Chris Dodkin
West Coast Correspondent
Here's the what...
...which is a Bell & Howell Director 414 PD (The shot above is my personal camera)
And the who is...
...Abraham Zapruder - a bystander in Dallas on Nov 22nd 1963 - who just happened to be filming John F Kennedy as he passed-by in his open top limousine.
The 8mm film that Zapruder took, is probably the single most iconic amateur movie footage of the 20th Century. Just 26.6 seconds of Kodachrome II, but 26.6 second which happened to capture the most complete record of the assassination.
It's amazing that, as the standard 8mm film format was reaching the end of it's lifetime - (replaced just 2 years later by the new Super 8 standard), the format that had been around since 1932 recorded this iconic '60s event.
Zapruder's Bell & Howell 414 PD was an advanced (and expensive) camera for it's day - released in 1962, it had many modern features that you'd expect to see on camcorders today.
It had a fast zoom lens, and on the 414 PD, the zoom was powered as well - meaning that the photographer could zoom in and out at the touch of a button whilst filming.
The 'power zoom' was driven by clockwork though - still no AA batteries in this camera! You had a zoom-in and a zoom-out button on the top of the camera, and as long as you were wound-up and filming, the zoom would power in and out at the command of these two buttons. Not only that, but the viewfinder image would zoom as well!
When Zapruder shot his film of JFK, he had the zoom all the way in - he was standing on a low concrete wall near the infamous grassy knoll, and used this location as a vantage point to catch the motorcade as it turned towards him, and passed directly in front of his position.
If you look closely at this polaroid image, taken from the other side of the street, you can just make out Zapruder, and his secretary, standing on the wall towards the top right of the frame.
The 414 PD also had advanced fully automatic exposure, a relatively new feature on 8mm cameras at that time - using a pair of light sensors to provide both general field exposure, and a more specific spot exposure, for increased accuracy.
No more manual aperture setting - the camera did this for you, and even had a 'beacon lamp' in the viewfinder to warn you of low light levels, and potential under exposure.
Despite all of this 'high tech', the basic camera was still clockwork and low tech - with a nice hand crank to wind it up before filming.
The crank pops out of the side of the camera, and has a nice grip on the end for winding.
As you wind away, there's a small progress window which shows the 'power' stored in camera, as a red bar - eventually showing 'Full Wind' when it was at max.
The film could then be run through at single frame, normal speed, or slow motion (high speed) - If only Zapruder had filmed the infamous sequence in slow motion...
Film stock was standard 8mm reels. A single 25ft reel gives you 50ft of eventual footage, as the film is flipped over half way through, and the other side of the original 16mm strip exposed. The final 8mm strips are separated during processing.
Zapruder's film, and camera, were taken by the FBI, and used as evidence during the Warren Report into the assassination. The shot below is the actual camera used on the day - complete with FBI evidence sticker.
Zapruder did get to keep a copy of the film, which he sold to Life magazine for a staggering $150,000.
Life used frames from the movie in a piece on the assignation, but the fatal head shot frame, frame 313, was kept away from the public at Zapruder's request.
The film as a whole, was not shown to the US public until 1975.
During the various investigations, the camera and film have been analyzed, with theory and counter theory as to film authenticity etc etc.
Kodak were called in to test the camera and film - and did an exhaustive study and tear-down of several identical cameras - the results can be found here:http://www.jfk-info.com/zavada1.htm
I doubt that any piece of 8mm film has ever been so analyzed - with modern technology having been employed to scan, enhance, and even image stabilize the original film, to assist in further analysis.
There's a write up on the techniques used here:http://www.mccroneassociates.com/case-studies/zapruder-film
In the end, Zapruder was so traumatized by what he filmed that day, that he never picked up a movie camera again.
The film he shot changed the way news was reported, and effected a generation, and every one since.
It was the end of an era in US history, and in 8mm film technology.
...which is a Bell & Howell Director 414 PD (The shot above is my personal camera)
And the who is...
...Abraham Zapruder - a bystander in Dallas on Nov 22nd 1963 - who just happened to be filming John F Kennedy as he passed-by in his open top limousine.
The 8mm film that Zapruder took, is probably the single most iconic amateur movie footage of the 20th Century. Just 26.6 seconds of Kodachrome II, but 26.6 second which happened to capture the most complete record of the assassination.
It's amazing that, as the standard 8mm film format was reaching the end of it's lifetime - (replaced just 2 years later by the new Super 8 standard), the format that had been around since 1932 recorded this iconic '60s event.
Zapruder's Bell & Howell 414 PD was an advanced (and expensive) camera for it's day - released in 1962, it had many modern features that you'd expect to see on camcorders today.
It had a fast zoom lens, and on the 414 PD, the zoom was powered as well - meaning that the photographer could zoom in and out at the touch of a button whilst filming.
The 'power zoom' was driven by clockwork though - still no AA batteries in this camera! You had a zoom-in and a zoom-out button on the top of the camera, and as long as you were wound-up and filming, the zoom would power in and out at the command of these two buttons. Not only that, but the viewfinder image would zoom as well!
When Zapruder shot his film of JFK, he had the zoom all the way in - he was standing on a low concrete wall near the infamous grassy knoll, and used this location as a vantage point to catch the motorcade as it turned towards him, and passed directly in front of his position.
If you look closely at this polaroid image, taken from the other side of the street, you can just make out Zapruder, and his secretary, standing on the wall towards the top right of the frame.
The 414 PD also had advanced fully automatic exposure, a relatively new feature on 8mm cameras at that time - using a pair of light sensors to provide both general field exposure, and a more specific spot exposure, for increased accuracy.
No more manual aperture setting - the camera did this for you, and even had a 'beacon lamp' in the viewfinder to warn you of low light levels, and potential under exposure.
Despite all of this 'high tech', the basic camera was still clockwork and low tech - with a nice hand crank to wind it up before filming.
The crank pops out of the side of the camera, and has a nice grip on the end for winding.
As you wind away, there's a small progress window which shows the 'power' stored in camera, as a red bar - eventually showing 'Full Wind' when it was at max.
The film could then be run through at single frame, normal speed, or slow motion (high speed) - If only Zapruder had filmed the infamous sequence in slow motion...
Film stock was standard 8mm reels. A single 25ft reel gives you 50ft of eventual footage, as the film is flipped over half way through, and the other side of the original 16mm strip exposed. The final 8mm strips are separated during processing.
Zapruder's film, and camera, were taken by the FBI, and used as evidence during the Warren Report into the assassination. The shot below is the actual camera used on the day - complete with FBI evidence sticker.
Zapruder did get to keep a copy of the film, which he sold to Life magazine for a staggering $150,000.
Life used frames from the movie in a piece on the assignation, but the fatal head shot frame, frame 313, was kept away from the public at Zapruder's request.
The film as a whole, was not shown to the US public until 1975.
During the various investigations, the camera and film have been analyzed, with theory and counter theory as to film authenticity etc etc.
Kodak were called in to test the camera and film - and did an exhaustive study and tear-down of several identical cameras - the results can be found here:http://www.jfk-info.com/zavada1.htm
I doubt that any piece of 8mm film has ever been so analyzed - with modern technology having been employed to scan, enhance, and even image stabilize the original film, to assist in further analysis.
There's a write up on the techniques used here:http://www.mccroneassociates.com/case-studies/zapruder-film
In the end, Zapruder was so traumatized by what he filmed that day, that he never picked up a movie camera again.
The film he shot changed the way news was reported, and effected a generation, and every one since.
It was the end of an era in US history, and in 8mm film technology.
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