Skip to main content Smithsonian Institution

Catalog Data

Maker:
Kalmus, Comstock and Westcott  Search this
Physical Description:
metal (overall material)
glass (overall material)
Object Name:
Movie Camera
Place made:
United States: Massachusetts, Boston
Date made:
1916-1917
Description:
First Technicolor 2-Color Additive System motion picture camera. Invented and built by Kalmus, Comstock, and Wescott, Inc. for Technicolor photography of two-color component images simultaneously from the same point of view. These exposures were made by means of a beam-splitting prism having two color (red and green) separation filters. From this negative a black and white print was processed and projected through special lenses and filters to form the additive color picture on the screen. This camera was used to photograph the first Technicolor additive system feature film, "The Gulf Between", in 1917-1918. This technology was abandoned because it required projectionists to skillfully monitor the strip synchronization. Most projectionists were untrained, resulting in screenings with "the most glaring color fringes anyone had ever seen", according to Dr. Herbert T. Kalmus.
Subject:
Entertainment, Film  Search this
Invention  Search this
Motion Pictures  Search this
Credit Line:
Gift of Technicolor Corporation of America
ID Number:
PG.66.074
Catalog number:
66.074
Accession number:
265913
See more items in:
Work and Industry: Photographic History
Movie Collection
Data Source:
National Museum of American History
GUID:
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a1-31f9-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:nmah_335045