The First Hand-holdable 35mm Motion
Picture Camera
by David W. Samuelson
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In the early 1900s, long before the first world
war, the Admirals of His Majesty's Royal Navy had a bright idea: "Why
not send 'one of the men' up in a (hydrogen filled) gas balloon
to use one those newfangled animated picture cameras to take
pictures of the German fleet and then we (the Admirals) can all
sit and see it together in the board room."
The early results were not entirely successful.
In the first place the balloon basket chose its own direction
in which to face depending upon which way the wind was blowing,
making it difficult to keep the hand cranked camera which was
attached firmly to a stand pointing constantly at the enemy ships.
Secondly, just at a crucial moment the camera would run out of
film and reloading the film took too long. By the time the camera
was reloaded and was cranking again it could be far downwind
of the target.
MOY AND BASTIE
To overcome these problems the Lords of the
Admiralty consulted two British camera engineers, Ernest Francis
Moy and Percy Henry Bastie of E.F. Moy and Co., long time suppliers
of electrical and engineering equipment to the Royal Navy.
Messers Moy and Bastie set about designing
what became known as the 'Moy Aerial Camera.'
Their answer to the problem of camera orientation
was to hand-hold the camera and to use two cameramen -- one to
hold and aim the camera, and the other to crank it via a flexible
drive shaft at the required steady rate of 16 frames per second.
To make the camera quicker and easier to reload
they invented an interchangeable, internal displacement type
film magazine. The new magazine had two film orifices -- one
for the unexposed film to pass out through and the other for
the exposed film to return through. This made it possible to
have a pre-formed loop which could easily be threaded through
the gate of the camera and to pre-attach the film to the take-up
spool without having to fiddle about with it while airborne.
PATENT NO. 3798
On February 19, 1908, Messers Moy and Bastie
lodged Patent No. 3798 of A.D. 1908 (still available from the
British Patent Office, Price £3.00 which claimed:
"Our invention consists of improvements in
cameras for taking photographs in cinematograph films. Our objects
are to provide a better method of carrying the sensitised [sic]
film so as to enable a new roll of film to be more rapidly placed
in the camera after one roll has been exposed, to reduce the
dimensions of the camera without reducing its capacity and to
provide a ready means of operating the mechanism without the
necessity of fixing the camera.
"In carrying our invention into effect we use
one dark box instead of the two mentioned above and we provide
this dark box with two slots and two spindles, one loose spindle
on which the unexposed film is wound and the other spindle provided
with means for engaging with the mechanism so that it can be
driven and adapted to receive the film after it has been exposed.
By mounting the two spindles in one box we are able to make the
said box of much smaller dimensions for dealing with a given
length of film than the combined dimensions of the two boxes
hitherto employed as the space occupied by the film while it
is on the first spindle and before it is exposed can be partly
re-occupied by the film after it has been exposed and has been
rewound on the driven spindle. Further we are able to simplify
the process of threading the film through the mechanism in the
camera as the outside or leading end of the film is attached
to the driven spindle in the dark room before the box is placed
in the camera.
"To enable the camera to be used without being
fixed on a stand we use a flexible shaft to drive the mechanism.
The flexible shaft is constructed in the usual well known manner
consisting of two parts, an inner rotating flexible core and
an outer stationary tube. At the camera end, the rotating shaft
is attached to the driving spindle of the mechanism and the outer
tube is fixed to the camera case. At the other or operating end,
the rotating shaft is fitted with a crank handle and the outer
tube is attached to a bearing arranged as a handle to be gripped
by the operator with one hand while he turns the crank handle
with the other hand.
"This method of driving enables the camera
to be used in difficult positions and by employing two operators,
one to turn the mechanism and the other to direct the camera,
views may be taken which are impossible of access to the ordinary
stand camera.
"To enable the operator who is directing the
camera to have full control of the apparatus the flexible shaft
is connected to the mechanism by means of a suitable clutch so
that although the flexible shaft may be rotated continuously
the operator can start and stop the mechanism at will."
In 1911 they further developed the camera by
adding an internal variable speed electric motor and a stabilizing
system.
PATENT NO. 23,505
Patent 23,505 of A.D. 1911 claims:
"Our [latest] invention consists of improvements
in cameras for taking photographs on cinematograph films and
consists essentially of a camera to be used for the taking such
films by hand, that is, without the use of a camera stand.
"It is necessary that a camera of this description
should be constructed in such a manner that the vibrations set
up by the mechanism and also the nervous movements of the operator
should be controlled by some independent force in order to prevent
jerky movements in the picture when it is ultimately projected
upon the screen. It is also necessary that the camera should
be of small dimensions and that it should be provided with suitable
handles, view finding arrangements and controlling mechanism
so that it can be grasped in the hands of the operator and effectively
controlled while the pictures are being taken. Such a camera
cannot satisfactorily be driven by hand.
"In carrying our invention into effect we employ
electricity as the driving power for the camera, we also employ
a gyroscope electrically driven for controlling the stability
of the camera and to counteract the vibrations set up by the
mechanism and also to control the nervous movements of the operator.
"The gyroscope is driven by and forms part
of a separate motor of special construction and it is not geared
up in any manner except electrically with the actual film moving
mechanism. It should be of massive construction and its weight
should bear quite a considerable proportion to the total weight
of the camera."
INTERNAL MOTOR
Not only was it the first electrically driven
camera (other than Edison's original 'prototype'), but it was
the first 35mm camera to have an internal electric motor until
the coming of the Panavision Panaflex and the Arri 35BL cameras
in the early 1970s, some sixty years later. All other 35mm cameras
had motors that were attached outside the camera body.
Also, when one realizes that the object of
the exercise was to take film while flying beneath a hydrogen
filled balloon above the muzzles of the enemy guns, it was not
surprising that there were considerable 'nervous movements' of
the camera operator that needed to be overcome.
PATENT NO. 23,505
Patent No. 23,505 of A.D. 1911 goes on to claim:
"The electric power required for driving both
the camera and the gyroscope may be driven from a portable battery
of either primary or secondary cells carried separately from
the camera and connected to same as well by means of a flexible
cable. A suitable plug socket not shown in the drawings is fitted
to the camera case to allow the electrical connection to be established
quickly when required. In some circumstances the battery box
can be used by the operator with advantage as a stool upon which
to stand while taking the subject." Camera crews have been using
battery cases as 'portable stools' ever since.
As if all of this was not enough, the camera
was the first to incorporate a mirror reflex system.
In those days filmstock did not have an 'anti-halo'
backing as they do today and only had a light yellow emulsion
on the one side, making it possible to use the film as sort of
a ground glass for accurate camera alignment and focusing purposes.
The Moy Aerial camera had a dual type viewing
system. For normal shooting, the camera had a matched 'view finder'
lens close alongside the taking lens with a viewing system behind
it which enabled the cameraman to hug the camera to his body
for maximum steadiness and look down into the viewfinder in the
manner of a box Brownie. (See photo of author, next page.)
For camera alignment and focusing, the camera
had a small lever on the side which would flick two mirrors into
position which enabled the cameraman then to view the image through
the back of the film.
PATENT 22,985
Patent 22,985 of A.D. 1911 claimed:
"The two mirrors e and f [See Figures 1 & 2,
previous page] are carried on hinges at g and h respectively
and are connected together by the link i, so that they are always
moved together. This movement is controlled by the lever j and
the connect links k, or other similar mechanism. The mirror m
is fixed at a suitable angle to reflect the picture from the
mirror f when focussing [sic] or to reflect the picture which
is shown on the ground glass screen p by the lens b when using
the view finder."
A COLLECTOR'S ITEM
This camera can truly claim to be:
- The first hand-holdable camera
- The first electrically driven 'production' camera and the
only one for 60 years to have the motor placed internally.
- The first camera to have internal displacement type film
magazines with a pre-formed loop.
- The first stabilized camera.
- The first mirror reflex camera.
I know the current whereabouts of four of these
cameras, all in pristine condition: Joe Dunton, the current owner
and successor of E.F. Moy Ltd. has one; John Farrand, the CEO
of Panavision has one on show in his office; Dick Barlow also
has one in Hollywood; and there is one in the Samuelson Collection
of Veteran Cameras (given to me by Harold Bastie) now on display
at the Museum of the Moving Image (MOMI) in London.
© 1996 D.W. Samuelson.
Samuelson is a frequent contributor to
this magazine and a walking encyclopedia of filmmaking knowledge.
He shared the SOC's 1995 Technical Achievement Award honoring
the Louma Crane.
An article on MOMI appeared in the Spring/Summer
1996 issue of The Operating Cameraman magazine.
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