The A-Minima is a Super 16

movie camera A movie camera (also known as a film camera and cine-camera) is a type of photographic camera that rapidly takes a sequence of photographs, either on an image sensor or onto film stock, in order to produce a moving image to project onto a movie s ...

that was introduced by

Aaton Aaton Digital (formerly known as Aaton) is a French motion picture equipment manufacturer, based in Grenoble, France. History Aaton was founded by Eclair engineer Jean-Pierre Beauviala, whose efforts have been primarily focused on making quiet ...

in 1999. Touted as the smallest reflex viewfinder movie camera at the time, the camera is distinguished by its low-profile form-factor. It has a size comparable to a small

prosumer A prosumer is an individual who both consumes and produces. The term is a portmanteau of the words '' producer'' and ''consumer''. Research has identified six types of prosumers: DIY prosumers, self-service prosumers, customizing prosumers, coll ...

video camera A video camera is an optical instrument that captures videos (as opposed to a movie camera, which records images on film). Video cameras were initially developed for the television industry but have since become widely used for a variety of other ...

, and weights including film and battery. The A-Minima was the first Super 16 only camera. In order to accommodate the camera design, Aaton worked with

Eastman Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...

to create a specially designed flexible

flange A flange is a protruded ridge, lip or rim (wheel), rim, either external or internal, that serves to increase shear strength, strength (as the flange of an iron beam (structure), beam such as an I-beam or a T-beam); for easy attachment/transfer of ...

daylight spool. Because of the spool's particular design and the fact that the camera requires A-wind 16 mm film, the A-Minima can only use Kodak

film stock Film stock is an analog medium that is used for recording motion pictures or animation. It is recorded on by a movie camera, developed, edited, and projected onto a screen using a movie projector. It is a strip or sheet of transparent p ...

, manufactured specifically for use with the A-Minima. The 200 foot length (approximately 5.5 minutes at 24 frame/s) and slightly noisy sound rating of 29 dB make it convenient as a B-camera or

second unit Second unit is a discrete team of filmmakers tasked with filming shots or sequences of a production, separate from the main or "first" unit. The second unit will often shoot simultaneously with the other unit or units, allowing the filming stag ...

camera; however, the small size and ease of use, along with an integrated AatonCode

timecode A timecode (alternatively, time code) is a sequence of numeric codes generated at regular intervals by a timing synchronization system. Timecode is used in video production, show control and other applications which require temporal coordinatio ...

unit, allow for less conspicuous and cumbersome shooting on Super 16. The camera is aimed at documentary filmmakers.

References

Movie cameras {{Camera-stub