Cinematography : 1918 Bell And Howell Movie Camera by Amos Richardson

A model 2709???? What lenses will you have on it? The big question though... will you shoot hand-cranked? If hand cranked what speed, 16fps? To add period immediacy, the look of hand cranked with subtle variances in speed and exposure should make for somewhat unique images

Thanks for your interest Andrew, This case was built in 1918, there are about a dozen known in existence. 2709, yes. We do have a drive motor, but, will be hand cranked for our use. Lenses; Goerz-Hytar 3.5, 1 5/8-2.0, Cooke Speed Panchro 50mm, 3', Eimac 154, 4.5 Eimas 254 4.5, Nikon 25, Heinz/Kilfit 600 5.6, Birns & Sawyer 500, Bausch & Lamb 51, 2', 1.2 fixed ap, Tele-Lentar 300, 5.5 ap, zoom. Extra turrett to take Nikon and PL, And Russian uncoated 35. Vintage tripod, gyro head, a very nice kit. Any suggestions for us?

Amos, what you are taking on is challenging and interesting all on its own regardless of the rest of the project. With the lenses you have, test for contrast and sharpness throughout the f-stop range. While the lenses might not have worked well until they were stopped well down, for your purposes the more flawed images with the lenses more open may work to your advantage. Use neutral density filters and test everything in sunlight, since that is where you will use this set-up. Test with a person in front light, side light and backlight. Make sure to do a 360˚ rotation with the camera cranking to check for light leaks. When you look at the tests match the lenses for visual quality and only use those lenses at the stops you liked. If you only use one lens that is not a problem, just more in keeping with the originality of the approach. Remember though that softer, less contrasty was often the look selected for close-ups. If you are doing sound, with the actors close to the camera you will need some sort of blimp since silent era cameras are anything but silent. It would be very interesting for you to shoot the same shots with your “A Camera” and do a split screen to see the real difference. The Goerz "Hypar"(I think) could be most interesting. The gyro head may not be your friend. They were used only until something better came along. Try it and see. Starting and stopping movement with accurate framing can be a little “interesting”. But good for you for being open to trying it. i remember them as being quite noisy when moving as well. What film stock are you intending on shooting? Remember to take your tests completely through the post production workflow to find the hidden problems. Once you decide upon lens and stock, you should do a separate make-up and wardrobe test with the chosen combination. What about back-ups for failures and the affect this may have upon your completion bond and insurance. I would love to see the director’s face when when it dawns on them that they cannot watch from video village as there will be no video tap on the camera :-)))) One serious caveat. In the quiet dark of the screening room be brutally honest with yourself about the results and if they are worth it.

Andy, you are forcing me to a Masters degree in antique equipment... Thank you. I will try to keep you posted on progress. They are using the Goerz Hypar (you are correct) now for a few seconds of a closeup of letter writing. Meeting the operator next week to coordinate shots. I am looking forward to trying the gyro....The Tele-lentar with the zoom would be my own first choice as principal lens. We would like to shoot one 200 yard (variable) scene in full sun, most shots will be in the dappled light of a pine forest. Hard decisions about which shots to use in the final cut will not be made until edit. Tentative plan is to shoot modern, then repeat with the 2709, Millenium Studios is providing the new gear. Where failure occurs, of course, the only option will be the secure HD images. Insurance has no knowledge of this camera.....surprise. I cannot imagine complete failure, perhaps three important scenes, when the audience is fully content gripped... A question for you..Which film and lenses would you consider or recommend for the two light conditions? Thank you again, have a great day.

What is the zoom lens? With older lenses, there is no way to know their condition so it would be foolish of me to guess at the quality. That is why those darn pesky tests are kinda important because they will reveal the optical quality and you can match from there. The other issue is that most of these lenses are still camera lenses, so do not count on those for much in the way of smooth operation in a motion picture usage. What type of film stock were you going to shoot? Black and white or colour? Which one? Processing? Transfer? If you intend on using the longer lenses much, practice a lot with the gyro head and have a head you like close at hand. I neglected to ask, what is the viewfinder set-up? It will not be reflex, so make sure to set-up the parallax finder and if it has interchangeable lenses (probably not) take whatever you can. Using a rack-over to see through the shooting lens will test your patience and resolve. When you are finished this, your appreciation for the folks who used these cameras to shoot everything will be boundless.

If you want a civil war feel you should be looking at coating-stripped, very old optics. Re you talking about a B&H 2709 ? Is it still hand cranked or motorized conversion like most still in existence ( many also have stepping motors and were used up til recently for cel animation ) ? Much of the " old feel" of old black and white footage comes not from the camera itself -but from irregularity in the printing, shrinkage etc... something long-gone in modern film stocks. Shooting a test and communicating with the lab is important to achieve what you want. Selection of the best film stock to get you there is also a consideration. You may be surprised at the footage looking too good, too clean, and too stable... unless that's what you are after. Sounds fun.. good luck!

Yes, 2709, a great selection of lenses, mostly uncoated, are available. We do have a motor but will be hand cranking to enhance the "old" look with variable speed. A list of lenses on hand is in one of the above comments. Editing will be critical as well and the very important lab work. We are after the shaky-sun spot- flickery look.

Think about developing the film by hand in a still darkroom. Anything you can do to revert to earlier imperfections will help... of t can all be done digitally but it detracts from the purity I suspect you may be after. Have fun it really sounds very cool.

Assuming that you are shooting B&W stock. The most readily available will be Kodak Double-X 5222. Nice grain structure and tonal range. Problem is that it is 250asa in Daylight. You will need to be able to add multiple ND filters to knock that back so that you can expose at around an f8.0. The 5222 will be fast enough to shoot in the shade of a few trees with dappled sunlight coming through but if you are shooting under a densely covered tree canopy it will get dodgy with slow lenses. Shooting only one stock will be a definite benefit for you. There are other stocks, Orwo has a 400 and a 100 that are nice. There is also Kodak 5234 a fine grain duplicate negative stock which can work as a camera negative. Very fine grain and very slow, around 6 asa I believe. The fine grain would probably work against what you want. Make sure to have the processing and transfer set up ahead of time. Very standard transfer, maximizing the amount of information you can get off of the negative, to the format of your choice for post and then finish the look of the images in colour correction. Remember there are some filter uses that are quite specific to B&W that you should use. At a minimum a Yellow 8 at al times outdoors to bring clouds and the sky back to looking as they should. There are also Orange 15 and Red 25 along with UV to have even greater effect upon things. Remember those tests I mentioned? Filters on make-up and costumes are all part of the process. Further to the viewfinder, expect that it will be flipped either left to right or top to bottom. Just to make it more of a challenge.

Royce, thank you for the great advice, Hand developing is a great idea. Andrew,.....for DP......

Of course ... it has nothing to do with cinema, but I have been intrigued with abandoned 'looks' and how / why they were. I actually built a portable wet-plate darkroom for a guy; all wood leather and brass replica of the battlefield darkrooms used to develop those now infamous battlefield photos in the 1860's. There are reenactors who still do wet plate photography today at their gatherings. Dangerous chemicals, time sensitive... quite interesting.

Does anyone have 35mm film "tailings"? We can use them, most of our 2709 shots will be a very few seconds, We will happily pay postage, and provide one-of-a-kind mementos from the film... list your name in credits......anyone? Have a great day, let me know anytime.

Amos.. have you considered bulk loads of 35mm still film ? it opens a wider range of available black and white stocks in both negative and reversal... 100' bulk rolls will yield you over a minute at 24fps... The sprocket holes are slightly different and may or may not cause an issue with registration- but again if looking for a possible distressed image that may not be bad.

B&W short ends are not really very common these days. What little there may be usually end up loaded into a still camera. This is a company that will sell 100’ loads that might be worth looking into. I just know of them, have never used them or their products. http://www.ultrafineonline.com/35x100ftfifo.html It would be worth asking if they have longer rolls available on special order. Test a roll first, before you get more. You need to know what it will look like and make sure to take it through the whole post workflow all the way to deliverables. If you can see it on a big screen, all the better. If you are shooting at 16fps, the silent film standard, then a 100’ roll should last about a minute and a half.