Maurer 16mm cameras?

[schnozzle]

Every so often I see a Maurer 16mm camera for sale. They never seem to go for very much but seem quite solid as opposed to a Bolex...has anyone ever used one? Are they practical machines, or just big paperweights at this point? I imagine repairs might be a problem.

[Mitch Gross]

I guess it could work, just drive your Model T when you take your film to the lab.

[schnozzle]

Personally I prefer to travel to the laboratory via dirigible.

[Christian Appelt]

Try a Montgolfiere the next time, but keep the fire burning steady...

[Marty Hamrick]

I used to work for a production comapny that used one of those beasts as a title camera.As I recall,it was pretty rock solid.That was back when we drove chariots to work.

Marty

[GeorgeSelinsky]

As I recall,it was pretty rock solid.

I have to say it's quite an interesting sight when people see you these days outside filming with an old camera. I remember the look I'd get from people who saw me with my Eyemo and its 400ft magazine on the street, filming (handheld, haha!). Thing is that even the most antiquated looking film camera delivers images much better than the coolest looking video camera, so if you want to show up on the street with a Maurer, and have a decent lens on it, that's all good and as a matter of fact I'd even say cool. Of course, practical considerations are another point....

 

- G.

[Marty Hamrick]

I have to say it's quite an interesting sight when people see you these days outside filming with an old camera.

Back in 1986 I was shooting a film for Martin Marietta and it was covering an event where news media were present.We had a two camera shoot,I was shooting with CP-16 R and the other shooter was shooting with an Aaton LTR.That was the last time I remember seeing film cameras present at a TV news event.We got quite a few comments.

Marty

[John King]

I have a Maurer 16mm and I LOVE it. Was actually surprised how quietly it runs (can baffle sound well enough with thick blanket) and it is indeed robust. It's internals are pretty simple and straightforward, Not like Mitchell, Auricon, or even CP-16R (and NOTHING AGAINST these cameras, they are great too) Parts might be a problem to find, but doubt much will break on this one. Only drawback is that camera is VERY heavy -- NOT recommended for those of you who like to shoot hand held all the time ~~haha!

 

Hope this helps!

God Bless!

JMK

[John Sprung]

Back in the 1960's, the animation department at UCLA used one as their main camera.

 

 

 

 

-- J.S.

[K Borowski]

John, you may have just won the award for oldest thread brought back from the dead. This post is made one month shy of SEVEN YEARS after the last one in this thread. . .

 

Reading some of the other posts on here deriding the age of this camera, all I have to say is: This is the most high-tech line of 16mm cameras ever, on account of how it is space-aged technology. I don't think any *other* 16mm cameras have been to the moon. I forget what model, but for Apollo 11 and I assume other missions, a Maurer camera, coined the "DAC" (Data Acquisition Camera - something that would never refer to a film camera today :-) ) shot timelapse at a rate of about 1 fps.

[Dom Jaeger]

I guess in zero gravity the fact it was heavy didn't matter so much. B)

 

I don't know of any other motion picture camera that made it to space either.

 

One of the Maurer DACs was used handheld by Buzz Aldrin to film Armstrong wandering around the moon. Here's a pic of the cameras:

 

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/missions/apollo/apollo_14/images/a14_topographic_lg.gif

 

On the early Apollo missions they used Schneider primes (10mm Cinegon, 25mm Cine-Xenon):

 

http://www.schneiderkreuznach.com/archiv/pdf/xenon_mond.pdf

 

But by the time of the landing I think they'd switched to Kerns. An Angenieux 6x25 zoom was used on the TV camera.

 

An Angenieux lens (I think an f0.95, 25mm) has the distinction of being the first man-made object to touch the lunar surface, having fallen off a Ranger space probe in 1969..

 

I'll stop with the trivia now.

[John Sprung]

An Angenieux lens (I think an f0.95, 25mm) has the distinction of being the first man-made object to touch the lunar surface, having fallen off a Ranger space probe in 1969..

 

They did that crash cam into the moon in 1965, it sent back pictures until the end, and they published them in a book. I found a copy of that about five years later, and the guys with the Maurer on the animation stand at UCLA were kind enough to shoot it so we could look at it in motion. So, full circle back to the Maurer.... ;-)

 

 

 

 

 

-- J.S.

[Jean-Louis Seguin]

I have a Maurer but no mags.

 

If anyone has an extra mag they are willing to part with, please contact me.

 

Thanks.

 

Cheers,

Jean-Louis

[John King]

John, you may have just won the award for oldest thread brought back from the dead. This post is made one month shy of SEVEN YEARS after the last one in this thread. . .

 

Reading some of the other posts on here deriding the age of this camera, all I have to say is: This is the most high-tech line of 16mm cameras ever, on account of how it is space-aged technology. I don't think any *other* 16mm cameras have been to the moon. I forget what model, but for Apollo 11 and I assume other missions, a Maurer camera, coined the "DAC" (Data Acquisition Camera - something that would never refer to a film camera today :-) ) shot timelapse at a rate of about 1 fps.

 

Hello Mr. Boroski,

 

Cool right at Oscar time too! :) And the winner is.... Haha! Well I've only been on here for about 4 years myself, so I'm still catching up. But I remember posting something here singing the praises of my old Maurer (in fact that just might be the title of the thread "My Old Maurer"??) and I don't see how this thread got by me! ~~haha!

 

Yes, I REALLY love my Maurer, and want one of the later models with the additional buckle trip switch, not that mine has ever given me a minute of trouble about losing loop or anything, but I just love this camera so much I decided that if possible I wanted to collect the different variants.

 

The engineering of the camera is a testament to straightforward simplicity at its best with the main drum type of drive mechanism. And talk about tough! The thing looks (and weighs!) as if it were hewn out of a single solid block of aluminum. It's thick walled body, and the simplicity of its drive mechanism (less all those intricate series of feed rollers) might explain why the Maurer (or mine anyway) is such a quiet camera for one catagorised as a MOS camera. But believe me with a thick blanket (and well oiled magazine gears) you CAN shoot sync sound scenes with this camera.

 

Anyway, as you can guess I am just smitten with the Maurer camera and would love to collect some other models/variants and other accessories (ie. I have a matte that is rounded, but I have also seen pictures of a squared hard matte on this camera that looked like a stock fixture in the pics).

 

All I can say is that if you want a camera that generally doesn't cost too much, and you see one on eBay, you can't go wrong in my humble opinion. Just better beat me to it!~~ Haha!

 

God bless!

JMK

[John King]

I have a Maurer but no mags.

 

If anyone has an extra mag they are willing to part with, please contact me.

 

Thanks.

 

Cheers,

Jean-Louis

 

Hello Mr. Seguin,

 

I'm not very knowledgeable about Bell & Howell D-series of 16mm cameras (although I own one, I do not own a 400ft mag for it) but just judging from the pics, the 400ft. magazines for the Bell & Howell D series of cameras LOOK like they would mount to the Maurer camera, as the Maurer uses the same central locking screw (between the "mouse ear" film compartments) as the Bell & Howell.

 

Now what I don't know, is whether or not this particular Bell& Howell magazine is gear driven (like the Maurer) or utilises a belt drive like the Mitchell cameras. I don't know the answer to this, but maybe someone who does will see my post and reply. I'll keep an eye out for some for you though as the odd film magazine comes on eBay from time to time.

 

Anyway, I hope this helps! God bless!

JMK

[John Sprung]

I can tell you about the 35mm Bell & Howell mags, very probably the 16's are the same. They're belt driven, no sprockets in the mag, felt light traps that open when you attach them to the camera.

 

 

 

 

-- J.S.

[Jean-Louis Seguin]

Thanks everyone about the B&H tip. I'll check this out.

I don't have the camera in front of me but I believe it is gear driven.

 

Cheers,

Jean-Louis

[Robert Doerr]

Hello,

 

Do know of anyone looking for a Maurer 05 Camera? My father has one from 1950's and also has a Maurer Model 10 16mm optical film recorder. He isn't sure what to do with it and is considering selling the camera and extra equipment. I think he also has some other gear from that same era since he was into that during the 40's and 50's. I'm going to try and get some pictures of everything but that may take some time since there is a lot there and most of it is still in the cases.

 

If anyone has suggestions on what the current values of the camera and film recorder may be please let me know. I'd certainly appreciate it! I can let my father know and see what he wants to do with it. If he decides to sell everything is there a good place to post it for sale other than ebay?

 

Thank You,

 

Robert

[Michael Cleveland]

Just acquired a nice Model 150 myself, with motor, mag, and the big finder, all working nicely. No lenses, but I have 100 or so C-mounts, including a few that aren't already on cameras, so fitting it won't be a problem. Impressive quality of construction. Don't know why it isn't as familiar as the Mitchells and Bell & Howell, but it's a beautifully made camera.

[Jean-Louis Seguin]

The movement is quite unique and not found on any other camera I believe.

 

Jean-Louis

Edited April 4, 2014 by Jean-Louis Seguin

[Kenneth deGruchy Jr]

Robert was wondering if you Dad sold his Maurer equipment especially the model 10 recorder in portable cases?

[Peter Ronick]

My father ran the entire engineering and manufacturing practices at JA Maurer in Long Island City in the 1960s and led the design, engineering, and manufacturing of the 16mm DAC that was on all the Apollo missions. For those who may not recall, there were at least 3 DACs on the lunar landing missions. One camera was in the command module, one in the LEM (Lunar Excursion Module), and one mounted behind the color television camera on the LRM (lunar rover vehicle). 

I had various summer jobs at Maurer. As a young teenager, my dad taught me mechanical drawing and so one of my summer jobs was as a draftsman creating mechanical drawings for the machinists also located in the same building. I was also a parts assembler of the 16mm DAC in the Clean Assembly Room, where I had to go through various chambers the remove dust and lint and finally don a clean suit before entering the assembly room. 

Maurer designed and manufactured all the 16mm DAC parts and assembled everything under one roof, including the optics, which were manually ground and polished just outside my father's office. I remember seeing all the polishing compounds, stones, forms, and various polishing wheels that this one man used to create all the lens. Amazing! The machine shop was also steps away from his office, where they created all the camera parts and mechanisms. 

My father was also responsible for training the astronauts how to use the cameras. Or maybe he trained the trainers. But I went to the Houston Space Center with him at the start of the Spacelab era (Apollo was still underway) and I got the red carpet treatment. I met the first Spacelab astronauts and was given a private tour of the LEM and Apollo Command Module simulators. These were all analog simulators with video cameras controlled by the astronauts inside the modules. The controls moved the camera along its X,Y, and Z axis' and the video displays filled the simulator windows, much like todays flight simulators. The simulated lunar surface model was a huge scaled down version of one of the landing sites. It must have been the size of a tennis court, and it too, moved. These simulators were side by side in a cavernous building. It was great flying them.    

Finally, because of my dad's position at Maurer, he received copies of all the 16mm film dailies that he brought home and we would watch in the basement before anyone in the world ever viewed them. Unfortunately, the dailies had to be returned to the company.

The camera is on display at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC.