Early Cinema Gateway
Colour and Technology
- The American WideScreen Museum
A lively and well-illustrated survey by Martin Hart of the history of motion picture systems, with clear explanations and sample frames (demonstrating the colour effect) of the Lee and Turner three-colour system that preceded Kinemacolor, and of Kinemacolor itself and its rival additive colour systems. - Ariel Cinematographica Register
Huge listing of makes of cinematographic equipment, including many early models, though none is illustrated (the book version of the Register is illustrated). In German. - The Biograph Camera
A detailed and very interesting technical article by Billy Bitzer, D.W. Griffith's cameraman, on the 70mm Biograph camera that he used at the turn of the century, prior to his time with Griffith. Buried deep within the Society of Operating Cameramen site, and originally published in its journal The Operating Cameraman. - Britannica.com
The Encyclopaedia Britannica account of the history of colour cinematography, in its Motion Picture Technology section, is as good as should be expected. It includes Kinemacolor among the varieties of colour film systems tried during the early cinema period. - Collecting Vintage Film (Movie Cine) Cameras and Projectors
Enthusiastic site from a Dutch collector of cinema equipment, with a lengthy list of makes of different kinds of cameras and projectors, and many illustrations from his collection, including the Urban products the Biokam, Kinora and Spirograph. Includes the lavishly illustrated page One Hundred Years of Film Sizes. - Colorful Metaphors
A stimulating and wide-ranging essay on colour in early silent film by Tom Gunning, which emphasises the unreal, 'sensual' attractions of colour tinting over the drive for naturalism represented by a system such as Kinemacolor. Gunning places the use of colour in early film within a broader cultural and commercial history. Published as part of an issue of the Italian journal Fotogenia devoted to film colour. Also available online is Color in Motion, an introductory essay by Monica Dall'Asta and Guglielmo Pescatore. In Italian and English, with illustrations and notes. - Heritage Image Partnership
A commercial site which brings together images from a number of British collections, including the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, with its photographs of cinematograph equipment. These include machines associated with Charles Urban, though the supposed Kinemacolor camera on show is in fact the proto-cinema camera of Louis Le Prince. The images have a central spoiler except in their thumbnail version. - One Hundred Years of Film Sizes
See Collecting Vintage Film (Movie Cine) Cameras and Projectors site above. - Sam Dodge: Antique Motion Picture Studio Cameras
Vintage motion picture cameras collector's site, with clear illustrations of a variety of cameras from the early cinema period, with helpful background information. - US Patent and Trademark Office
An astonishing resource - every single US patent since 1790, viewable as TIFF images. Material pre-1971 has not been indexed, which means that those searching for early film-related patents will need to know the patent numbers. The site offers links to various TIFF readers that will open up the images - the AlternaTIFF reader works well. - Vintage Film Page
British film collectors page, with information on Pathéscope 9.5mm and Kodascope, plus sections on edge codes, film deterioration and similar issues.