American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1959)

Motion Picture Cameras Part VI ALRICOIM PRO -600 Simplicity and versatility of this sturdy but light¬ weight single-system 1 6mm sound camera makes it ideal for in-plant industrial film production as well as television newsreel filming. The auricon pro-600 16mm single¬ system sound camera, with its practical 600-foot film capacity, was designed to meet the needs of the professional cinematographer for whom the Auricon Cine-Voice (described in American Cinematographer for August) is too limited in film capacity or for whom the larger Auricon Pro1200 is beyond the available budget. The Pro-600 provides up to I6I/2 minutes of sound-and-picture recording at the standard s.o.f. speed of 24 f.p.s. This capacity is adequate for a wide range of technical, industrial and TV station film production needs. Like the Cine-Voice camera, the Pro-600 re¬ cords sound and picture simultaneously on the same strip of film. It may also be had without sound components for use as a silent camera or for double¬ system sound-film production. The Pro-600 was originally con¬ ceived as a 400-foot CineVoice cam¬ era. But while it was still on the draw¬ ing board, the burgeoning television industry indicated an increasing need for a rugged, lightweight single-system DATA AURICON PRO-600 16mm Single-System Sound Camera Film Capacity: 600 feet. Type Drive: 115-V, 50 or 60-Cy., AC synchronous motor. Also operable on converted battery power. Separate torque motor drives film takeup. Shutter: Rotary disc, with 173° opening, givesl/50 sec. exposure at 24 f.p.s. Focusing; Manual with lens footage scale. Critical ground glass focusing provided on lens turret installa¬ tions. Viewing: Three types of finders available — one offering parallax adjustment — provide for mattes to match field of lenses used. On cameras with turret installations, a Tele-finder system is in¬ cluded. Lenses: Takes C-mount lenses — others with appropriate adapters. Optional lens turret is non-divergent, accommodates three lenses. Sound System: Choice of three types of galvanometers for variable area or variable density recording. Installation for magnetic recording also avail able. Amplifier-mixer unit and batteries for sound system contained in separate case. THE SELF-BLIMPED Pro-600 equipped with Auto-Paral¬ lax viewfinder, 3-lens turret, and lens-and-turret blimping hood. The 600-ft. film magazines are standard equipment. sound camera for newsreel photography that would load more than a couple hundred feet of film. Berndt-Bach en¬ gineers revamped their plans for the camera, scrapped the 400-foot maga¬ zine in favor of one holding 600 feet of film, and added several additional features such as ground glass focusing and a camera heating unit. The im¬ proved Pro-600 was introduced in April, 1955. Today, the Pro-6(X)’s basic features are still its salient ones. These include: soundproof case for completely quiet studio operation ; exclusive Electromatic film take-up ; synchronous motor drive; critical ground glass focusing (for 3-lens turret installations) ; and pushbutton on.off switch coupled with safety interlocked film How mechanism. The shutter is of the rotating disc type, with a 173° opening that gives an exposure of l/fiOth sec. at 24 f.p.s. A choice of three finder doors is offered which provides unique flexibil¬ ity in selecting and using any one of three view finders available for the Pro-600 camera. One type mounts the Auricon Auto-parallax finder, another the standard Auricon finder, and the third, an interlock zoom-type finder de¬ signed for use with zoom lenses. c In addition there is a Tele-finder optical system which affords a 10-times magnified view of scene when shooting 688 AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER