This particular BNCR camera had a serial number of #0017. This means that the manufacture date was probably around 1930. At that time, Mitchell manufactured the NC (Noiseless Camera) and the BNC (Blimped Noiseless Camera) of which this is an example.

These old cameras were all equipped with parallax side-finders to view while filming, and a rack-over mechanism, which could be used to actually look through the camera lens when not filming.

In the 1950s, many of these old BNC cameras began to be converted into BNCRs (Reflexed BNCs). During this conversion process, a prism was installed behind the lens to divert some of the light from the image into the viewfinder, allowing the cameraman to sight through the lens during photography.

Something like 99 percent of all the 35mm feature motion pictures produced in Hollywood in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s were photographed with Mitchell BNCR 35mm movie cameras like this one.