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Original Star Wars Camera Sells For $625,000
An anonymous reader writes "A Panavision PSR 35mm motion picture camera used by George Lucas to film Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope was was sold for $625,000, surpassing all expectations and setting a new world record. The camera package included a Panaspeed motor, matte box, follow focus, a Moy geared head, Italian-made Elemack camera dolly and lens, and two 1000-foot magazines. True Star Wars fans will be delighted to know the camera is still functional and has been completely restored."
Yes, that was for the effects work. All the live action was shot with a Panavision camera, as Panavision has a near-monopoly on Hollywood due to contracts/union deals.
However, because of the demands of the effects work, the only thing accurate enough to shoot 10 passes exactly the same (at the time) was Disney's Vistavision cameras.
Remember that hardly anybody had been doing blue-screen at the time for over a decade. Even 2001 was shot mostly with "in camera" effects work (which is why it's not grainy, you never see matte boxes but to it's detriment, nothing can pass in front of each other, which would have made shooting the battle sequences near impossible).
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
I thought that one of the big advances at the time was the computer controlled camera mechanisms, to _do_ the multiple passes.
The cameras themselves also have to spool the film accurately. Slippage means a bad composite.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)