TECHNICOLOR THREE-STRIP CAMERA VIEW FINDER EYEPIECE

Mitchell Camera Corporation, West Hollywood, California 1932 - early 1940's

For the Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation, 823 North Seward Street, Hollywood, California

View Finder Eyepiece for Technicolor's Three-Strip motion picture camera, manufactured by the Mitchell Camera Corporation for the Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation.

The eyepiece, measuring 7-1/2" in length with a barrel mount diameter of 1-3/8", is coated in Technicolor's signature blue/green textured finish.

The Three-Strip Camera's design is detailed in Patent No. 2,072,091 granted to Joseph A. Ball, March 2, 1937 and assigned to Technicolor, Inc. The view finder eyepiece can be seen located at the camera's rear, marked "8" in the patent drawing below:

Image Source: Google Patents

Thirty-nine Three-Strip Technicolor cameras were reportedly built, making motors, magazines and every other component for the camera, very hard to find today.

Rarity aside, Technicolor (like Panavision for the most part), rented rather than sold their cameras, lenses and equipment. David O. Selznick used all seven Three-Strip Cameras in existence in 1939 to film Gone With the Wind. Technicolor cameras would remain in use in the United States through 1954, the last American-made feature photographed with a Technicolor Three-Strip being Universal Studio's Foxfire, filmed in 1954 and released in 1955, per Wikipedia. By the late 1970's, much of Technicolor's equipment was said to have ended up in China where it continued to be used. For these reasons, this is why so few items from either Panavision or Technicolor reside in private hands today.

Not a glitzy artifact, and without the camera, a rather useless object....but a rare piece from Hollywood's cinematic past, nevertheless.