Eclair (camera)
Encyclopedia
Movie camera
The movie camera is a type of photographic camera which takes a rapid sequence of photographs on strips of film which was very popular for private use in the last century until its successor, the video camera, replaced it...
manufacturing company established in Épinay-sur-Seine
Épinay-sur-Seine
-Transport:Épinay-sur-Seine is served by Épinay-sur-Seine station on Paris RER line C.It is also served by Épinay – Villetaneuse station on the Transilien Paris – Nord suburban rail line....
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
by Charles Jourjon in 1907.
Originally a production company, they started building cameras in 1912. Among their early models was the Caméréclair of 1928, then the Camé 300 Réflex, both successful studio cameras. Their real breakthrough design, the Caméflex (shoulder-held portable 35mm camera with instant change magazines, with later 16/35mm dual format option) introduced in 1947, played a major part in the French New Wave
French New Wave
The New Wave was a blanket term coined by critics for a group of French filmmakers of the late 1950s and 1960s, influenced by Italian Neorealism and classical Hollywood cinema. Although never a formally organized movement, the New Wave filmmakers were linked by their self-conscious rejection of...
by allowing for a freer form of shooting 35mm fiction films.
Later 16mm silent models such as the 1963 Eclair NPR (aka "Eclair 16" or "Eclair Coutant") and the 1971 Eclair ACL were documentary cinema favorites. NPR stands for Noiseless Portable Reflex and ACL comes from the letters of the names of its designers Agusti (Austin) Coma and Jacques Lecoeur. The last models designed by Eclair in the early 80's came too late to save the company from bankruptcy and were hardly produced, if at all : the Eclair EX16 (similar to ACL with fixed viewfinder and 24/25fps fixed motor) and the Eclair PANORAM (first dual format 16+Super16 camera with "Varigate" system).
An Eclair 16 was used by L.M. Kit Carson (and discussed, on camera) in Jim McBride
Jim McBride
Jim McBride is an American television and film director, film producer and screenwriter.-Filmography:* David Holzman's Diary * My Girlfriend's Wedding...
's ground-breaking film, David Holzman's Diary
David Holzman's Diary
David Holzman's Diary is a 1967 American film, directed by Jim McBride, which spoofs the art of documentary-making.It tells the story of a young man making a documentary of his life, who discovers something important about himself while making the movie....
(1967). Two years later, the NPR was chosen by director Michael Wadleigh
Michael Wadleigh
Michael Wadleigh is an American movie director and cinematographer renowned for his groundbreaking documentary of the 1969 Woodstock Festival, Woodstock....
to shoot his documentary Woodstock
Woodstock (film)
Woodstock is a 1970 American documentary on the Woodstock Festival that took place in August 1969 at Bethel in New York. Entertainment Weekly called this film the benchmark of concert movies and one of the most entertaining documentaries ever made...
. Wadleigh used sixteen NPR cameras, and in the Woodstock: From Festival to Feature, he explained some of the challenges he faced using a then five year-old camera in a manner that would have been unheard of for 35mm movie cameras, let alone the relatively untried NPR. That they succeeded so spectacularly is a testament to the NPR's sturdiness.
The instant-on coaxial design of the camera magazine
Camera magazine
A camera magazine is a light-tight chamber or pair of chambers designed to hold and move motion picture film stock before and after it has been exposed in the camera...
in the Caméflex and later the NPR, ACL, EX16 and PANORAM models revolutionized filmmaking, in particular documentary films, which could now change magazines in seconds without the need to spend time lacing the film in the camera. The ACL model used focal plane shutter for exposure and oscillating mirror for reflex viewing to keep the camera body size to a minimum.
The company was acquired in late 1968 by British film producer Harry Saltzman
Harry Saltzman
Harry Saltzman was a Canadian theatre and film producer best known for his mega-gamble which resulted in his co-producing the James Bond film series with Albert R...
who then founded the Éclair-Debrie (UK) Ltd company and moved production to the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. Meanwhile Soremec-Cehess took over the French side of the company and resumed production in France, so English Eclair cameras (similar to French product with minor differences) were manufactured simultaneously for a few years until the Éclair-Debrie (UK) Ltd ceased activities in 1973. Production then went on in France only with a good degree of success but the company eventually declined in the late 70's and early 80's until it was eventually sold to Aaton
Aaton
Aaton is a motion picture equipment manufacturer, based in Grenoble, France. Aaton was founded by Eclair engineer Jean-Pierre Beauviala, whose efforts have been primarily focused on making quiet, portable motion picture hardware suitable for impromptu field use, as for documentaries...
S.A. in 1986 who ceased all production of the cameras, only offering a license for maintenance of the many existing cameras.
The film processing and post-production side of Éclair continues to operate.