I JUST GOT A BOLEX REX 1! Basic Questions!

Mark Sperry · September 2, 2011

A usually shoot super 8 for my personal projects, but I work in a camera store and somebody dropped off two Bolex cameras. I ended up buying a beautiful Rex 1 with a 25mm 1.4 and 50mm 1.4 Macro Switar lenses, in a beautiful leather case with gel filters and documentation. Got the whole thing for $120 dollars. Does that sound like a good deal?

The camera runs smoothly at all speeds, and the gate appears clean. The lenses seem good, except some small fungus spots in the 50mm. At 24 fps it runs for 30 seconds from one wind up. It seems to click every other second when running, is this normal?

Otherwise I don't know what else to check for... I'm still a little bit of a newbie to 16mm and Bolexes in general. What's a good test of the camera? And is it true that I need to over expose my film 2/3rds of a stop because of the prism?

Basically what are the very FIRST things I should look at in this camera before I run some film through it?

I bought 200' of Tri-X double perf film that B&H had on sale , and 100' of 100D. I'm going to use Pac Lab for processing, and Frame Discreet for my transfer. I also picked up a K to C mount adapter, so I can use my Pentax K mount lenses on the Bolex. I have a 16-50mm 2.8 zoom that should be good for it, as well as 15, 31, and 70mm primes. Any advice you good folks can offer would be appreciated. This will be a great augmentation to my super 8 film projects.

And is Super 16 something I should eventually go for? Seems really expensive!

Simon Wyss · September 2, 2011

Basically what are the very FIRST things I should look at in this camera before I run some film through it?

You should not run the camera at over 32 f. p. s. without film.

Then you wind her fully, set the speed dial at 12 f. p. s., hold the camera upside down and listen to her running without film. When there’s rattle don’t use the camera before an overhaul. Probably never serviced the bearings are dry.

The clicks can be switched off by the little lever just above the footage counter engagement pin at the inside rear.

Have a look through the viewfinder with no lens in front of the taking port towards the sky or a uniformly lit surface. Adjust the eyepiece to maximum sharpness of the groundglass. Then swing back a lens into taking position, open iris diaphragm wide open, set lens at infinity and see whether distant objects such as trees or horizon come sharp.

Everything must be clean. Film side guide (spring) must touch film and exert some pressure. One can check this function with a piece of film moved up and down by hand. Make sure the claw is withdrawn! For that you disengage the spring motor from the mechanism by turning the 180-degrees lever on the camera’s right side to 0 (Zero). If it doesn’t want to go, push the release simultaneously. With the rewind crank you can move the mechanism freely and fine set the claw forward and backwards.

Edited September 2, 2011 by Simon Wyss