Film Cameras in Movies

podcast: @mamiyamigos
instagram: @50_shades_of_jason
cameras: Kiev 4, Pentax 6x7 (67), Nikon F3t, Nikon F5, Leica M3, Graflex Speed Graphic 4x5, Canon F1, Nikon F,

0:00 intro
0:38 Spiderman
2:45 Walter Mitty
5:40 Harry Potter
8:32 Asteroid City
11:17 Jurassic park
13:57 Kong
15:51 Apocalypse Now
17:57 Oppenheimer
20:08 end

[grainydaysss]

Following up with some corrections that people have pointed out:

1. Its a canon new f-1 that tom is using in spoderman.
2. Kiev 4 is a contax copy, not leica
3. Leica m3 also had 90mm and 135mm framelines
4. The lens from walter mitty i suggested didnt exist yet, its likely a 400mm, or possibly the 200mm f2. Aperture still wouldnt work on the f3 though and im furious about it

[Jsoberon]

Finally, I'm so happy I'm not the only one that obsesses over figuring out ever camera I see in a film.

[Wyattoons]

Something I think is interesting about the Kong camera is the director basically said “this is your personal camera”. Brie was encouraged to actually use it as a camera and play with it rather than use it as just a prop. There’s a whole little album of the photos she shot while on the sets.

[Matt.Detroit]

Cracking open a flaming hot mountain dew and finding a dark corner to watch this in

[TheHatMusic]

Literally every single time. I pause the film, and get right up close to the screen to investigate. My wife loves it when I tell her all about the camera. She pretends that she doesn't, but I know she does really....

[Jsoberon]

Fun Fact: Upon getting the job as the on-set still photographer for Apocalypse Now, Chas Gerretsen upgraded his kit of Nikon Fs to F2s, then sold the Fs to the production so they were the cameras used but Dennis Hopper in the movie.

[VladisAnalogEscape]

The best and most accurate depiction of a film camera utilized in film/show was in the second season of The Crown (episode 4, "Beryl"). In the first scene of the episode, Antony Armstrong-Jones is shown photographing a wedding that Princess Margaret is attending, and he is using a Leica M3. What impressed me so much was that he correctly used a double-stroke film advance version, which was period-accurate for the year of the wedding. I LOVED that little detail, I am sure so few viewers caught onto it, but this nerd did. You never see the double stroke advance, but you hear it.

[magarity]

Hopper's character in Apocalypse Now has the 4 cameras because notice they all have different length lenses. He doesn't want to be bothered with swapping them. Maybe in the jungle environment he is worried about dirt or rain or whatever.

[revaaron]

The F5 shutter is so a quick *cha-kunk* and you can feel the camera torque to the side. It's insane.

[i]

9:18 That's indeed a Kiev 4a, which imitated the Contax IIa, not Leica.

[artistjoh]

Old time photographer here. I often had at least two cameras on me (both TLR and 35mm) mostly in order to have a couple of ISO choices on hand. Back in the 60's, using Speed Graphic's it was easy to have backs ready with both fast and slow film, but TLR and 35mm didn't have changeable backs, so required more than one camera to have fast and slow available at all times. It was a hangover from sheet film days, and even today I still do it with film.

[OdinMovies]

Nobody painted out the Nikon logo on the F3, it's clearly taped off on the front.

Also fun fact, the cameras Dennis Hopper has are actual Vietnam veterans, they were purchased from Chas Gerretsen who was a war photographer, and was connected to the production as an advisor

[TrilweB]

We need more of this. Next film: Ferrari by Michael Mann. So many scenes with press photographers who have clearly no idea what they’re doing. Looking at the back of their film cameras like it’s a phone.

[alessandrohuber]

The reason they carried several cameras while documenting combat zones is because it would take too much time to change a lens and switching a lens in the tropics causes the rear element to fog-up. The choice of most, during the Vietnam war was 2 slrs and a rangefinder, military reporters used leicaflex and the Leica m2s (the m2 was custom made for the us armed forces), AP used Nikons, Nikon was the only SLR at the time to have high shutter speeds, often these were also mounted remotely and fired with a cable release, another reason for carrying multiple cameras. More recently in Iraq and Vietnam reporters carried 2 DSLRs with 2 telephoto lenses. Love the video!

[TheTenderhooligan]

Fun (boring) fact: Dennis Hopper's character in Apocolypse Now is partly inspired by real life photojournalist Tim Page, who died recently. His autobiography 'Page After Page' is a fantastic read and a cool perspective on the Vietnam war from a photographer's POV - albeit an absolutely mental photographer who did all kinds of psychedelics and got shot/blown up several times and survived. IIRC he did carry several camera bodies in the field at once, usually at least a Nikon F and a Leica M3. There's a part in the book where he's on a US Navy patrol boat that gets strafed in a friendly fire incident - he ended up floating badly burned in the South China sea, and he laments in the book that his Leica got lost and sunk to the bottom of the ocean. Cool guy.

[Obfluss.S]

That’s a New F-1, the og F-1 cannot take that AE finder.

[mikestanavech]

The shutter sound of the F is 100% accurate.

[WhlsofFortune]

The lens they're using in Jurassic Park is the Nikon Nikkor 85mm 1.8d. One of my favorite lenses to use on my D700. Thanks for the fun video! 📸

[KelsomaticPDX]

I hope you do more of these! I always enjoying trying to ID cameras in movies and tv shows, so this was really fun. Your knowledge and dry commentary are perfect for this format 👏🏻

[peterfelipe]

The Kiev 4 is actually an exact copy of the Contax II made in the 30s. They were identical because the Contax/Ikon plant in Germany was relocated to Kiev after the Second World War as reparations.