Bell & Howell 35mm Model 2709 Hand Crank, Restored, Cinema Camera Circa 1917

This example dates from around 1917 and has been fully restored to pristine condition, both inside and out,  by an expert vintage camera craftsman.

The camera is sold as a display piece but does crank and pull film properly as a new camera would.

It can be sold with or without display, period correct, lenses and the kit includes the camera body, an original eyepiece, an original shuttle camera movement, an original factory hand crank and a period correct 4oo’ film magazine.

In 1910, the Bell & Howell company made a cinematograph camera entirely of wood and leather. When Bell and Howell learned that their camera had been damaged by termites and mildew during an exploration trip in Africa by husband and wife filmmakers Martin and Osa Johnson, they designed the first all metal camera.

Introduced in 1912, the design 2709 soon garnered the reputation as “the most precision film mechanism ever made” and was produced for 46 continuous years. In 1914, Bell and Howell decided to permanently locate its offices on Larchmont Avenue in Chicago. Following the relocation of the motion picture industry from Chicago to Hollywood, Bell & Howell’s first movie camera was used in Southern California in 1912.

The first 2709 camera went to Chicago’s Essanay Pictures in 1912, the third to the New York Motion Picture Co. in the fall of 1912.