Animation camera

An animation camera manufactured by Crass, Berlin, in 1957.

An animation camera, a type of rostrum camera, is a movie camera specially adapted for frame-by-frame shooting animation or stop motion. It consists of a camera body with lens and film magazines, a stand that allows the camera to be raised and lowered, and a table, often with both top and underneath lighting. The artwork to be photographed is placed on this table.

Since most animation is now produced digitally, new animation cameras are not widely manufactured. Video cameras and scanners have taken their place.

Examples of animation cameras

A partial list of manufacturers of animation cameras includes:

• Acme Tool and Manufacturing (USA)^[1]
• Crass (Germany)
• Neilson-Hordell (UK)
• Oxberry (USA)
• Double M Industries (USA)
• A.I.A. Productions (USA)

The Bell & Howell 2709 (Design 27, first made in 1909) is the prototype of the Acme, and the Acme is the prototype of the Oxberry. Each employs a fixed pin and “shuttle” movement mechanism for film registration and film advancement, respectively. Other names associated with Acme were Producer’s Service Corporation and Photo-Sonics.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article “Animation camera“.