Page 8 - RD_2022-09

Eventually, Capstaff's experiments produced a very surprising result. The extremely fine grain of
his new process would allow a very small reversal image to be made and still retain excellent
quality. The Kodak technicians decided that an image one sixth the size of the standard 35mm
image was possible. This would give a picture of 10m x 7.5mm. plus 3mm each side for the
sprocket hole area, a total width of 16mm with 40 pictures (frames) to every foot of film. And the
rest is history …

To be continued as A Century of 16mm Film – a Celebration in the next issue of RD.

Footnotes: “Just Like a Bought One II”, Reel Deals September 2022

1: Following my request for information on the unusual camera used to film Charles Chauvel's
Rats of Tobruk, Melbourne Film Maker David Sutton sent me a wealth of information from
International Photographer (no date) on "The 35mm Fox Studio Camera". Designed in the 1930s
this unique camera used the rotating rack over system that impressed me so much. Only 16
cameras were made, exclusively for the 20th Century Fox Studios and they were regarded as the
finest motion picture cameras of the era and shot many CinemaScope productions from The Robe
onwards. Fourteen Fox cameras were made by Cine Simplex, the camera section of the famous
Simplex Projector Corporation of New York. Well, now we know where the design came from,
but I'm still looking for information on the unique Australian camera. Thanks David for your
contribution.

2: There is further news on the Rats
of Tobruk camera with the rotary
rack-over illustrated in Just Like A
Bought One II. Yes, it was a "home
made" camera in the sense that it was
designed and built in Australia by our
master cinematographer, the late
George Heath. George did
outstanding work on many Australian
feature films from the 1930s until the
early 60s. From the 1940s on George
used his unique camera for most of
his work, including Rats of Tobruk,
Smithy, Bush Christmas, Eureka
Stockade, Bitter Springs, Wherever Charles Chauvel with the "homemade" 35mm
She Goes and many other camera referred to here.
productions. It was an invention of necessity. The outbreak of World War II had resulted in a
desperate shortage of motion picture equipment in Australia. So George Heath set about
designing and building his own 35mm camera. The result was the unique rotary rack-over (or the
"flop-over" camera as it was known in the local industry) that had impressed me so much when
I saw the production still from Rats of Torbruk. The camera was built in Sydney with the
assistance of optical expert and engineer, Ted Esdaile, and cinema engineers, Harmour and
Heath, another family connection to our cinema history - and another grand example of Aussie
ingenuity. I am deeply indebted to Australian filmmaker Roland Beckett and members of the
Tucitala Club for the above information. Kev Franzi

8 REEL DEALS December 2022