Debrie Le Parvo 35mm Camera Mechanism

Debrie Le Parvo 35mm camera mechanism mounted on wooden plinth. This was made for display purposes. Établissements André Debrie.

The Debrie Parvo was developed by Joseph Jules Debrie, built by his son Andre Debrie and was a relatively compact camera for the time. The internal magazines were held side by side, with the film fed from the magazine through the gate to a take up magazine through two skewed loops. The Parvo held approximately 400 feet of film inside without the need for an external film magazine, allowing for nearly 6 minutes of film at the standard 16 frames per second silent film rate. It allowed the camera operator to focus the camera lens but had a side optical viewfinder to be used during filming. It was hand-cranked and from 1922 onwards was produced with a metal body.