Bell & Howell Model 71-Q Eyemo

T/4 Edmund Burke O'Connell holds his 35mm Bell & Howell Eyemo. His partner, T/4 Don Wiedenmayer remarked that O'Connell's camera could be equipped with three lenses, as seen in the photograph below, but the Army Signal Corps typically issued one.

 "The  Bell and Howell Eyemo 35mm camera, which came in several different models, some spring driven and others battery powered, some with only a single lens and others with a spider turret holding three lenses. The Army Signal Corps estimated that Eyemos accounted for about 90 percent of its combat motion-picture footage, and the percentage was approximately the same for the other services.

A 100-foot roll of 35 mm film weight about four pounds and cameramen carried up to 10 rolls. Most cameramen had to hand-hold their cameras. The Eyemo lacked special grips for steady hand-holding. Much of World War II footage bounces, jiggles and wavers. Although an Eyemo could be modified to hold a 400-foot magazine, that made the camera impossibly bulky for front-line duty.

    The spring-driven models eliminated the battery but in combat's fast-paced world they had their own special liability, "the reloading headache." Only 45 feet of film could be used before the spring wound down. It took 15 seconds to rewind, so a photographer that shot 45 feet, then rewound, shot another 45 feet, and then either rewound again to shoot the last 10 feet on the roll, or reload immediately, wasting 10 feet of precious film and up to one minute of irretrievable time." Maslowski, Armed With Cameras, pages 52-53.

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