Debrie Le Parvo 35 mm Movie camera 1930s Review and test

[Stanislav Schubert]

Hy, gays!

 

I with friends in Russia was tasted old France 35 mm movie camera, Andre Debrie Le Parvo model L, 1930s. First video- review in Russian and test to black and white film stock Svema M3-3.

 

[Tyler Purcell]

Very cool, thanks for posting!

[Dom Jaeger]

Beautiful cameras, I did some restoration on a Debrie Parvo Model L a few years back. They're possibly my favourite 35mm camera, the engineering is gorgeous.

 

I love the vintage "behind the scenes" footage you managed to dig up.. filming from on top of a shipping container as it gets winched up to get a crane shot for example, or the motorbike guy handcranking with one hand while steering with the other.. dangerous profession in those days!

 

[Stanislav Schubert]

Hi, i make video with Debrie Parvo camera on 35 mm film, you can see. English subtitles included! Enjoy!

 

[Timothy Fransky]

I love these cameras. The footage is always thrilling to watch, no matter if it was shot in the 1930s or yesterday.

[Simon Wyss]

The camera needs a service, the typical Parvo film weave (unsteadiness sideways). From a maintained and tuned Parvo come very steady images, L models are capable of equal steadiness to Mitchell or Arricam. The Parvo was also in use in Hollywood.

[Stanislav Schubert]

Video about manual film processing and tests.

 

[Timothy Fransky]

My big dream is to make a silent feature entirely on a 35mm camera from this era. The obvious choice is a B&H 2709, but this is also a perfect example of cutting edge tech from the golden era.

 

I love the B&W stock, but I don't suppose there's any reason you couldn't run colour stock in these cameras? I wonder what that would look like? The B&W is nearly magical. Maybe it's the flicker, maybe it's the natural light, but it looks like wizardry. I hope I'm not indulging in hyperbole, but for me this beats 4k any day. It draws my eye much more strongly into the picture. I wish I knew why that is.

 

I also agree that this particular camera needs service of some kind. It shouldn't leak that much light, nor weave quite so much. I bet it wouldn't take much to get it back to fighting form.

Edited September 6, 2018 by Timothy Fransky