A Bolex Brainwave!!!

Matthew Buick · January 31, 2007

I was thinking,

Bolex has a good history of Super 8 Cameras, and they probably wish a larger profit margin than they currently have. What harm would it do to just put one of those cameras into production again? They don't have to spend any money on design, just start from where they left off...it could be the start of something new...

What are your thoughts?

-Matthew Buick.

Edited January 31, 2007 by Matthew Buick

Nick Mulder · January 31, 2007

maybe they could even defrost the same production line crew !

Matthew Buick · January 31, 2007

Good idea, I'll boil the kettle. :D

Hal Smith · February 1, 2007

Not a bad idea, it would come down to how many parts were in common with their current 16mm cameras. The more parts in common, the easier it would be for them to produce a new batch of H8's.

Nick Mulder · February 1, 2007

Not a bad idea, it would come down to how many parts were in common with their current 16mm cameras. The more parts in common, the easier it would be for them to produce a new batch of H8's.

Although H8's are a great source of many parts for H16's they shoot double-run regular8 - not super8

February 1, 2007

It would be wonderful to have a Bolex H16 EL S3 DS8 camera, but how many buyers would it attract at current factory prices (over $9.0K for the H16 EL S3 body alone). Even an H16 RX5 DS8 wouldn't be cheap. (See http://www.bolex.ch/NEW/?p=6#1 for the current price list). I think Bolex wouldn't earn much from the sale of such a camera or cameras. The 160 Macrozoom design and even the venerable P1 Zoom Reflex regular 8mm design might be worth resurrecting, but these cameras were expensive when they were made (the P1 cost £162.00 in 1962) and would surely cost more than $1.0K now. I think that the market for new cameras of this type would be exceedingly small given that functional examples appear at eBay regularly at bargain prices.

ken wood · February 1, 2007

It would decrease the value of the one I own and all the ones Mitch Perkins owns.

Humor included.

Matthew Buick · February 1, 2007

Not a bad idea, it would come down to how many parts were in common with their current 16mm cameras. The more parts in common, the easier it would be for them to produce a new batch of H8's.

I wasn't actually thinking of the H8, I was thinking more of the later models such as the XL models.

James Grahame · February 3, 2007

I wasn't actually thinking of the H8, I was thinking more of the later models such as the XL models.

Bolex is now a tiny company with only a handful of employees. I would be surprised if they sold more than 20 new cameras each year, and they only have a single technician. The current new cameras are simply assembled from their old parts inventory.

The "Bolex XL" models you refer to weren't actually Bolex cameras at all. The last Bolex Super 8 models were the Macrozooms released in the late sixties.

The company was sold to Eumig in 1970. Eumig made slight cosmetic changes to some of their Super 8 cameras and sold them under the Bolex name at premium prices. Bolex continued to produce their 16mm lineup. After Bolex collapsed in 1981, the remains of the Bolex company (and spare parts for Eumig cameras and projectors) were acquired by the then managing director of Bolex International. His son now runs the company.