Filmo Reflex Viewfiner door

[Lee Young]

I came across this on ebay.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...E:X:RTQ:US:1123

 

I am about to buy it, if it is what I think it is.

 

1. Is this a device that allows reflex viewing on the filmo and eyemo cameras?

 

2. What kind of light loss compensation are we talking about here?

 

3. Is it worth it?

 

Thank you. I've heard of such a device, but have never actually see one.

[Jean-Louis Seguin]

This is not reflex (through-the-lens) at all. You will still have to correct for parallax.

It just gives you the flexibility to move the eyepiece around to different positions.

 

Cheers,

Jean-Louis

[Charlie Peich]

I am about to buy it, if it is what I think it is.

 

1. Is this a device that allows reflex viewing on the filmo and eyemo cameras?

 

2. What kind of light loss compensation are we talking about here?

 

3. Is it worth it?

 

It looks to me like the door was used for aligning the camera for locked down shots. You have to put a prism into the gate to see what the lens is seeing. After aligning the shot, take the prism out, put the film in and use the normal camera door. Very similar to the Bolex prism.

 

"Prismatic Focus

The prismatic focuser was inserted into the film gate, and allowed focusing at the film plane through the taking lens. Although useful for cinemicrophotography, animation and title work, its use is rather limited for normal filming as the film door and pressure pad are removed while focusing."

 

You didn't remove the gate in the Filmo, the gate opened far enough to insert the prism and show the width of 16mm's 10.26mm aperture.

 

The ebay pic shows the opening in the door to view the gate prism.

 

There used to be a focusing prism made to work with Filmos and Auricons called the AuriBell (similar to the Bolex unit), right angle view, image upside down, focusing magnifying eyepiece.

 

 

As for this opening, I'm guessing the light blocking end cap, like the one on the opposite end, is missing.

 

 

 

This finder door was made to make life easier when precisely aligning and focusing locked off shots. It most likely lets you view the shot with the correct left to right orientation and image correct top to bottom, unlike the Bolex or AuriBell units. Very handy when having to align many cameras.

 

I am not aware of any gate prisms used in Eyemos. The prism would have to be big enough to cover the width of the aperture (35mm Full Aperture at 24.92mm), but the problem is, the gate with pressure pad doesn't open far enough to accommodate the necessary size of the prism that is needed to show the width of the aperture, it opens a measly 12mm, just enough to slip the film in.

 

The finder door offered on eBay is incomplete and useless without a properly ground "gate" prism assembly.

 

Many 16mm Filmos with electric motors and 400ft mags were used to film atomic blasts remotely.

[Lee Young]

Thank you for the very useful information.

[Jean-Louis Seguin]

I stand corrected. Charlie is right. I didn't see the hole on the inside of the door.

I haven't had a Filmo in my hands in a long time and I didn't think you could pull back the pressure plate far enough to fit a prism in the gate.

 

Cheers,

Jean-Louis