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A new book about PROTOTYPES - movie cameras that never hit the market


Jurgen Lossau

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My little publishing house is preparing a new book called PROTOTYPE. Inside there are around 100 movie cameras that were never built. Super 8, Single-8, 16mm, 8mm. Ingenious designs that were too expensive to mass produce. Or were conceived too early. Or too late. Models that could take photos and filming movies. Intelligent design, opulent functions. Inventions between 1935 and 1980. A last look at these analog treasures before they are forgotten. Interviews with constructors and designers. This book is free for pre-ordering now. Today, technical books are only available in small print runs. That's why we work with pre-orders for this title, in order to be able to estimate the exact print run. Distribution currently only online and not through bookstores. Here you will find more information: https://www.mysuper8.net/shop/prototype---100-unknown-movie-cameras/

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Edited by Jurgen Lossau
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I was always fascinated by the 12-perf 35mm horizontal movement camera prototype built (in the 1990s?) to create 2.40 images with 65mm quality (8-perf VistaVision has a 1.50 : 1 aspect ratio so had to be cropped to get 2.40).

But it never got off the ground for various reasons, one of them being the surrounding post infrastructure needed for telecine transfers, etc.  The idea is similar to what Fred Waller was working on to replace 3-camera Cinerama when he died in 1954, except he was also trying to use a curved film gate as well.

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On 2/27/2022 at 5:10 PM, David Mullen ASC said:

I was always fascinated by the 12-perf 35mm horizontal movement camera prototype built (in the 1990s?) to create 2.40 images with 65mm quality (8-perf VistaVision has a 1.50 : 1 aspect ratio so had to be cropped to get 2.40).

But it never got off the ground for various reasons, one of them being the surrounding post infrastructure needed for telecine transfers, etc.  The idea is similar to what Fred Waller was working on to replace 3-camera Cinerama when he died in 1954, except he was also trying to use a curved film gate as well.

Well, David, lets put this 35mm example in the next book, for now I have more than enough to do with 16mm, Super 8, Single-8 and 8mm;). Thanks for the pre-orders so far. Here are the brand names from the book:

Agfa 3x 8mm, 8x Super 8

Arri Super 8

Bauer 5x Super 8

Beaulieu 2x Super 8

Bolex Super 8

Bolsey (8mm)

Braun Nizo 2x 8mm, 10x Super 8

Canon Super 8

Chinon Super 8

Eumig 15x Super 8

Fujica (5x Single-8)

Gakken (Single-8)

GOMZ (Super 8, 16mm)

Kodak 16mm, 2x Super 8

Leitz Leicina (12x 8mm)

Logmar Super 8

Meopta (8mm)

Nikon 8mm, Super 8

Rollei 8mm, 16mm, Super 8

Saraber Finetta Super 8

Silma Super 8

Suchanek (8mm)

Victor (2x 16mm) 

Zeiss Ikon (16mm) 

and others

Edited by Jurgen Lossau
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Here is the final list of models:
7x Agfa 8mm, Super 8

1x Arri DS8

8x Bauer 8mm, Super 8

4x Beaulieu Super 8

1x Bilora 8mm

3x Bolex Super 8 Sound

6x Bolsey 8mm, 16mm

1x Canon Super 8

16x Eumig Super 8, Super 8 Sound

13x Fujica Single-8

14x Kodak Super 8

14x Leicina 8mm, Super 8

5x Logmar Super 8

26x Meopta 8mm, Super 8

3x Nikon 8mm, Super 8

22x Braun Nizo 8mm, Super 8, Super 8 Sound

10x Rollei, 8mm, Super 8, 16mm

3x Victor 8mm, 16mm

1x Zeiss Ikon 16mm


158 prototypes in total

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Thanks for the nice comments about my new book. Here are some examples:

"An extremely well done book. Absolute highlight of this book is clearly the chapter about Meopta, which is also the most comprehensive chapter!"

Martin Rowek, Projectionist Forum

 

"A really great book. Impressive what so many companies have planned and then often not implemented. The chapter about Albrecht Graf Goertz, the creator of one of the most beautiful cars in the world (BMW 507), thrilled me. He also designed Fujicas! Also very impressive what Leica created for the showcase for 25 years."

Helge L., Projectionist Forum

 

"Thank you very much for this work, a wonderful book!"

Film Mechanic, Projectionist Forum

 

"What a treat! Am only on the Arri chapter, but already deeply immersed."

F. Wachsmuth, Projectionist Forum

 

"Am also completely enthralled! Thank you for the wonderful book and for the immense work that went into it."

Mamingu, Projectionist Forum

 

"Very many beautiful illustrations of the cameras. And what I also really like: the cheerful, smug tone in the headlines and articles. Anyway, it reads very easily – just also because of the casual remarks."

Regular 8, Projectionist Forum

 

"It's beautiful!"

David Sekanina, Cinematography.com

 

"Well done, excellent work!"

Lee Mannering, 8mm Forum

 

"Highly recommended!"

Maurizio di Cintio, Super 8 Group, Facebook

 

„Fabulous Monday! When I got home for dinner and saw that Jürgen Lossau's latest book had arrived: a clever treatise on 158!!! prototypes of Super 8 and 16mm cameras. A first look reveals amazing things, like Marcel Beaulieu's photography with a prototype for Double Super 8 or an Eumig with motorized but not automatic focus and stereo sound. Exceptional volume, highly recommended, a MUST for any Super-8 creative!“

Ignacio Benedeti Corzo, Super 8mm, Facebook

 

“Anything put out by Jürgen Lossau is top notch!”

Shane C. Collins, Super 8mm, Facebook

 

“This is an excellent book. I finally see the developments of other designers. Very interesting. Now I'd like to know even more about the designer of the Auto-Carena.”

Shigeo Mizukawa, camera designer for FujiFilm, Japan

 

“All the other books of Jürgen Lossau are fabulous, I will get this one also.”

Hyker Richard LaRiviere, Cine Camera Collectors, Facebook

 

“An avid photo fair-goer, Lossau is also the author of many books and editor of a Super 8 magazine. It's great to see that film camera manufacturers have been working on new models until recently. Jürgen has documented quite a bit.”

André Hagers, Vereniging Fotografica, Netherlands

 

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7 hours ago, Uli Meyer said:

Hallo Jürgen,

 

Meine Kopie wurde am 30.11 geschickt, ist aber nie angekommen. Die email ist "noreply", wie kann ich in Kontakt kommen?

Aufgrund des Poststreiks ist die Briefpost momentan besonders in London derzeit sehr unregelmäßig (z.B brauchen meine Geschäftsbriefe mindestens 7-10 Tagen, um anzukommen). Kein Tracking ist ein bißchen Risiko.

 

Edited by Mark Dunn
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13 minutes ago, Mark Dunn said:

Aufgrund des Poststreiks ist die Briefpost momentan besonders in London derzeit sehr unregelmäßig (z.B brauchen meine Geschäftsbriefe mindestens 7-10 Tagen, um anzukommen). Kein Tracking ist ein bißchen Risiko.

 

Wie du oben erwähnt hast, ist das Buch bei dir schon angekommen, deshalb meine Frage.
Your German is very impressive, Mark!

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17 hours ago, Uli Meyer said:


Your German is very impressive, Mark!

Eindrucksvoll?- wie nett- aber Google is ein gutes Hilfsmittel. Leider haben wir seit 2019 wenig gelegenheit außer Online es zu sprechen.

Edited by Mark Dunn
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