The Cine Kodak Camera

The Cine Kodak camera. Eastman Kodak Company. Handturned cine camera for 16mm film. Kodak Anastigmat f3.5-16 lens, aperture controlled from camera rear, No 104. Helical focusing, lever operated from rear. Direct vision optical finder, with inverted image, parallax compensated when focusing is adjusted. Rotating footage counter geared to mechanism. Claw and single sprocket drive. 50 foot and 100 foot capacity. Spring flap lens cover. Hand crank, two turns per second. No 500 - perhaps the first production specimen.

The Ciné-Kodak was the first 16mm camera, introduced in 1923 by the Eastman Kodak Company, intended to be used for home movie making. It was solidly made with a diecast metal body and capacity for 100 feet of film, enough for four minutes. The camera was hand turned, although a motor drive unit was available. The Cine-Kodak outfits - camera, tripod, projector, splicer and screen - sold in America for $335. The apparatus was not cheap, but the running costs were very much lower than other systems, 16mm film cost about one fifth of the cost of equivalent 35mm film.