GETTING IT ON FILM #7 - A GLIMPSE OF THE FUTURE

Mar 99 - Gord Harris


With our new HMI space lights blazing, Cinematographer James Neihouse throws the switch and a small roar fills the air as he yells "action". As James surveys the colour LCD video finder, Engineer John Shaw and assorted Lockheed, NASA and Imax Space Team personnel do their best to mimic zero G crew activity. We are in the full scale mockup of the International Space Station in Building 9 at NASA, for the first full-up simulation testing of the new 30 perf 3D cabin camera from MSM Design, on January 6th, 1999.

But the most amazing part of all this was not so much our cool "make-believe" ISS mission but the small little camera capturing all this 3D fun. As reported by Producer Toni Myers and John Shaw in the May/June 98 newsletter, this is the second camera in the world to capture two 15 perf 65mm frames side-by-side on a single strip of film. But as you can see from the photo, it is <far>italics smaller and lighter than its Cargo Bay Camera brother, and less than <half>italics the weight of our regular dual strip Imax 3D Camera. To achieve that, designer Marty Mueller of MSM working with Bill Shaw of Imax had to build an incredibly-engineered film advance mechanism that pushes 30 perforations of film through a gate at a speed of 67.18 inches per second! The result is a camera that films and handles about as easily as a 2D camera...and most important for space actually fits in shuttle lockers.

Soon we have finished shooting similar ISS shots with our 30,40,50 and 250 mm space lenses, and it is time for a reload. Software engineer William Nixon of MSM Design removes the single coax mag and carries it back for a reload by James. The magazine contains no motors, which reside in the camera, and it maintains a pre-loaded film loop so that it is quick and easy to drop on the camera. The 3D30 can be up and running again only a couple of minutes after getting a new mag, due to its greatly simplified film path. The lenses are also "no-fuss" as they consist of quickly mounted pre-aligned blocks for 3D at normal human interocular, and are focused and adjusted for aperture by comfortably grasped handle controls - ideal for floating around in space!

As our small crew quickly moves the ninety pound 3D30 cabin camera for the next setup in the cramped trailer-like interior of the space station, I can't help but remember much more grueling past experiences with our 228 pound dual strip 3D camera, which in difficult terrain requires a four man pole carry! NASA had deemed that camera totally impractical to fly in space, but with the 3D30 we now approach the culmination of Graeme Ferguson and Toni Myers' dream of filming in 3D in Space, to let thousands on planet Earth to "be there" more immersively. While the 3D 30 requires optical separation printing after the mission to separate the two eyes for regular Imax 3D projection, this is a small price to pay for the vastly easier loading and handling for the space station astronauts. Crew time on orbit is gold...

Camera design improvements are evolutionary. From the huge 3D rigs of the eighties to the dual strip Imax 3D camera of the nineties, thanks to the new Imax/MSM 3D30 space cabin camera get set for a voyage into space that your audiences will never forget, as we move through the Millenium....2001 here we come!

(Reprinted from The IMAX Experience March/April 1999 Volume 3 Issue 2 with permission from IMAX Corporation)

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Copyright © 2003, Gord Harris, go-R&D Consulting. IMAX®, IMAX® Dome, IMAX® 3D, IMAX® 3DDome, IMAX®
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