Type of film camera used on TOS?
- Thread starter dcsmokey
- Start date
If you've got any episodes on tape or DVD, simply check the closing credits. Camera-makers are almost always credited.
Edited to say: I just checked, and it doesn't say in the credits, which means that the cameras weren't leased/rented from an outside vendor. They most likely used whatever Desilu had lying around, including a number of older Mitchell 35mm BNC cameras. IIRC Desilu had a deal with Panavision sometime in the early 60s. So the probable answer is Panavisions, amongst many others.
Edited to say: I just checked, and it doesn't say in the credits, which means that the cameras weren't leased/rented from an outside vendor. They most likely used whatever Desilu had lying around, including a number of older Mitchell 35mm BNC cameras. IIRC Desilu had a deal with Panavision sometime in the early 60s. So the probable answer is Panavisions, amongst many others.
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IIRC, you see the actual studio cameras used to film TOS in the episode "Bread and Circuses", and in the blooper reel featuring the mimed instrument-playing in "I, Mudd".
Nope, those studio cameras in "Bread and Circuses" were undeniably television cameras of the era (Probably on loan from NBC - see framegrab links below), while TOS was shot on 35mm film. Don't exactly remember the camera from the blooper reel, so can't comment on that.
http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/2x25/Bread_and_Circuses_138.JPG
http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/2x25/Bread_and_Circuses_154.JPG
http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/2x25/Bread_and_Circuses_138.JPG
http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/2x25/Bread_and_Circuses_154.JPG
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Well, in that shot the cast are miming dancing and playing instruments to confuse Mudd's androids, and they collide into a startled guy with a camera, who was taking his angle of their scene.
Guy with a camera? Not a mounted camera? If it was handheld, as it sounds to be, it might easily be one of the old Mitchells. There are Panavision handhelds, but they're huge and unwieldy by comparison. Not the sort of thing for weaving about trying to keep up with a group of dancers.
EDITED TO ADD: Just found the blooper in question, and though we don't get a real clear look at the camera itself, from the size alone I'm going to say it's a small Mitchell, or maybe even an Arriflex. Whatever it is, it's likely not a Panavision.
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I love the splash of orange on the back wall behind the anoouncer. Gels for everyone!
