Camera database

The Camera database indexes almost 850 historical film characters as found in the largest public museums and collections in Germany.

Among the holdings it references:


• Deutsche Kinemathek – Museum für Film und Fernsehen Berlin

• Deutsches Filminstitut – DIF/Filmmuseum Frankfurt

• Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin

• Filmmuseum Düsseldorf

• Filmmuseum Potsdam

The collection has several goals. First, it seeks to draw broader attention to these underappreciated archival treasures. Second, it establishes a foundation of information to plug a known research gap in the field of film studies. Film technology is without doubt one of the few underexplored chapters of media history. The database represents a first step toward comprehensive documentation of film-technical museum collections in Germany. In the future, all manners of devices (including those for film production and film editing) will be incorporated into the joint project for presentation online.