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CJ
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, October 27, 2005 - 04:33 pm: | 
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Hello All,
If anybody's seen a book that came out in the last year or so (?) of Robert Capa--what is that camera he's using?
It appears to be a movie camera of some type, but I have no idea...perhaps it's some type of 'compact' 16mm camera?
-CJ |
Mark Pearce
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, October 27, 2005 - 06:06 pm: |
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I have pictures of Capa with Rolleiflex Automat, Contax II and IIa, and an early Nikon S. I've seen the movie camera shot, but I can't ID the hardware.
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Glenn Middleton
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, October 27, 2005 - 08:40 pm: |
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I assume you mean the American Edition of 'Blood and Champagne'.It could be a Victor Model 3 or an Arrow Model 50,both 16mm of around 1934.Victor made later models that had a similar shape.Is there any indication in the American edition as to when the picture was taken?The UK paperback edition does not have that picture,but does have a picture of John Fernhout holding what could be a similar 16mm.The picture was taken in China in 1938 and shows J.F,Capa and three other standing infront/on a tank.
I only have pictures of the wind/motor side of both the Victors and the Arrow,cannot find any loading door views.However by comparing Capa's head dimensions with the Victor 3 height and doing similar with known cameras he is holding,the measurements do indicate that it might be a Victor/Arrow type.
No doubt somebody will know exactly what a Victor 3/4 loading door looks like and can either confirm or rubbish this tentative submission |
CJ
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, October 28, 2005 - 01:24 am: |
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Mark and Glenn--
Yes; the unknown camera is what Capa appears to be shooting with on the US cover of Blood and Champagne. (If you do a search on Amazon.com, you'll be able to see a large image on the site)
Thank you both for the information and comments!
By the way: Did Capa shoot moving pictures--along with stills--as a matter of course? |
charlie
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, October 28, 2005 - 06:54 am: |
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Maybe a Bell & Howell? |
Glenn Middleton
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, October 28, 2005 - 03:07 pm: |
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CJ,
I have only recently purchased the UK edition of Capa's Biography.I have for years collected the published wartime pictures of the Frontline Photographers and was always under the impression that Capa, like many others was a purely stills man.I must admit that I do not think he used a movie camera as his 'earning tool'.That is why I mention J.Fernhout in my initial reply,perhaps he was a 'movie' man.I am now rapidly reading the book to see if equipment/consignments are mentioned,no such luck so far.The cover picture is not in the UK paperback edition and I do not know yet if a UK hardback was published in 2002.I have not done a search.
Do you know if there are any details given in the US book on date/location etc?My gut feeling is that the picture is from the late 1930's.This is only by comparing the large picture from the Amazon USA site with pictures I have of him in China 1938.Again I might be talking complete rubbish.
Just taken a break for a coffee and was looking in Capa's 'Slightly Out of Focus'.This is a new reprint with a forward by John Whelan,a biographer of Capa.J.W. writes that after Gerda Taro his lover, was crushed to death by a Loyalist tank west of Madrid.Capa, reluctant to return to the war that killed the woman he had hoped to marry, went to China in 1938.He spent six months with the Dutch filmmaker Joris Ivens,who was documenting the resistance to the Japanese invasion.
This raises an interesting thought;is the camera in question A Japanese Arrow that the Chinese had captured or just one of Ivens stock cameras? |
jmc56
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 31, 2005 - 01:40 am: |
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The camera Capa is pictured with (from 1938) was almost certainly a B&H made Eyemo 35MM movie camera which could run off about 100-110 feet of film. It was commonly in use in the 30s through the late 50s by Newsreel photographers and assorted others. I would assume Capa, given his reputation, would have at least given it a try -- obviously not a daily user. May also have been for Eyemo promotion which claimed it could equal the product of a hollywood studio camera. You can find google an image without much trouble. It was produced/used with both single lens and multilens turret (after 1929). Eyemos are still in use and highly regarded for what they are. Some sources say B&H 16 mm Filmo was closely modeled on Eyemo, according to one source, but I can track Filmo back to 1923 and Eyemo date appears to be 1926. They looked a lot alike, the Eyemo just larger. Eyemos are still in use, more or less stock and highly modified.
Eyemo would with standard load would run a bit more than a minute; 400 foot magazine a bit more than four minutes and a 1000 foot magazine about 10 minutes -- but both mags were awkward and the 1000 definitely required tripod. These add on magazines were fairly common in most professional cameras. You only got a bit more than 20 seconds a wind so it's not as if you just stood there and let it roll.
The use of 16mm for news started before the Korean War but did not did not really start until the late 50s, I believe 1958, when networks started using it with sound on film for news programs and was common by 1960. It continued through the time professional portable videotape gear came around.
By the 1960s, Eyemos were scarce, but I ran into one old reprobate (he'd covered the attack on Shanghai in 1937) in 1963. He'd shoot the roll, then pull out a changing bag to reload and stash the first roll.
The network (and other television) news crews of the 50s and 60s used Auricon Sound Conversions and occasionally you'd see an Arriflex conversion (referring to the magazine that mounted on top of the Auricon, on the back of the Eyemo. Those working without sound tended to work with the Bolex although a few had Beaulieus. |
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