Jump to content

Hand Cranked Camera


John Rizzo

Recommended Posts

  • Premium Member

I'm not familiar with the rental options in your neck of the woods, but there are plenty of cameras that can be hand-cranked or modified for it.

 

Old Mitchells like the NC or GC have both 1:1 and 8:1 shafts for hand-cranking which you might still find in working order (we have an NC with a hand-crank, only goes out as a prop these days, but still works fine.) Eyemos can be easily set up for hand-cranking, plus many older studio cameras like Bell & Howell 2709s or Debrie Parvos. They were so well built many of them still function, but finding them might be tricky.

 

Arri 2Cs and 35-3s can be modified for hand-cranking, which certain rental houses may still carry. (I believe Clairmont have a hand-crank 2C as well as some hand-cranked 16SRs.) You can also use a 435 with an Arri hand-crank accessory:

http://www.arri.com/pro_camera_accessories_legacy/electronic_accessories/hand_crank_hc_1.html

 

With 16mm you could easily set up a Bolex for hand-cranking (although it helps to have a longer crank handle made rather than use the tiny Bolex rewind one), or any number of other old wind-up cameras - Cine-Kodak Specials, Filmos, Pathe Webos, etc. For a higher end option some SRs have been modified (as mentioned, try Clairmont).

 

Most hand-crank gears use an 8:1 ratio, so achieving the old silent frame rate of 16 fps is easy enough with 2 turns per second, but getting up to 24 fps is pretty hard work!

Edited by Dom Jaeger
Link to comment
Share on other sites

What sort of frame rates are required? If you are looking for low frame rates with beautiful smeared images could you just glue a crank to the inching knob of an arri 2 and try it? I had, still have, a Cinefelx 35, an American, almost copy of an Arri II from WWII when copright was not an issue. The side mount for the motor allows a crank possibility. My pet bucket list project involves dragging this camera on weells, like a Buzzy Bee toy, with the wheels driving the camera movement

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Premium Member

 

It is possible, and people are doing it!

 

Apart from some high profile examples like Tony Scott's "Man on Fire" and "Domino" (where they used a modified Arri 2C) there are quite a few indy projects that have used hand-cranked cameras.

 

Some links:

http://motion.kodak.com/motion/uploadedFiles/fooFighters.pdf

http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/features/joys-analogue

http://provideocoalition.com/awilt/story/photos_the_bell_amp_howell_2709_and_the_canyon/

 

That last one is from Pro Video Coalition's Adam Wilt, documenting a shoot utilising a Bell & Howell 2709, including lots of great photos of the camera set-up.

 

This interview with Tony Scott and Dan Mindel after the release of "Domino" goes into some interesting detail about their hand-cranking exploits:

http://www.creativeplanetnetwork.com/digital-cinematography/news/dan-mindel-shoots-domino/6737

 

There are even cinematographers like John Adderley who have made a speciality of shooting on old wooden hand-crank cameras:

http://www.adderley.net/

 

Old timey filmmaking is alive and well!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...