Today in Bigfoot History | May 13th 1967 | Roger Patterson Rents a Camera

The 16mm Cine-Kodak K-100 was the camera rented by Roger Patterson
 and used to film the most iconic footage of Bigfoot. 

On May 13th in 1967 Roger Patterson rented a 16mm Cine-Kodak K-100 camera from the Yakima Camera Shop. Although the rental was intended for only two days, we know Roger Patterson had it until at least October 20th of the same year. This was the date of the famous Patterson/Gimlin film when both Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin filmed what appears to be a female Sasquatch walking in the Bluff Creek area.

Our favorite part about Bigfoot research, is the ability to geek out on ancillary research that contributes to our larger set of Sasquatch knowledge. In this instance, the Cine-Kodak K-100 provides a lot of opportunity to disect the P/G film. Even better there is a man who has done the research for us; Bill Munns. 

Bill Munns has probably done the most research on the type of camera and settings used to captured the P/G film. In the self-titled Munns Report he describes he showcases how important the camera detail is in reconstructing the P/G film site.

"In the process of that attempt to build the digital model, I have discovered something about the film which has been mistakenly assumed by one and all for the last 41 years, and it does impact significantly on any analysis of the film. All assumption has been that the lens on Roger Patterson's camera was a 25mm lens, the standard issue lens for the Kodak K-100 camera. My analysis indicates that the camera has a 15mm lens on it instead (presumption being a Kodak  Cine Ektar 15mm lens with S mount to C mount adapter, as per the Kodak camera user's guide,because the camera requires a companion viewfinder lens of same focal length, which Kodak only supplied for it's Cine Ektar lenses." SRC: The Munns Report release No.1

In his In the blurb below you can read Bill Munns reaching out to the cinematographer community. 

"...I immersed myself in the analysis of the film, I felt that building a digital model of the film site may help clear up some issues, and having 12 years now working with 3D visualization software, I felt I had a good background to attempt this. But in trying to build the digital model, I began to see discrepancies with the general report that the Patterson film was taken with a Kodak K-100 single lens camera with the standard 25mm Ektar lens on it. My analysis indicated a wider angle lens was necessary to replicate the filming, and the only wider angle lens made by Kodak (and having the appropriate viewfinder companion lens) was the 15mm Ektar. So I tested building the digital site model using the 15mm lens specification, and it assembled quite splendidly, and very accurately, in terms of locating seven distinct camera positions and matching them in the digital model so the digital model renderings overlay the actual film frames exceptionally well."

SRC: Cinematography.com

Bill Munn's continues to work on the P/G Film. There is a recent effort to raise funds for a documentary he's working on called, "When Roger met Patty".