Auricon
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Auricon cameras are 16 mm film Single system sound-on-film motion picture cameras. Designed to be portable, the camera preceded ENG video cameras as the main AV tool of television news gathering. Auricon cameras are notable in that they record sound directly onto the same film as the image is photographed thus eliminating the need for a separate audio recorder.
History
Auricon cameras were first manufactured by the E.M. Berndt Corp. (Est. 1931) which soon became Berndt-Bach. Berndt-Bach changed its name once again to Bach Auricon Inc. They manufactured many cameras: including the Cinevoice, Pro-600 and Super 1200. All of these models could be adapted or originally purchased to record sound on magnetic striped 16mm film, when that technology became available in the 1950's. Magnetically striped camera stock is no longer manufactured.
The Cinevoice and its later manifestation, the Cinevoice II, were directed to the advanced amateur. They accepted 100 foot spool-loads. Other companies bought Cinevoices and modified them to take external film magazines, in order to make an affordable camera for TV news crews.
The reason there was so much interest in modifying Cinevoices was because they had a very accurate frame registration for a camera of such a low price. It made little sense to design and build a whole camera when Auricon would sell a Cinevoice camera body to whoever wanted to buy them. Auricon changed their ways very slowly and failed to give 16mm photographers what they wanted, so it fell upon other entrepreneurs to fill the demand with "chopped off" (converted) Cinevoices that were offered to filmmakers.
Auricon's Pro-600 was aimed at on-location news crews. It accepted magazines that could film 15 minutes continuously. In response to all the smaller companies that adapted Cinevoices, Auricon improved the Pro-600 with the “Pro-600 Special” which was lighter (24 instead of 36 pounds), and took 400ft. magazines.
Another Auricon camera was the Super-1200. It was designed for long interviews and TV studio films. It could run 33 minutes worth of 16mm film on one load.
Bach Auricon also manufactured 16mm sound-on-film cameras for the US Army during WWII (such as the CT-70).
Auricon cameras that could record single system optical sound-on-film tracks contained a Mirror galvanometer, which was a device that recorded sound on the film by means of a beam of light that varied in size in accordance with the sound being recorded. This method can be traced back surprisingly early. Eugene Augustin Lauste succeeded in recording sound-on-film as early as 1911.
Auricon also manufactured separate, stand alone, optical sound recorders such as the RT-80 (200 foot capacity) and the RM-30 (1200 foot capacity). These could be used for the double-system method of recording sound for films. Double system allowed for using film specifiaclly designed for sound recording. Double system recording provided for better potential sound quality and allowed for much greater control in the film editing process as the sound can then be edited separately from the picture.
