BNCR is a lens mount developed by Mitchell for use with its reflex 35 mm movie cameras (long back-focus; Bausch & Lomb Super Baltars and equivalents). It was an update of the BNC mount (short back-focus; Bausch & Lomb Baltars and equivalents) done to accommodate the reflex viewer in the later cameras. BNC mount lenses cannot be used in reflex Mitchell cameras as their shorter back-focus will hit and damage the reflex viewer, which, in various versions, was a pellicle (partially silvered) mirror or a (100% silvered, first surface) rotating mirror. The initials stand for Blimped Newsreel Camera Reflex, which meant that it is a 35 mm camera originally intended for news reporting but included a blimp housing for sound stage shooting plus a reflex viewer to allow the camera operator to view the action through the lens while filming. The reflex option was only added in 1967, while the blimp option - thereby converting an NC (Newsreel Camera) into a BNC, (Blimped Newsreel Camera) - was available at the camera's introduction in 1934, but only a few BNC examples were made before the onset of WW-II, during which manufacture of "production" cameras was suspended.
The lens mount is not identical across all variants, thus there is a marked difference between a BNC and BNCR mount, for instance. BNCR is only the current convention as it was the last version of the camera and in relatively current use until the 1990s. The mount contains four pronged flanges only one of which contains a notch towards the center. This notch is used to align the mount to a locating pin located approximately 45 degrees clockwise from the top of the camera's lens mount. This radial indexing is of particular importance when shooting an anamorphic format (CinemaScope or Panavision, or equivalent). The mount is locked into place using a friction locking ring which, in conjunction with the four prongs of the flange, creates a very strong lens seating. The quality of this design has been a key influence in the design of the Arri PL and Panavision PV mounts, both of which are the main film camera mounts in use today, and both of which have four-pronged flanges oriented based on locating pin-notch combinations. The Arri PL mount in particular is very similar in appearance to the BNCR mount, the only immediately apparent difference being the ability to seat any of the four notched prongs against the locating pin; the flange focal distance and diameter also differ.
With the slow obsolescence of the Mitchell cameras, which likely took so long because they were so well regarded in mechanical design aspects, such as their steady intermittent movement registration ("Compensating Link" movement) and strong mounts, the mounts have gradually become less common in the past two decades, but remained an option for third party cameras produced as recently as the 1980s. Many of the cameras are still in usage in fields such as animation. Though the mount is not quite as common today, it is still very well regarded in the field.
CinemaScope is an anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter.
A lens mount is an interface – mechanical and often also electrical – between a photographic camera body and a lens. It is a feature of camera systems where the body allows interchangeable lenses, most usually the rangefinder camera, single lens reflex type, single lens mirrorless type or any movie camera of 16 mm or higher gauge. Lens mounts are also used to connect optical components in instrumentation that may not involve a camera, such as the modular components used in optical laboratory prototyping which join via C-mount or T-mount elements.
Cinema Products Corporation was an American manufacturer of motion picture camera equipment.
Panavision is an American motion picture equipment company founded in 1954 specializing in cameras and lenses, based in Woodland Hills, California. Formed by Robert Gottschalk as a small partnership to create anamorphic projection lenses during the widescreen boom in the 1950s, Panavision expanded its product lines to meet the demands of modern filmmakers. The company introduced its first products in 1954. Originally a provider of CinemaScope accessories, the company's line of anamorphic widescreen lenses soon became the industry leader. In 1972, Panavision helped revolutionize filmmaking with the lightweight Panaflex 35 mm movie camera. The company has introduced other cameras such as the Millennium XL (1999) and the digital video Genesis (2004).
Arri Group is a German manufacturer of motion picture film equipment. Based in Munich, the company was founded in 1917. It produces professional motion picture cameras, lenses, lighting and post-production equipment. It is cited by Hermann Simon as an example of a "hidden champion". The Arri Alexa camera system was used to shoot several films that won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, including Hugo (2011), Life of Pi (2012), Gravity (2013), Birdman (2014), The Revenant (2015) and 1917 (2019).
Techniscope or 2-perf is a 35 mm motion picture camera film format introduced by Technicolor Italia in 1960. The Techniscope format uses a two film-perforation negative pulldown per frame, instead of the standard four-perforation frame usually exposed in 35 mm film photography. Techniscope's 2.33:1 aspect ratio is easily enlarged to the 2.39:1 widescreen ratio, because it uses half the amount of 35 mm film stock and standard spherical lenses. Thus, Techniscope release prints are made by anamorphosing, enlarging each frame vertically by a factor of two.
Metrogon is a high resolution, low-distortion, extra-wide field photographic lens design, popularized by Bausch and Lomb. Variations of this design were used extensively by the US military for aerial photography, fitted to the T-11 and other aerial cameras.
The Genesis is a discontinued high-end digital movie camera developed by Panavision, and was available solely by rental. It is based on a proprietary Super 35 1.78:1 (16:9) aspect ratio, 12.4-megapixel, RGB filtered CCD sensor. It was first used by a feature crew to shoot Bryan Singer's Superman Returns, and was shortly followed up thereafter by the World War I film Flyboys. However, the computer effect-heavy nature of these two movies meant that ultimately the comedy Scary Movie 4 was the first theatrically released feature primarily shot with the Genesis. It was discontinued in 2012 and succeeded by the Millennium DXL line developed with Red Digital Cinema.
Mitchell Camera Corporation was an American motion picture camera manufacturing company established in Los Angeles in 1919. It was a primary supplier of newsreel and movie cameras for decades, until its closure in 1979.
Super Panavision 70 is the marketing brand name used to identify movies photographed with Panavision 70 mm spherical optics between 1959 and 1983. It has since been replaced by Panavision System 65.
A PV mount is a lens mount developed by Panavision for use with both 16 mm and 35 mm film and digital movie cameras of various sensor sizes. It is one of the mounts offered with Panavision cameras and Panavision-designed lenses. Panavision also modifies ("Panavises") its third party camera and lens equipment in the interest of allowing clients to retain their personal preferences regarding equipment. As they are the only company who can offer this, customers wanting to use Panavision lenses on non-Panavision cameras or vice versa must rent this equipment directly through Panavision.
Ultra Panavision 70 and MGM Camera 65 were, from 1957 to 1966, the marketing brands that identified motion pictures photographed with Panavision's anamorphic movie camera lenses on 65 mm film. Ultra Panavision 70 and MGM Camera 65 were shot at 24 frames per second (fps) using anamorphic camera lenses. Ultra Panavision 70 and MGM Camera 65's anamorphic lenses compressed the image 1.25 times, yielding an extremely wide aspect ratio of 2.76:1.
Hand-held camera or hand-held shooting is a filmmaking and video production technique in which a camera is held in the camera operator's hands as opposed to being mounted on a tripod or other base. Hand-held cameras are used because they are conveniently sized for travel and because they allow greater freedom of motion during filming. Newsreel camera operators frequently gathered images using a hand-held camera. Virtually all modern video cameras are small enough for hand-held use, but many professional video cameras are designed specifically for hand-held use such as for electronic news-gathering (ENG), and electronic field production (EFP).
Moviecam is a motion picture equipment company specializing in movie camera systems for 35 mm film.
This article summarized the comparison of movie cameras.
The Arriflex 35 was the first reflex 35mm production motion picture camera, released by German manufacturer Arri in 1937.
Anamorphic format is the cinematography technique of shooting a widescreen picture on standard 35 mm film or other visual recording media with a non-widescreen native aspect ratio. It also refers to the projection format in which a distorted image is "stretched" by an anamorphic projection lens to recreate the original aspect ratio on the viewing screen. The word anamorphic and its derivatives stem from the Greek anamorphoo, compound of morphé with the prefix aná.
A director's viewfinder or director's finder is a viewfinder used by film directors and cinematographers to set the framing of a motion picture or movie camera. There are three types of director's viewfinders.
The Arriflex 16BL is ARRI's first silent 16mm production motion picture camera, released in 1965. It was replaced by the Arriflex 16SR in 1975.
The Arriflex 35BL is a 35mm motion picture camera released by ARRI in 1972.