Motor drive
Encyclopedia
A motor drive, in the field of photography
, is a powered film
transport mechanism. Historically, film loading, advancing, and rewinding were all manually driven functions. The desires of professional photographers for more efficient shooting, particularly in sports and wildlife photography, and the desires of amateur and novice photographers for easier to use camera
s both drove the development of automatic film transport. Some early developments were made with clockwork
drives, but most development in the field has been in the direction of electrically driven transport.
At first, motor drives were external units that attached to the basic camera body, normally beneath it, with an interface consisting of a physical drive socket and some electrical contacts to signal the drive when to actuate. Beginning in the late 1970s, motor drives began to be integrated into cameras themselves—at first, in compact cameras for the beginner market, and by the 1980s, in amateur-grade and later professional-grade single lens reflex cameras. By the 1990s, the vast majority of 35mm
cameras had integral motor drive, and the feature found its way into some medium format cameras as well.
Motor drives for compact and amateur cameras wind slowly—shot-to-shot intervals of approximately a second are commonplace. Professional grade cameras are faster, with speeds up to 10 frames per second. The first 35 mm SLR to achieve such a shooting speed was Canon's F-1
High Speed Motor Drive camera, first developed for the 1972 Winter Olympics
in Sapporo, Japan
. To enable this speed and allow the photographer to more easily track the moving subject, this camera used a fixed, semi-transparent pellicle mirror
instead of a moving mirror. Later special Canon models used similar mechanisms to achieve such speeds, while cameras with moving mirrors reached approximately 5 frames per second by the 1980s. Today, the fastest professional models from Canon and Nikon
achieve approximately 10 frames per second with a moving mirror.
In digital camera
s era, some users continue to refer to continuous shooting modes as "motor drive". Many camera models refer to different shooting modes—single shot, burst, continuous, self timer
—as drive modes, thus keeping alive the terminology of film. An external battery grip
is occasionally referred to as a motor drive as it tends to increase the frame rate.
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
, is a powered film
Photographic film
Photographic film is a sheet of plastic coated with an emulsion containing light-sensitive silver halide salts with variable crystal sizes that determine the sensitivity, contrast and resolution of the film...
transport mechanism. Historically, film loading, advancing, and rewinding were all manually driven functions. The desires of professional photographers for more efficient shooting, particularly in sports and wildlife photography, and the desires of amateur and novice photographers for easier to use camera
Camera
A camera is a device that records and stores images. These images may be still photographs or moving images such as videos or movies. The term camera comes from the camera obscura , an early mechanism for projecting images...
s both drove the development of automatic film transport. Some early developments were made with clockwork
Clockwork
A clockwork is the inner workings of either a mechanical clock or a device that operates in a similar fashion. Specifically, the term refers to a mechanical device utilizing a complex series of gears....
drives, but most development in the field has been in the direction of electrically driven transport.
At first, motor drives were external units that attached to the basic camera body, normally beneath it, with an interface consisting of a physical drive socket and some electrical contacts to signal the drive when to actuate. Beginning in the late 1970s, motor drives began to be integrated into cameras themselves—at first, in compact cameras for the beginner market, and by the 1980s, in amateur-grade and later professional-grade single lens reflex cameras. By the 1990s, the vast majority of 35mm
135 film
The term 135 was introduced by Kodak in 1934 as a designation for cartridge film wide, specifically for still photography. It quickly grew in popularity, surpassing 120 film by the late 1960s to become the most popular photographic film format...
cameras had integral motor drive, and the feature found its way into some medium format cameras as well.
Motor drives for compact and amateur cameras wind slowly—shot-to-shot intervals of approximately a second are commonplace. Professional grade cameras are faster, with speeds up to 10 frames per second. The first 35 mm SLR to achieve such a shooting speed was Canon's F-1
Canon F-1
The Canon F-1 is a 35 mm single-lens reflex camera produced by Canon of Japan from March 1971 until 1976's introduction of the mildly updated F-1n, while in 1981 a New F-1 was launched. The new Canon FD lens mount was introduced along with the F-1, but the previous Canon FL-mount lenses were...
High Speed Motor Drive camera, first developed for the 1972 Winter Olympics
1972 Winter Olympics
The 1972 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XI Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated from February 3 to February 13, 1972 in Sapporo, Hokkaidō, Japan...
in Sapporo, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. To enable this speed and allow the photographer to more easily track the moving subject, this camera used a fixed, semi-transparent pellicle mirror
Pellicle mirror
right|thumb|The pellicle mirror of the [[Canon EOS RT]]A pellicle mirror is an ultra-thin, ultra-lightweight semi-transparent mirror employed in the light path of an optical instrument, splitting the light beam into two separate beams, both of reduced light intensity...
instead of a moving mirror. Later special Canon models used similar mechanisms to achieve such speeds, while cameras with moving mirrors reached approximately 5 frames per second by the 1980s. Today, the fastest professional models from Canon and Nikon
Nikon
, also known as just Nikon, is a multinational corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, specializing in optics and imaging. Its products include cameras, binoculars, microscopes, measurement instruments, and the steppers used in the photolithography steps of semiconductor fabrication, of which...
achieve approximately 10 frames per second with a moving mirror.
In digital camera
Digital camera
A digital camera is a camera that takes video or still photographs, or both, digitally by recording images via an electronic image sensor. It is the main device used in the field of digital photography...
s era, some users continue to refer to continuous shooting modes as "motor drive". Many camera models refer to different shooting modes—single shot, burst, continuous, self timer
Self timer
A self timer is a device on a camera that gives a delay between pressing the shutter release and the shutter's firing. It is most commonly used to let photographers to take a photo of themselves , hence the name....
—as drive modes, thus keeping alive the terminology of film. An external battery grip
Battery grip
A battery grip is an accessory for an SLR/DSLR , which allows the camera to hold multiple batteries to extend the battery life of the camera, and adds a vertical grip with an extra shutter release , facilitating the shooting of portrait photography.It usually attaches to the camera body through the...
is occasionally referred to as a motor drive as it tends to increase the frame rate.