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Soviet camera dollies?


James Steven Beverly

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I was just curious about Soviet camera dollies. I somehow imagine them as a T-34 with a camera mount welded to the end of it's 76mm gun!! :D I'm sure they must have had something equivalent to the Moviola or McAllister OR perhaps something more sophisticated. Since the Soviets had a history of copying successful designs from the West when it came to movie equipment, did they just copy these dollies or did they create their own, radically different design of perhaps paralleled Western designs? B)

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I was just curious about Soviet camera dollies. I somehow imagine them as a T-34 with a camera mount welded to the end of it's 76mm gun!! :D I'm sure they must have had something equivalent to the Moviola or McAllister OR perhaps something more sophisticated. Since the Soviets had a history of copying successful designs from the West when it came to movie equipment, did they just copy these dollies or did they create their own, radically different design of perhaps paralleled Western designs? B)

 

Frankly speaking Russian legendary tank T-34 had a few modifications.

T-34-57, 1940 had gun ZIS-4 57 mm,

T-34, 1940, run L-11 76 mm,

T-34, 1941,1942, 1943 gun F-34 76 mm,

T-34, 1944, gun S-53 85 mm.

http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A2-34#.D0.9C.D0.BE.D0.B4.D0.B8.D1.84.D0.B8.D0.BA.D0.B0.D1.86.D0.B8.D0.B8_.D1.82.D0.B0.D0.BD.D0.BA.D0.B0_.D0.A2-34

 

 

You can see of a russian dolly and cranes, " made in USSR"

https://sites.google.com/site/procinecameras/Home/dolly-cranes

 

on my page:

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Frankly speaking Russian legendary tank T-34 had a few modifications.

T-34-57, 1940 had gun ZIS-4 57 mm,

T-34, 1940, run L-11 76 mm,

T-34, 1941,1942, 1943 gun F-34 76 mm,

T-34, 1944, gun S-53 85 mm.

http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A2-34#.D0.9C.D0.BE.D0.B4.D0.B8.D1.84.D0.B8.D0.BA.D0.B0.D1.86.D0.B8.D0.B8_.D1.82.D0.B0.D0.BD.D0.BA.D0.B0_.D0.A2-34

 

 

You can see of a russian dolly and cranes, " made in USSR"

https://sites.google.com/site/procinecameras/Home/dolly-cranes

 

on my page:

 

Ah the T-34, arguably the best tank built during WWII!! :D

 

Now WHY I didn't think to go to your site first, I'll never know. How stupid of me. OF COURSE you would have information on Soviet camera dollies there. Next time I want to know something about any Soviet film making equipment, I'll go to your site first. This page is fascinating. They are similar yet not identical to Western dollies of the same era. The cameraman's armchair with system stabilization 1KOD is a novel way of solving the boom function. I've seen similar short counter balanced arms for sale on Ebay before but not in the same configuration. It looks kinda like a Red Dolly. H.W. Stone (Colcam) over at Konvas.org mentioned a Soviet dolly he referred to as a TRAM, here's what he had to say:

 

"Funny, but the one ex-Soviet user I met in the US was fascinated by the idea of a doorway dolly, and said they used a TRAM, but could not explain what the difference was, and his sketches seemed to imply a tracked dolly, not a free wheel untracked unit."

 

Are you familiar with this dolly? B)

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Knock it? I LOVE it. I own 3 Commiecams and admire their engineering. What I like most about Soviet engineering is that it is first and foremost functional. Soviet equipment has NO bells and whistles but the little Konvas is perhaps the toughest 35mm camera ever built. I have the KSR-1. The only real weakness on the Kinor 35C was the electronics and mine has the incredible beautiful Aranda Rotovision 5000 electronics, and the Kinor 35PII is being rebuilt. It's designed to be hand-held similar to the Aaton 35 but inspired by the 16mm Eclair ACL. It is a marvel of engineering. Bruce said it was an even better design that the Konvas and was at a loss to understand why more weren't produced. I was only joking because most Soviet equipment was built very heavy and able to take punishment but they were certainly not fancy like I said functional where as Western equipment was and is far more refined. B)

Edited by James Steven Beverly
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  • 1 year later...
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the little Konvas is perhaps the toughest 35mm camera ever built.

 

Um.... It has that delicate little gear that's supposed to drive the magazine. The mag lid latch isn't all that secure. I don't think it compares with the Arri I and II line for durability and reliability. I've owned both, and still have Arri's, though only as antiques.

 

 

 

 

-- J.S.

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