Old Kodak 16mm camera parts

Michael Ryan · April 7, 2006

Hello All,

Is there a company that stocks old camera parts? I'm looking for a working or non-working motor drive for a Kodak K-100 16mm camera. It's a wind up camera, but I saw an old ad on eBay (from 1956) that Kodak made a motor as an option for the camera.

Thanks for you help,

Mike

April 7, 2006

I need the drive parts for a Cine-Kodak Editor Viewer, the thumb screw, sproket washer, and drive wheel. Model B 16.

OR, you can have the viewer for $5 plus shipping and use those parts that are there for whatever. I can provide pictures of the parts needed and if you tell me what kind of tools I need I'll measure them for you.

Michael Carter, Pittsburgh

April 7, 2006

I think Ebay has become the world's de facto "junkyard," although, as a K100 fan, I think you'll have a very hard time locating the motor even there. Kodak marketed a hand crank adapter and motor drive adapter for the camera, and these are available every once in a great while. I have never seen the motor for sale anywhere. If you can get one of the adapters, which screw into the right side of the camera and provide a 2 frames per revolution drive shaft, you might be able to adapt one of the Tobin Bolex motors to it. To get 24 fps, you'd have to set the Tobin motor to 12 fps. There might be torque or other issues, but from a cursory examination I think it would work.

Michael Ryan · April 7, 2006

Hello Ian,

If you are still out there...what do you like and don't like about the K100? How does it compare to other wind up 16mm cameras, or just anything in general you would like to say about the K100.

Thanks,

Mike

April 8, 2006

If you are still out there...what do you like and don't like about the K100? How does it compare to other wind up 16mm cameras, or just anything in general you would like to say about the K100.

Just off the top of my head, quickly:

1. Great, circa-1950's "machine age" styling - it looks like a hunkered down locomotive in motion.

2. Very compact form factor. Small enough to put in a mailbox or other tight spots for interesting angles. Bolt it to your helmet, hang-glider, whatever. I sold my first one to a guy who shoots downhill skiing footage, and immediately regretted it. Unobtrusive enough to use for grab shots in public places.

3. C-mount. Lenses are cheap and plentiful. Because there's no mirror, you can mount odd wide angle lenses which protrude too far back into the camera to put on your "A" camera, like my groovy Tamron 6.5mm. I believe the original C-mount Ektars are good lenses too.

4. C-mount. Get a $10 C-mount to Nikon or Pentax adapter and put an 8mm Peleng on it. File out the gate to Super-16 specs. Instant Super-16 wide angle grab shot camera. Compare to a $6500 A-Minima, and calculate the $6000+ savings.

5. C-mount. Put a 17-85mm with built-in finder on it. Instant reflex 16mm camera. Put a pistol grip on it (and rig a bit of cable to the release trigger, which is an unusual location), and you have something resembling a big Super-8 camera but shooting superior 16mm images. I have a non-turret K100 with a compact 17-85 with built-in finder, and it's a tidy little package. I'm looking for just the right pistol grip.

6. Okay, it's not a reflex camera, but the optical finder is one of the best out there - better than the Bell and Howells and the Bolex. Unfortunately, the finder objectives are not interchangeable with the Bell and Howells, so if you intend to use the optical finder, make sure you get the full complement of them when you buy the camera.

7. Last but certainly not least, the K100 has the longest running time of all the spring winds - about 108 seconds at 24 fps on one winding (and winding is a breeze compared to a Filmo). This makes it genuinely useful for the hang-gliding/mailbox/walking-through-crowds, as the Bolex's 28 seconds just won't cut it.

The other undiscovered gem in this group is the Bell and Howell 240T - the civilian successor to the Filmo. These are often available for less than a hundred bucks, and will run for about 60 seconds at 24 fps on one winding.

Whew!