I know this thread is a few years old now but thought I would chime in. I was never a huge film camera guru but we owned an UltraCam and a set of their UltraNon primes. I've never used Panavision so I can't compare to those--we just had the UltraCam35 plus a few Arri 16mm and 35mm packages for local films and commercials. The UltraNon lenses were just Zeiss glass with an extra ring on the mount so the UltraCam would accept PL lenses but the UltraNon lenses would not fit other PL mount cameras. The late Martin Hill bought the full camera inventory and spare parts from Leonetti rentals (or perhaps there was another middleman in the process) and had them all at his place in NC. He had quite a collection of cameras (and guns) including rare cameras like a Mitchell that was used on "Gone with the Wind". We bought a full UltraCam package from Martin (who was a truly fascinating guy!) We had the pick of the litter and ended up with a SN that was supposedly most used by Leonetti and most reliable from the 15 or so that were made. I seem to recall it was perhaps one of the middle serial numbers in the run. Again, I don't have years of experience to compare, but it seemed to work well and we never had jamming issues. It was fun to have this a piece of Hollywood history and put it to work for a few years. We sold the package as 35mm projects were just starting to decline a bit in favor of video.
I ended up on this thread today because I found a complete rotating mirror assembly for our UltraCam in a little metal box (so ours never had a lens hit the mirror!). I hate to just chunk it in a dumpster so if anyone ends up with an UltraCam and wants an extra mirror, contact me and I'll happily send it on. (ACS Sound and Lighting, West Columbia, SC).
I know I have some pics around of our camera and a few from Martin. I remember one that showed two UltraCams set up side-by-side--I seem to recall being told this was the set of Commando (I could be wrong?). I'll add pics to the thread sometime when I find them.
Dave. S.
