It comes with the best Akeley Gyro head and tripod I have ever seen.
Most Bell & Howell cameras were put on Akeley heads so they could
follow action. The Bell & Howell gear head from the factory was
in use at the time but not for long as they were not an easy head
to use and they almost all were put on the shelf in favor of Akeley
Gyro heads. An Akeley Gyro gave the cameraman the ability to pan and
tilt his own shots as opposed to the normal gear heads that required
three hands to run the
camera and head at the same time. Two hands to pan and tilt the head
and one hand to crank the camera. Akeley Gyro heads were used on all
the early action films. "Wings", the first Academy Award
for Best Picture, had many of them on the ground and in the air. Ben
Hur had many, many
Akeley Gyro heads in use for the chariot race scene. The picture here
is of Elmer Dyer shooting on "The Winged Horseman" suing
an Akeley Gyro head with two Bell & Howell 2709's mounted together.
One with a medium lens and one with a long lens.
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