Auricon

Auricon cameras are 16 mm film Single system sound-on-film motion picture cameras. Designed to be portable, the camera preceded ENG video cameras as the main AV tool of television news gathering. Auricon cameras are notable in that they record sound directly onto the same film as the image is photographed thus eliminating the need for a separate audio recorder.

History

Auricon cameras were first manufactured by the E.M. Berndt Corp. (Est. 1931) which soon became Berndt-Bach. Berndt-Bach changed its name once again to Bach Auricon Inc. They manufactured many cameras; including the Cinevoice, Pro-600 and Super 1200. All of these models could be adapted or originally purchased to record sound on a magnetic striped film, when that technology became available in the 1950's. Magnetically striped camera stock is no longer manufactured.

The Cinevoice, and its later manifestation, Cinevoice II, were directed to the advanced amateur. They accepted 100 foot loads. Other companies bought Cinevoices and modified them to take external magazines, in order to make an affordable camera for TV news crews.

The reason there was so much interest in modifying Cinevoices was because they embodied the famous smooth as silk and easy on film Bach Auricon intermittant movement (which had very accurate frame registration) in a camera that was ridiculously cheap for a camera works of this quality. It made no sense to design and build your own camera movement and film transport, when Auricon would sell a Cinevoice camera body only to whoever wanted to buy them. Walter Bach was said to have regretted such a marketing mistake with the Cinevoice in particular. Auricon changed their ways very slowly and failed to give the 16mm photographers what they wanted so it fell upon other entrepreneurs to fill the demand with the myriad of chopped and otherwise converted Cinevoices that were offered to the marketplace.

Auricon's [http://www.owyheesound.com/auricon.html Pro-600] was aimed at on-location news crews. It accepted magazines that could film 15 minutes continuously. In response to all the little companies that adapted Cinevoices, Auricon improved the Pro-600 with the “Pro-600 Special” which was lighter (24 instead of 36 pounds!), and took 400ft. magazines. The two Pro-600’s could also accept 1200 ft. magazines that were designed for its bigger brother…

The Super-1200! King of TV news cameras! It was designed for long interviews and TV studio films. 33 minutes of 16mm film could run through this mammoth. Bach Auricon also manufactured 16mm sound-on-film cameras for the US Army during WWII. In the 1970’s a mysterious new camera was in the works, the “Cinevoice 400”. It had a crystal sync motor and was battery powered. If anyone has any information on this camera, feel free to post it.

Auricon cameras that could record single system optical sound-on-film tracks contained a Mirror galvanometer, which was a device that recorded sound on the film by means of a beam of light that varied in size in accordance with the sound being recorded. Also, note that Auricon manufactured separate, stand alone, optical sound recorders such as the RT-80 (200 foot capacity) and the RM-30 (1200 foot capacity) and these could be used for the double system method of recording on specific sound recording 16mm film stock. Double system recording provides for better potential sound quality and allows for much greater control in the film editing process as the sound can now be edited separately from the picture. This method can be traced back surprisingly early. Eugene Augustin Lauste succeeded in recording sound-on-film as early as 1911!

External links

* [http://movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/Auricon_Sound/ Auricon User Group]
* [http://www.owyheesound.com/auricon.html Owyheesound Website]
* [http://www.amps.net/newsletters/issue22/22_lauste.htm Inventor of Sound on film]
* [http://www.city-net.com/~fodder/auricon/index.html Basic Instructions for Auricon Cameras]