Clayton Tume
7-Jun-2002, 21:21
Hi all
I thought I'd post this for anyone wondering, what exactly is a Cirkut camera? J im's on the lookout for one and I know most people have never seen one and wonde r what the mystery is about them. Until you see one working in the flesh and see a contact print up to 6 feet long from one, they'll remain a mystery. But he's a few basics.
http://www.bigshotz.co.nz/images/melbacamera.gif
They were made for photographing groups, the first ones around 1904 and came in sizes for film of 5, 6, 8, 10 and 16 inches high by whatever length was required to photograph the group, 3 to 4 feet long seems to be average. They use a clock work motor to pull film and drive the camera around, the modern equivalent of a Cirkut is a Hulcherama. The 16 inch camera with long lens and full rotation can produce a neg up to 20 feet in length...this is one continuos and seemless image !
There's a small band of professionals still using these cameras today (myself in cluded), as we all know, nothing beats a large neg (except a bigger neg!)
No I don't have one for sale but they regularly turn up on ebay. There's some in fo on my website about them here (http://www.bigshotz.co.nz)
I thought I'd post this for anyone wondering, what exactly is a Cirkut camera? J im's on the lookout for one and I know most people have never seen one and wonde r what the mystery is about them. Until you see one working in the flesh and see a contact print up to 6 feet long from one, they'll remain a mystery. But he's a few basics.
http://www.bigshotz.co.nz/images/melbacamera.gif
They were made for photographing groups, the first ones around 1904 and came in sizes for film of 5, 6, 8, 10 and 16 inches high by whatever length was required to photograph the group, 3 to 4 feet long seems to be average. They use a clock work motor to pull film and drive the camera around, the modern equivalent of a Cirkut is a Hulcherama. The 16 inch camera with long lens and full rotation can produce a neg up to 20 feet in length...this is one continuos and seemless image !
There's a small band of professionals still using these cameras today (myself in cluded), as we all know, nothing beats a large neg (except a bigger neg!)
No I don't have one for sale but they regularly turn up on ebay. There's some in fo on my website about them here (http://www.bigshotz.co.nz)