Eclair (camera)
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Eclair was a movie camera manufacturing company established in Epinay-sur-Seine, France by Charles Jourjon in 1907. Originally a production company, they started building cameras in 1912. Their products played a major part in the French New Wave through the development of camera systems such as Cameflex, Eclair NPR, and Eclair ACL. The co-axial design of the camera magazine in the later two systems revolutionized 16 mm filmmaking, in particular documentary films, which could now change magazines in seconds without the need to spend time lacing the film in the camera. The company was acquired in the early 1970s by film producer Harry Saltzman, but was eventually sold to Aaton in the 1980s, who dissolved the assets.