Moviecam

Moviecam is a motion picture equipment company specializing in movie camera systems for 35 mm film. Originally started in Vienna as an in-house project of Fritz Gabriel Bauer and Walter Kindler's Moviegroup film production company in the late 1960's, the amount of research and development needed to create a new and modern motion picture camera system from scratch led to the formal creation of Moviecam as an independent corporate entity in 1976. Although only three camera models (SuperAmerica, Compact, and SL) were produced in significant quantities for international usage, the high quality camera design, simplicity of usage compared to the contemporary models of Arri and Panavision, and integration of modern and pioneering camera features led to widespread usage in the film industry. Arri subsequently bought the company in the 1990s and made Bauer chief designer of their camera development team; the system he developed, the Arricam, combined the basic movement and design of the Moviecam systems with the precision electronic parts and complement of camera accessories already designed by Arri. The Arricam cameras were released in 2000 and remain (as of 2006), the flagship camera line of Arri's 35 mm products. Despite the fact that Moviecam cameras have not been manufactured for almost ten years, their quality and features have kept them in service to meet their consistent high demand by feature film shoots.