Abraham

Abraham Zapruder bought his 8mm Bell & Howell Zoomatic Director Series Camera (Model 414 PD) in 1962 from employee Sam Berger at Peacock Jewelry Company on Elm Street. Costing just over $200, it was a top-of-the-line model which included a Varamat 9 to 27mm f1.8 lens and a leather carrying case. Serial number was AS13486. The camera's manual stated it shot at 16 frames-per-second (fps) but it actually shot at the new standard of 18 fps (due to variations unique to each camera, this particular camera captured at 18.3 fps). Other shutter speeds were a slow motion setting that captured at 48 fps and single-frame animation.