavision Inc. was sold to producer Sy Weintraub [president of Banner Productions Inc.]. The deal involved a cash payment of $3,600,000. Gottschalk remained president and Weintraub became chairman of the board. In 1967, Panavision modified the Mitchell BNC to make it a reflex camera which was named the PSR [Panavision Silent Reflex]. In 1968, Panavision developed a hand-held 65mm camera. This camera was not silent and was only suitable for 'wild' shooting. In 1968, Weintraub received an offer from the conglomerate Kinney National Service Inc. The transaction involved more than $10,000,000 in stock. Gottschalk still remained president. One year later, in 1969, Kinney bought Warner Bros.-Seven Arts and changed its name [in 1971] to Warner Communications. The deeper pockets of the new owners allowed a massive expansion in inventory and a leap forward in research and development. The first 'real' Panavision camera was the lighter and more compact Panaflex, introduced in 1972 after four years of research and development. The camera was introduced in the same year as the Arriflex 35BL. Both were revolutionary cameras in that they operated virtually silently, thus no longer needing a heavy and cumbersome sound blimp, and could be used for sync hand-held work. The Panaflex set itself apart by also including a digital electronic tachometer and magazine motors for the take-up reel. The first film shot entirely with the Panaflex was 'The Sugerland Express' [1973; ph: Vilmos Zsigmond]. When Warner Communications faced financial trouble in the mid-1980's, Panavision was sold to a consortium led by Ted Field, John Farrand and Alan Hirschfield. Warner had stated that it had positioned Panavision as a company which supplied 65% of the worldwide feature film market with its equipment. Within a few months of assuming his new position as president, John Farrand found that this was not true. In reality, Panavision supplied only 25% of the worldwide feature film market. According to Farrand, it was a growth company, not one to be left on its own while the management sits back to wait for the investment to be returned. So, the new management brought sweeping changes to the then-stagnant company. Optics testing was computerized and the new Panaflex Platinum camera was built [1986]. In 1987, the company was sold to Lee International, also a supply company of the motion picture industry [primarily of light equipment]. The management of Lee International reasoned that by purchasing Panavision, it could become a more complete service company. However, the purchase was over-financed and the company couldn't repay the bank. In 1989, E.M. Warburg, Pincus and Co., a major investor in New York, took over. In 1998, Panavision was acquired by Mafco Holdings, a company solely owned by Ronald Perelman. As the end of the 1990's approached, it was clear that the movement for digital cinema was gaining in popularity, and so Panavision moved to capitalize on this by both improving its film camera systems and approaching the vanguard of high-end digital camera development. For the former, the Millennium replaced the Platinum as the flagship camera system [1997], followed by the Millennium XL [1999]. The XL series not only made for a much smaller camera body suitable for interoperability between studio, handheld, and Steadicam work, but also marked the first significant change to the film transport mechanism since the Panaflex: two smaller sprocket drums for feed and take-up instead of one large drum to do both. In the case of digital cinema, a joint partnership with Sony produced the HD-900F High Definition Camera System. Panavision followed this up in 2004 with the Genesis HD Camera, a full bandwidth HDSDI camera with a Super 35-sized recording area. [Using quotes from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, an article by Adriaan Bijl (1991) and from the millemeter.com website (2004).] |
|
PFX-GII Golden Panaflex |
PFX-M Panaflex Millennium |
PFX-P Panaflex Platinum |
Panaflex Millennium XL2 |
|
Panaflex 16mm |
|||
Chronology
1954 Introduction of the Micro Panatar
1954 Introduction of the Super Panatar projection lens
1955 Introduction of the Ultra Panatar projection lens
1955 Introduction of the Camera 65 process
1956 First film made in Camera 65 [Ultra Panavision]: 'Raintree
County' [ph: Robert Surtees]
1958 Release of Super Panavision in theatres
1958 Introduction of the Auto Panatar taking lens
1959 Release of Ultra Panavision 70
1967 Introduction of the 35mm Panavision Silent Reflex [PSR] camera
1968 Introduction of a 65mm hand-held camera
1972 Introduction of the Panaflex
1974 Introduction of the Panaflex X
1976 Introduction of the Panaflex Gold
1977 Release of the Panastar high speed camera
1981 Introduction of the Panaflex 16
1986 Introduction of the Panaflex Platinum
1990 The Primo series of prime lenses becomes available
1997 Introduction of the Millennium Camera System
1999 Introduction of the Millennium XL Camera System
[2000 Introduction of the HD-900F High Definition Camera System]
[2004 Introduction of the Genesis HD Camera]
2004 Release of the Panaflex Millennium XL2
See also:
Film Formats - Panavision
See also: Digital Motion Picture Cameras - Panavision
Go to the PANAVISION
website.
| Back to top |