Clearwater Features/Behind the Scenes

Periscope Lens System
The Clearwater Periscope lens system was the special 35mm movie camera designed in 1984 by David Mitton and Terence Permane working in Clearwater Features for use on the children's television series Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends. The cameras were built in the United States with the lenses grounded in Japan, an inverted periscope was built in, and were used together with live action model animation, to produce the image of character movements at eye level. Only two of these camera systems were ever made.