Georg Thoma (designer)

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Georg Thoma (born November 16, 1937 in Munich ) is a German film technician, inventor and electronics engineer.

Life

After childhood in Munich-Schwabing , Thoma trained as a toolmaker and electronics technician at the Deckel company. After his apprenticeship, he continued to work at Deckel as a designer for Compur closures , which were built for lenses from Zeiss , Rodenstock and Schneider for cameras from the manufacturers Rollei , Linhof and Hasselblad .

In 1961 he moved to the Bolex GmbH in Munich in Angelo Jotzoff's development team, who was supposed to build a professional Bolex reportage camera. Thoma was mainly responsible for the viewfinder, the rotating aperture and the cassette system. In 1966 he was entrusted by Paillard-Bolex as production manager with setting up the production of the Bolex 16 Pro camera in Munich-Ismaning . Production was stopped in 1971.

Companies

Thoma developed synchronous motors for Arnold & Richter Cine Technik , Bayerischer Rundfunk and Sachtler in his own company, THOMA Film- und Videotechnik GmbH & Co. KG . In 1974 he invented a simple, multi-stage switchable fluid damping package for Sachtler swivel heads. With this patented invention, which won an Oscar in 1992 , Sachtler became the world market leader. Further inventions dealt with the IRT time coding process , with measuring devices for color and light measurements, with turntables, remote swivel heads and with the virtual television studio. The company was dissolved at the end of 2014.

Products (selection)

  • Quartz motor for Arriflex 35IIC, 16ST and 16BL, turntable TD1 to TD4 loadable 150 to 1500 kg (1980 to 1998)
  • TH1 and TH2 frequency meter (1976)
  • TF1 to TF6 Colormeter (1980)
  • TR1 to TR95 remote heads 22 different versions (1992 to 2016)
  • TR85 remote head for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil
  • Motion Control Tracking System "Walkfinder" (1998 to 2010)

Prizes and awards

  • 1992: Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the development of fluid damping, built into the Sachtler tripod heads (Scientific and Engineering Award Class II)
  • 2006: Design and Technology Prize from the Security and Safety Technologies International Forum in Moscow, for the TR60 remote head, September 2006
  • Prize from Messe Security Essen for the TR60 remote head, September 2006

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Science, Technical Oscar Winners Announced. In: LA Times. March 9, 1992, accessed April 16, 2016.
personal data
SURNAME Thoma, Georg
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German film technician, inventor and electronics engineer
DATE OF BIRTH November 16, 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich