Can I suggest that people stop offering wild assed guesses that don’t add anything to the solving of the question posed? yeesh!
Perhaps someone can simply ask NASA to explain…
Feel free to suggest that.
However, I doubt that the group as a whole will be swayed be that suggestion.
Am I supposed to believe that all this rain was suspended in mid-air until moments ago?
DS, I have a tremendous amount of respect for most of your posts, but, if I may suggest–lighten up!
Part of the fun of posting to the SDMB, (especially the GQ forum) is formulating, basd on one’s own experience and knowledge of the topic at hand, an answer; and comparing how closely that answer conforms to the eventual solution.
Yeesh! You’re not in court here–relax! 
I can’t stands it no more! Here’s the Straight Dope on what happens to the stages, straight from the Apollo program section of the National Air and Space Museum website (www.nasm.org).
The Saturn V launch vehicle itself consisted of three stages:
First Stage (S-IC): The first stage includes the five F-1 engines producing nearly 7.7 million pounds of thrust. These powerful engines are required to lift the heavy rocket fast enough to escape Earth’s gravity. The first stage engines are burned at liftoff and last for about 2.5 minutes, taking the vehicle and payload to an altitude of 38 miles. The first stage then separates and burns up in the Earth’s atmosphere.
Second Stage (S-II): The second stage conatins five J-2 engines. After the first stage is discarded, the second stage burns for approximately 6 minutes taking the vehicle and payload to 115 miles altitude. The second stage is then also discarded.
Third Stage (S-IVB): The third stage contains one J-2 engine. This engine burns for 2.75 minutes boosting the spacecraft to orbital velocity of about 17,500 mph. The third stage is shut down with fuel remaining and remains attached the spacecraft in Earth orbit. The J-2 engine is reignited to propel the spacecraft into translunar trajectory (speed of 24,500 mph) before finally being discarded.
I only found one confirmed Apollo spacewalk at this site (Apollo 7), but I know from my reading that someone from Apollo 15 performed an EVA explicitly to retrieve film from the exterior cameras.
Well, almost.
First, unless you want info on athlete’s foot the link is nasm.edu not nasm.org
Second, there was no EVA on Apollo 7. It was during Apollo 9.
Third, it wasn’t 15, it was during Apollo 16 that, after leaving the moon’s surface & docking with the CM, they did a spacewalk (to, among other things, retrieve camera film).
And fourth, when refering to the Apollo missions, an “EVA” also includes getting out of the LM while on the moon and walking around on its surface. On any other mission an EVA means a spacewalk.
I for one welcome our new insect overlords… - K. Brockman
Hail Ants–you are the king of nitpickers; I salute you.
And what harm is there in sharing information both on the space program and atheletes feet? 
All I wanted to do was stop the endless speculation and provide some answers to the poster’s question. I hope I was able to do that, even with my tuypos*#?
I just sent an e-mail to NASA. Maybe they’ll get back to me…
“I must leave this planet, if only for an hour.” – Antoine de St. Exupéry
Are you a turtle?
Boy, I tell ya. You post a couple of WAGs while waiting for people to return your e-mail and the posters around here jump down your throat.
I contacted someone froom Spaceline.org and he informed me that the answer to the OP is contained in their archives and he would see if he could dig up the information. In his reply he said he did not think any of the jettisoned stages that returned to Earth (stage 1 and 2) were recovered. I will post more information when he gets back to me.
I also e-mailed NASA and will post their reply if I get one. I am less hopeful about this as they indicated that they are very busy.
Guy, Your information is helpful, but still does not guive the straight dope on how the footage was obtained.
I will post the informatioin when I get it.
John
Then he got up on top
With a tip of his hat.
“I call this game FUN-IN- A-BOX”
Said the cat.
-The Cat in the Hat
“still does not guive the straight dope”
It does not give the straight dope either.
John
I always see a sort of wire connected betwixt the two rockets when they come apart, maybe thats the video cable?
“‘How do you know I’m mad’ said Alice.
'You must be, ’ said the Cat, ‘or you wouldn’t have come here.’”
Apollo 4 & 6 had “Dual Separation Plane” definitely had cameras on the bottom of the S-II stage, as described here. Perhaps the NASA folks will have details about film recovery.
I lead a boring life of relative unimportance. Really.
It’s film, people, not video! To summarize:
(1) exterior cameras shoot detaching stages;
(2) film stored in CM
(3) exposed film retrieved by astronauts
THE END!
It’s my duty; my duty as a complete and utter bastard.–Arnold J. Rimmer.
As already noted two or three times, the footage was shot from inside the stage. Also, how would an astronaut retrieve the footage from a stage that was jettisoned before he was able to perform EVA? (Note: I don’t deny that there was an exterior camera, nor that there was at least one EVA to recover the film. It’s just that I’m asking specifically about the footage that was shot from inside a stage that was jettisoned.)
I guess we’ll have to wait to hear from NASA or Spaceline.
“I must leave this planet, if only for an hour.” – Antoine de St. Exupéry
Are you a turtle?
While in orbit with third stage still attached, seems like a great time to retrieve film from a camera on the third stage. The third stage is later jetisoned.
Does anyone have a problem with that?
Am I supposed to believe that all this rain was suspended in mid-air until moments ago?
I surrender.
Ok here is the real Dope, the footage was taken by a pod capsule camera mounted on the #2 stage of the Saturn V launch vehicle. The footage is of the ignition of the five J-2 engines and the seperation of the first and second stages (S-IC and S-II).
----MikeJust saw some more footage, this time on Speedvision. It showed a stage with one engine (the J-2 stage?). The camera was definately inside of the lower stage, pointing forward. The screen is black, then an image appears as the stages seperate to let light into the structure. The single-engine stage pulls away. The camera was inside of the discarded stage.