My late father, Joseph Przyborski was a motion picture cameraman at Cape Kennedy. In the late 50’s through the 60’s, RCA had the contract to provide “technical documentation” of all launches at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Motion picture photography of each launch was considered documentation. (From 1963-1973 the facility was re-named Cape Kennedy after the death of the President.)
There were dozens of film cameraman employed by RCA in the 50’s & 60’s. During these years multiple rocket launches happened every week. Every type of 16mm, 35mm & 65mm motion picture cameras were used. This included cameras from Photosonics, Hulcher, Milliken, Fastax and of course Mitchell. RCA also operated a tremendous camera and optics service facility that could repair and align literally any type of professional camera or lens.
Footage shot at Cape Kennedy was processed about 20 miles South of the Cape at Patrick Air Force Base. I was told this United States Air Force lab facility was the largest military film lab. To put things in perspective, on busy launch weeks, they processed more footage than all the labs in Los Angeles & New York combined.
There were numerous Mitchell cameras at work every day. This included Mitchell 16’s, 35mm GC’s, and a number of 65mm cameras. All models were painted white to deal with the tremendous heat of the Florida sun.
It wasn’t unusual for a launch to be photographed by 50 or more cameras. Cameras were positioned all around the launch pad. Many were mounted in anti-explosive housings that attempted to protect cameras that were placed near the launch pad. Some were on the gantry to capture the rocket as it began to lift off. Some 16mm cameras were positioned below the launch pad, within several feet of the intense engine exhaust. In the early 60’s, rockets were not very reliable and quite a few cameras were lost.
Most of the cameras were modified with an early form of timecode. A tiny neon lamp inside the camera would expose marks on the edge of the film that would convey the exact time of the launch sequence when each frame was exposed. In the event of an all too common explosion, footage could be synced to reveal a possible component failure on the rocket. Also, all the unmanned cameras were started remotely using a sequencer that was coupled to the master countdown.
For each launch, my dad and others were assigned several cameras to setup, load, focus, test run, then secure with blast covers if the camera location required it. Lens selection was predetermined based on the camera position. Some cameramen were assigned tracking mounts that were based on highly modified, motorized anti-aircraft gun mounts from WWII. It was not unusual that 4 cameras with different focal length lenses were mounted on the same motorized tracking mount. In the 80’s, new custom designed tracking mounts were introduced.
At my dad’s funeral in 2003, I got to talk with several of his co-workers from the 60’s. They mentioned the times they would earn a form of hazard duty pay. Sometimes a fully loaded rocket would fail to ignite at the end of the automated countdown. Auto sequencers would have started all the cameras and they would have run through their film loads. With the rocket on the launch pad, fully loaded with fuel, venting liquid oxygen, cameramen would re-load all the motion picture cameras. I was told it was like working around a fully loaded bomb.
In the late 60’s the contract for motion picture acquisition at the Cape was awarded to a division of Technicolor. I don’t know who has the contract today, but film is gone and everything is digital. Most (if not all) of the white 16mm, 35mm, & 65mm cameras have been part of government auctions. You occasionally might see one for sale on eBay.
- My dad loads a 65mm Mitchell at Cape Canaveral
- a 65mm Mitchell is placed close to an Atlas
- a 16mm Mitchell is aligned with an optical data system
- My dad sets up 3 cameras for a Titan launch
- another launch with 2 high-speed 16mm and a 65mm Mitchell
- During the Apollo 11 launch the same tracking mount handled a Norelco PC70 & a 35mm Mitchell
- The world watched the live color camera, but the best images were from the Mitchell 35
My late father, Joseph Przyborski was a motion picture cameraman at Cape Kennedy. In the late 50’s through the 60’s, RCA had the contract to provide “technical documentation” of all launches at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Motion picture photography of each launch was considered documentation. (From 1963-1973 the facility was re-named Cape Kennedy after the death of the President.)
There were dozens of film cameraman employed by RCA in the 50’s & 60’s. During these years multiple rocket launches happened every week. Every type of 16mm, 35mm & 65mm motion picture cameras were used. This included cameras from Photosonics, Hulcher, Milliken, Fastax and of course Mitchell. RCA also operated a tremendous camera and optics service facility that could repair and align literally any type of professional camera or lens.
Footage shot at Cape Kennedy was processed about 20 miles South of the Cape at Patrick Air Force Base. I was told this United States Air Force lab facility was the largest military film lab. To put things in perspective, on busy launch weeks, they processed more footage than all the labs in Los Angeles & New York combined.
There were numerous Mitchell cameras at work every day. This included Mitchell 16’s, 35mm GC’s, and a number of 65mm cameras. All models were painted white to deal with the tremendous heat of the Florida sun.
It wasn’t unusual for a launch to be photographed by 50 or more cameras. Cameras were positioned all around the launch pad. Many were mounted in anti-explosive housings that attempted to protect cameras that were placed near the launch pad. Some were on the gantry to capture the rocket as it began to lift off. Some 16mm cameras were positioned below the launch pad, within several feet of the intense engine exhaust. In the early 60’s, rockets were not very reliable and quite a few cameras were lost.
Most of the cameras were modified with an early form of timecode. A tiny neon lamp inside the camera would expose marks on the edge of the film that would convey the exact time of the launch sequence when each frame was exposed. In the event of an all too common explosion, footage could be synced to reveal a possible component failure on the rocket. Also, all the unmanned cameras were started remotely using a sequencer that was coupled to the master countdown.
For each launch, my dad and others were assigned several cameras to setup, load, focus, test run, then secure with blast covers if the camera location required it. Lens selection was predetermined based on the camera position. Some cameramen were assigned tracking mounts that were based on highly modified, motorized anti-aircraft gun mounts from WWII. It was not unusual that 4 cameras with different focal length lenses were mounted on the same motorized tracking mount. In the 80’s, new custom designed tracking mounts were introduced.
At my dad’s funeral in 2003, I got to talk with several of his co-workers from the 60’s. They mentioned the times they would earn a form of hazard duty pay. Sometimes a fully loaded rocket would fail to ignite at the end of the automated countdown. Auto sequencers would have started all the cameras and they would have run through their film loads. With the rocket on the launch pad, fully loaded with fuel, venting liquid oxygen, cameramen would re-load all the motion picture cameras. I was told it was like working around a fully loaded bomb.
In the late 60’s the contract for motion picture acquisition at the Cape was awarded to a division of Technicolor. I don’t know who has the contract today, but film is gone and everything is digital. Most (if not all) of the white 16mm, 35mm, & 65mm cameras have been part of government auctions. You occasionally might see one for sale on eBay.[attachment=6]70mm_Mitchell.jpg[/attachment][attachment=5]Atlas rocket.jpg[/attachment][attachment=4]misc_images-01982.jpg[/attachment][attachment=3]Misc-01760.jpg[/attachment][attachment=2]PRZ-02909.jpg[/attachment][attachment=1]Misc-01767.jpg[/attachment][attachment=0]Misc-01766.jpg[/attachment]