This Film Friday, we're taking a look at film in the cinema world. The Tested Team YouTube channel has produced two videos touring the American Society of Cinematographers museum. Emmy Award-winning cinematographer, director and producer Steve Gainer is the curator of the museum, and takes the host of the show through the museum, discussing some of the cameras that are on display.

Gainer has an incredible wealth of information about the cameras, sharing in-depth information on how the cameras work, how and when they were used and more. He starts the first video, above, with a 1890 Lumi

The video also tells stories of the problems with the original wood cinema cameras and how bugs loved the glue used to hold them together. Gainer says that cinematographers would wake up a day after arriving at a shoot in the jungle to discover their camera in pieces because the bugs ate all the glue. The Bell Howell 2709 camera was a big step forward since it was a metal body. The model that the museum has on display was purchased in 1918 by Harry Warner and was used to shoot Warner Bros. ' first motion picture.

If the above video isn't enough fun information for you, there's also a second episode looking at even more cameras, this time large-format ones.

The museum has the large-format Todd-AO cinema camera that was used to shoot The Sound of Music and Cleopatra. Gainer walks through how it works and why large-format film came about. He explains that it was an answer to people staying home to watch TV since they were only seeing small, square pictures. The wide format provided something new that viewers couldn't get at home.

Both episodes are absolutely fascinating, with an incredible amount of information and history shared. It's clear how knowledgeable and passionate Gainer is, and the museum has quite the collection of items from cinema history. If you're interested in old cameras, history or cinema (and especially all three), they are well worth a watch.

2025-8-22 16:00