The CP-16, CP-16A, CP-16R, CP-16R/A and CP-16R/DS cameras are 16mm

motion picture A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

camera A camera is an Optics, optical instrument that can capture an image. Most cameras can capture 2D images, with some more advanced models being able to capture 3D images. At a basic level, most cameras consist of sealed boxes (the camera body), ...

s manufactured by the Cinema Products Corporation of Hollywood,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. A range of cameras of

Auricon Auricon cameras were 16 mm film Single System sound-on-film motion picture cameras manufactured in the 1940s through the early 1980s. Auricon cameras are notable because they record sound directly onto an optical or magnetic track on the same film ...

ancestry. They were primarily intended for television news filming and were quite popular with local and national news agencies before the advent of portable videotape

Electronic News Gathering Electronic news-gathering (ENG) or electronic journalism (EJ) is usage of electronics, electronic video and sound recording and reproduction, audio technologies by journalist, reporters to gather and present news instead of using film camera ...

, (ENG) formats, as well as documentary and drama production. They featured a compact magnesium alloy body, a crystal locked drive system, interchangeable lenses, and a magnetic audio system with a built in mixer that recorded onto special pre-striped (and now discontinued) 16mm single-perf negative or reversal film. It accepted both Mitchell and Cinema Products 400 foot film magazines. The CP-16 series used a special 12-120mm Angenieux zoom lens with a prismatic viewfinder. The CP-16 used a variety of Angenieux lenses, a favorite among television news photographers was the 9.5 - 57mm zoom with a F1.6-2.2 aperture making it a very versatile camera; an operator could quite literally shoot an interview in a closet. The CP-16R series used a spinning mirror shutter. Curtis Choy with a CP-15 16mm camera

CP-16: non-reflex 180° shutter,'C' lens mount,

SEPMAG A sound follower, also referred to as ''separate magnetic'', ''sepmag'', ''magnetic film recorder'', or ''mag dubber'', is a device for the recording and playback of film sound that is recorded on magnetic film. This device is locked or synchro ...

or COMMAG. CP-16/A: as above but with integral automatic COMMAG amplifier. CP-16R: 156° shutter reflex, CP (miniature BNCR) lens mount, SEPMAG or COMMAG with amplifier separate from camera. Later type has 170° focal plane shutter plus mirror reflex. CP-16R/A: as CP-16R but with integral COMMAG amplifier. CP-16R/ADS: as CP-16R but for SEPMAG (double system) sound only. CP 16s are still often used in small productions and in film schools. Many of these cameras were donated or sold off when news crews adopted videotape.

References

image of a CP-16R

CP-16 manual by Media LoanThe original CP-16 manual
Movie cameras {{film-tech-stub