In a Moment of Drunkedness, I bid on this:

Ira Ratner · July 10, 2008

There are no lenses in its turret....I have a max bid in on it for $15 (with an $18 shipping cost)...so was I a total idiot for bidding on it? I just couldn't resist:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...rksid=p3907.m29

I have a bunch of stuff coming due via eBay this weekend, so I can not well afford this "little" expense and I regret the bid. But if you tell me that I can find SOME lenses to work with this turret, that will make me feel better.

Jim Keller · July 11, 2008

I'm flying on memory here, but I think the old Victors took standard c-mount lenses.

Never actually gotten my hands on one myself. My collection is mostly B&H...

Nate Downes · July 11, 2008

I had one, sold it awhile ago. Pretty good camera, uses standard C-mount lenses.

David Rakoczy · July 11, 2008

If nothing else you'll have an interesting nick-nack for your office. Nothing worse than waking up hungover with a ton of 'Order Confirmations' in your email in-box :blink:

Ira Ratner · July 11, 2008

Nothing worse than waking up hungover with a ton of 'Order Confirmations' in your email in-box :blink:

HAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So what the heck is a C-mount lens? And I assume I'll need three, correct?

Saul Rodgar · July 11, 2008

So what the heck is a C-mount lens? And I assume I'll need three, correct?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_mount

You'll need three if you want to get different focal-length lenses. Originally, these cameras were designed and built before the days of zoom lenses, hence the spinning turret design. But you can still use three nice primes and switch them effortlessly.

Edited July 11, 2008 by Saul Rodgar

Ira Ratner · July 11, 2008

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_mount

You'll need three if you want to get different focal-length lenses. Originally, these cameras were designed and built before the days of zoom lenses, hence the spinning turret design. But you can still use three nice primes and switch them effortlessly.

Thanks, Saul. After doing my eBay search just now, I can see that there are some choices available for this out there. It's a screw mount, with a small diameter.

But if I win the camera, I think I'm going to really want to find the old lenses, right? If at all possible?

I guess the best plan of actionif I win the auction is to take a good look at it and try to figure out how the thing works, how it feeds, etc., and clean her up.

And THEN worry about putting lenses on her.

Edited July 11, 2008 by Ira Ratner

John Sprung · July 12, 2008

All the old Bolexes and Filmos were C mount, as were many other makes. There are loads of cheap old lenses out there. Finding appropriate ones should be no problem. The only thing to beware of is the CS mount, which was used in early video cameras. It's the same screw thread as C, but the flange focal distance is shorter.

-- J.S.

James Steven Beverly · July 12, 2008

I thought about buying one but I wasn't sure if they would take single perf film. Do they?

Ira Ratner · July 12, 2008

I thought about buying one but I wasn't sure if they would take single perf film. Do they?

Thank you James for bringing up this VERY important point, since I might be winning a paperweight then.

Like I said, I'm a total newbie to this.

Leo Anthony Vale · July 12, 2008

I thought about buying one but I wasn't sure if they would take single perf film. Do they?

It's been a long time since I touched mine, it's likely double perf only.

A funny thing about the C-mt on the Victor, it's very deep & the threads are recessed. Thus the threads on many newer C-mts won't reach the threads in the Victor C-mt. conversely some very old C-mt lenses have threads too long to fit a newer camera.

Notice the pendulum level in the viewfinder. Cool.

James Steven Beverly · July 13, 2008

Thank you James for bringing up this VERY important point, since I might be winning a paperweight then.

Like I said, I'm a total newbie to this.

Well, maybe not a paper weight......although if you do NEED a paper weight, using a vintage motion picture camera as one DOES show a lotta style. :D I THINK 2 perf 16mm film is available for older MOS cameras but it'll probably be limited in what stocks you can get and all but impossible to get a deal on and you could be limited in what the camera can do. As for sound, I'm not sure if it would matter if you had the footage transfered to DVD. I'll bet you could wrap a blanket around the camera, set it back a ways and record sound then have everything synced digitally, though because this is a spring wound, MOS camera, I don't know how well the sync would.........well SYNC up over the course of a few lines. I suspect it would drift quite a bit. Anyone ever try this?

Edited July 13, 2008 by James Steven Beverly

Ira Ratner · July 13, 2008

Not worried about sound, and I just discovered that Spectra in California sells brand-new, fresh 2-perf high contrast b&w reversal film under their own label, and that's all I wanted for this anyway. I'll also try it on my K-3 eventually, which takes both 1 and 2.

Ira Ratner · July 13, 2008

And Leo--thanks for that advice! That means not to just order off eBay.

James Steven Beverly · July 14, 2008

Not worried about sound, and I just discovered that Spectra in California sells brand-new, fresh 2-perf high contrast b&w reversal film under their own label, and that's all I wanted for this anyway. I'll also try it on my K-3 eventually, which takes both 1 and 2.

Both 1 and 2?! Man, you have got to LOVE those Commiecams!! :D

Tom Hepburn · July 14, 2008

Hey Adrian,

I just wanted to add that this is one of the funniest (and honest) titles I've seen in a long while. I wish I could relate more ;)

as was:

"Nothing worse than waking up hungover with a ton of 'Order Confirmations' in your email in-box"

Good times.

Tom

Hal Smith · July 14, 2008

Is this the filmmaker's version of Bubba's last words? "Hey, hold my beer and watch this!"

Ira Ratner · July 14, 2008

Well, someone got drunker than me today--because that someone (Jagermeister, probably) just moved ahead of my max bid (of $15) by 50 cents, with the auction ending tomorrow.

And he can have it:

His extra 50 cents saved me around 40 bucks on the camera and shipping, plus money for the lenses that it doesn't have, plus a whole lot of other headaches.

Edited July 14, 2008 by Ira Ratner