The man who shot a solar eclipse on an IMAX camera

Karim D. Ghantous · June 9

https://eclipse70mm.com/

If you have Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZT2pSxNitR/?igsh=MW05NnlrZm1qaTB4bA==

Edit: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/eclipse-imax-moive-solar-event-1236563258/

Edited June 9 by Karim D. Ghantous
Added URL

Mark Dunn · June 9

Strictly speaking, shot on a Fries 5/65, blown up to 15/70.

Edited June 9 by Mark Dunn

Pilvari Pirtola · June 9

I shot a partial eclipse last spring here in finland, on single8, and was actually thinking if it could've been possible to burn the film. might try it if i ever happen to catch another eclipse and have a movie camera handy

my younger brother once used some Sony digi8 camera to shoot an eclipse, fried the sensor

Perry Paolantonio · June 17

Very cool. A few years ago a local filmmaker contacted us, trying to sell me some 70mm gear, including an "IMAX" camera. I went over to look at what he had (was not going to buy the camera but did want other stuff). I ended up leaving there with a trunk full of his film. He had it all in trash cans and said he hadn't taken the time to put it out on the street. probably a dozen reels of 10 perf 70mm ektachrome that he shot of the northern lights from several locations - Alaska, Norway, etc. One of these days we'll scan it but for now it's nice to have for testing my 70mm scanner as I build it.

The camera was a heavily modified 10p military camera that he had completely rebuilt with new speed controls, a vacuum system to flatten the film, etc. He showed it to me and it was super cool, but well beyond my budget.

Giray Izcan · June 17

It sounds cool. Unfortunately, even if I could afford the camera, due to 65mm film costs, it would just be a nice decorative furniture at the house haha.

Clark Nikolai · June 18

9 hours ago, Giray Izcan said:

It sounds cool. Unfortunately, even if I could afford the camera, due to 65mm film costs, it would just be a nice decorative furniture at the house haha.

Well, if I was going to have a camera at home just as a decoration, I'd get something more stylish.

Geffen Avraham · June 18

Hasn't @Robert Eather done this?

Perry Paolantonio · June 18

haha. These are Robert's films. Didn't know he was here! Hi, Robert.

Don H Marks · June 19

The man who shot the eclipse on a Bolex H8 Rex with 150mm Switar...

Wonder how few people shot the last USA eclipse on Dual-8 B&W.

I don't have a film scanner at this time, just held my iPhone up to the screen during projection.

In case anyone is interested,

1) The sun moves very fast across the frame with the 150mm lens.

2) With the filter on the lens, and the extremely limited angle of view of the 150mm lens, it is almost impossible to find the sun in the sky without some kind of 'spotting' rig or landmarks on the outside of the Bolex.

3) Exposure with this setup is all empiric and guesswork. I did take the filter off and stop down too soon (total white out of the image) but as the moon progressed, the exposure got better. At totality, the aperture is opened up again. I might have opened up a little too much, but again it is all based on empiric tables and estimation.

Edited June 19 by Don H Marks

Steve Switaj · June 19

On 6/17/2026 at 8:18 PM, Geffen Avraham said:

Hasn't @Robert Eather done this?

I was wondering that myself!

As soon as Perry Paolantonio said...

Quote

".. A local filmmaker contacted us, trying to sell me some 70mm gear, including an "IMAX" camera. ... he shot of the northern lights from several locations - Alaska, Norway, etc."

I thought to myself "there can't be two of these guys out there in Massachusetts. Can there?"

I've been meaning to ask Robert for more information since April, when he just popped in, dropped a post saying "Yeah, so then I built this IMAX camera... ummm here's some pictures..." and dipped.

https://cinematography.com/index.php?/forums/topic/101591-how-many-non-imax-15-perf-cameras-are-there/page/2/#comment-602195

C'mon back Robert, we're camera geeks here, we need the deets!

And pictures!

An old military camera? Weren't those things all 70mm A perf machines? Where the hell did you find film in 2005 !?!?!

Edited June 19 by Steve Switaj

Perry Paolantonio · June 20

I assumed it was military. Could be wrong.

Steve Switaj · June 21

On 6/19/2026 at 5:45 PM, Perry Paolantonio said:

I assumed it was military. Could be wrong.

No, you're probably spot-on. Robert's camera definitely has that PhotoSonics / Flight Research / Benson & Lenher vibe to it.

And starting with an old military research camera would be the way to go assuming that you need a big image but don't really need the whole 15 perf frame.

And you note that the film was 70mm / 10perf, which is the right format.

I did a search on Robert when he first posted pictures of his camera back in April, and he's got a long history of space and aurora research. he's authored several books on the subject and worked with IMAX on some of their science documentaries.

I'm imagining that this was just a convenient acquisition format for him.

I'm just marveling that Robert was able to find any film stock in 2005.

Those old cameras are incompatible with modern 65mm camera stock, which is why most of them got scrapped instead of going on to be stunt cameras for IMAX shows.

The old military test range format used 70mm camera film with the perfs on the outer edges, about 5mm wider than the perf pattern for what we think of as the "normal" 65 negative/70mm print system that civilian cameras have used since the 50's.

I think the military 70mm pattern was called "type A" and was derived from the pattern in use for long-roll aerial survey films.

I guess someone was able to hook Robert up with the right film somehow. That's probably a story as interesting as where he got the camera.

Edited June 21 by Steve Switaj