Abstract: A cine camera for taking talking pictures comprises a film-feeding mechanism which includes a driven capstan and a pinch roller normally spaced therefrom to facilitate insertion of a section of film therebetween when the camera casing is loaded with a sound-film cassette. A sensor, upon detecting the presence of such cassette in a receiving chamber of the casing, causes the pinch roller to move closer to the capstan, either via a mechanical linkage or by deactivating a detent normally blocking a displacement of the pinch roller under spring pressure. This displacement under the control of the sensor may establish a standby position, with the pinch roller still separated from the capstan by a clearance wider than the film thickness, that clearance being subsequently reduced by the operation of a trigger, a mode-selector switch or the like to clamp the film between pinch roller and capstan.

Abstract: The housing of a motion-picture camera has a cassette-receiving space into which at least one feeler projects to detect the insertion of a sound-film cassette differing in shape from a silent-film cassette. With both types of cassettes the film is intermittently transported past an image gate by a traction claw; in the case of a sound-film cassette a portion of the film downstream of the image window is accessible for engagement by a constant-speed feeder in the vicinity of a sound-recording head. The feed rate of the traction claw is stabilized by a centrifugal governor in the presence of a silent-film cassette; upon sensing a sound-film cassette, the feeler deactivates the governor and synchronizes the claw drive with the constant-speed feeder under the control of a mechanism, such as a loop detector, which measures the length of film between the image gate and the recording head.

Abstract: A zoom lens system having slidable lens elements wherein in a first, zoom mode a first mechanical control means is provided for moving the slidable lens elements in accordance with a first law wherein the images of different magnifications of objects lying beyond a predetermined distance from the zoom lens may be focussed in the image plane, and a second macro mode wherein mechanical means are provided for moving the movable lens elements in accordance with a second law such that images of different magnification of an object nearer to the zoom lens than the first predetermined distance may be focused in the image plane. The first and second control means, in one embodiment, are arranged and formed on a common carrier structure. Control means are provided for enabling the focal length to be varied at any of two or more macro regions or planes.

Abstract: A cine camera for taking talking pictures comprises a film-feeding mechanism which includes a driven capstan and a pinch roller normally spaced therefrom to facilitate insertion of a section of film therebetween when the camera casing is loaded with a sound-film cassette. A sensor, upon detecting the presence of such cassette in a receiving chamber of the casing, causes the pinch roller to move closer to the capstan, either via a mechanical linkage or by deactivating a detent normally blocking a displacement of the pinch roller under spring pressure. This displacement under the control of the sensor may establish a standby position, with the pinch roller still separated from the capstan by a clearance wider than the film thickness, that clearance being subsequently reduced by the operation of a trigger, a mode-selector switch or the like to clamp the film between pinch roller and capstan.

Abstract: A cine camera for taking talking pictures comprises a film-feeding mechanism which includes a driven capstan and a pinch roller normally spaced therefrom to facilitate insertion of a section of film therebetween when the camera casing is loaded with a sound-film cassette. A trigger, serving to close a switch for energizing the film drive, becomes effective to move the pinch roller -- mechanically or electromagnetically -- into a working position close to the capstan after a support for this roller has been moved from a retracted position into a standby position by the displacement of an independently operable external actuating member. Continued depression of the trigger may prevent the roller support from returning to its retracted position even if the actuating member is released.

Abstract: A cine camera for taking talking pictures, in which a film is moved intermittently past an image gate by a reciprocating traction claw and continuously past a recording head by a rotating capstan coacting with a pinch roller, includes a latch by which the pinch roller can be held spaced from the capstan in an inactive position. The latching of the pinch roller in this inactive position, against the force of a biasing spring providing the necessary contact pressure during filming, is accomplished upon deactivation of the film drive by the residual kinetic energy of an inertial mass such as a flywheel which is coupled with either the capstan drive or the claw drive. The latch is released upon actuation of a trigger, either directly or through the intermediary of the claw drive. The biasing spring may be part of a toggle mechanism tripped by a presetting member, such as a sensor detecting the presence of a sound-film cassette in the camera.

Abstract: The housing of a motion-picture camera has a cassette-receiving space into which at least one feeler projects to detect the insertion of a sound-film cassette differing in shape from a silent-film cassette. With both types of cassettes the film is intermittently transported past an image gate by a traction claw; in the case of a sound-film cassette a portion of the film downstream of the image window is accessible for engagement by a constant-speed feeder in the vicinity of a sound-recording head. The feed rate of the traction claw is stabilized by a centrifugal governor in the presence of a silent-film cassette; upon sensing a sound-film cassette, the feeler deactivates the governor and synchronizes the claw drive with the constant-speed feeder under the control of a mechanism, such as a loop detector, which measures the length of film between the image gate and the recording head.

Abstract: A zoom lens assembly has a normal-range finder which is operable at all settings of a macro-range finder. The normal-range finder produces relative movement between two lens elements one of which is also positionable by the macro-range finder. This is achieved in one arrangement by controlling the positions of the lens elements with two coaxially arranged tubes which are coupled together for rotational movement but which can be moved axially with respect to one another by the macro-range finder. In another arrangement a single control tube is used to shift the two lens elements in response to adjustment of the normal-range finder but one of the lens elements is also displaceable within the control tube by rotation of a threaded mounting cylinder.

Abstract: A lens system for a camera comprises a pair of axially shiftable components for varying the focal length, coupled with a cylindrical zoom-control member, and a further axially shiftable component for changing the object distance, coupled with a cylindrical focusing-control member. An operating tube coaxial with the two control members engages the zoom-control member for rotating same, the focusing-control member being releasably entrainable by the zoom-control member between a limiting macro-range position and a close-up position through a deactivable coupling which may include two coacting lugs on these members or a pawl on the zoom-control member retractable by an axial shift of the operating tube. A toothed detent ring, nonrotatable but axially slidable, is also movable by that tube into engagement with the focusing-control member for arresting same against the force of a biasing spring urging that member into its limiting macro-range position.