de Bedts cine camera

Early kinetograph camera, designed by G.T. de Bedts, (with two lenses by Darlot) 1896

In 1893, George William de Bedts opened a shop, the 'Anglo-American Photo-Import Office', at 368 rue Saint-Honoré, Paris, where he had the exclusive French concession for film and photographic equipment manufactured by the European Blair Camera Company (London). From 1895 de Bedts stocked rolls of high speed film in his shop. He had business dealings with Georges Demeny and Leon Gaumont.

In 1895 he developed a camera for perforated 35 mm films which doubled as a projector. This machine, the Chronos (later Kinetograph), alarmed Louis Lumière in November 1895 - he was concerned about a possible rival that would upstage the Cinématographe before its first public show - but it was not in fact marketed until 1896; the first camera/projector sold in France.