Years ago, I had fantasized about a camera that was small enough to be portable, shot 35mm film of any description (stills or motion stock) could accept small lenses and also be able to work as a stills camera. I dreamt of IMAX quality images from a system that could fit in a nap sack. Not long after that, I happened upon the knowledge of a “Nikonflex”- a Nikon F3, as pictured in this entry, that had been modified by IlM for a sequence in the film “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”.
So I called and spoke to the engineer who had masterminded the camera and eventually became dismayed- it did shoot in Vista-vision style (the film travelling left to right) so a full 35mm (24x36mm) image could be captured, but it wasn’t pin-registered, magazines were hard to come by, film had to be spooled, etc……so a long while passed and I was content with a regular F3, or later FM3A, and didn’t worry about dragging a film camera around.
Today’s shoot reminded me of the Nikonflex dreams I used to have- the next picture/ post shows the RED Epic camera stripped down to a comparable size to the Nikonflex, and a staggering amount of creative choices at one’s fingertips!