Do film cameras still need pulldown mechanisms at all in this day and age?

Don H Marks · August 16

Thanks for the info on the Hulcher.

I did find some additional info on a 120 version of the Hulcher's shutter:

The camera is equipped with a rotary disk type shutter operating close to the focal plane. The opeining in this disk shutter may be varied from 3 to 70 degrees by means of a control knob, directly under the lens support.

Geffen Avraham · September 6

On 8/14/2024 at 9:56 PM, Steve Switaj said:

I present the Hulcher 35

https://www.leitz-auction.com/en/Hulcher-35-Sequence-Camera-Model-112/AI-22-14420

Charles Hulcher was technician working for the NACA in the 50's when he developed a design for a still camera capable of taking quick bursts of photos.

Hulcher eventually made a variety of models in 35 and 70mm, and they were quite popular with sports photographers well into the 90's, until they were eclipsed by digital cameras that could finally do more than a short burst

https://www.theverge.com/2012/8/22/3260148/death-high-speed-film-camera-hulcher

Depending on the model, some of the Hulchers had frame rates into the 50 fps range.

I only once saw one up close, and never did quite understand how it worked. It was a 70mm version, the pulldown mechanism had a big swinging arm with a roller that would yank 8 perfs at a time through the gate, which apparently held the film there between pulldowns by friction alone (no need for register pins in a still camera)

How did it get up to speed? Did the motor spin all the time and the mechanism clutch in and out? Was it driven by magic? Who knows? The Internet doesn't seem to have a lot to say.

Ironically, the Hulcher in the first link I posted (mostly because it has nice clear pictures) seems to have the exact kind of sprocket drive we've been talking about.

Ah yes, yet another obscure camera. My kind of thread.

I had a Maurer P2, which could run 100ft loads of 70mm film at up to 6fps. It had a very unique shutter mechanism. Not sure how it worked either, I never ran it as it needed a control board I didn't have.

I left at at an old apartment and it disappeared, idk what happened to it, might still get it back one day.