Bolex H16 viewfinder lever

[Youngjae Lih]

Hello

 

Recently I bought the bolex H16 rex5. But I am not sure if the viewfinder is okay. From its appearance it is 10x viewfinder. Hope I can get some advices from seniors here.

 

First of all it has lever on the side but I can see the image very well when it is vertical position! And the horizontal position, it become very dark. But still I can see the image and specially bottom 30% parts become really dark.

 

When I remove the lens and rotate turret, from the front side I can recognize lights through the prism glass. The light comes from viewfinder behind(usually where my eye should place there), so I can imagine the film will be damaged if I put the lever vertical position. When I change the lever horizontal position, I can sense from the front side the light is blocked somehow. Actually still I can see the dark image through the viewfinder.

 

Also what I found strange is, when I turn the lever horizontal position I have to rotate lever forward direction(lens side, not to the eye side). I checked all bolex images, it seems completely opposite from other cameras or manual pictures.

 

Here the summaries and my questions,

1. Is it possible the viewfinder lever works the other way around that horizontal position is closed but vertical position is openning the view?

 

2. Even if it is possible, but is it still normal that I can see the darken images through the closed viewfinder?(horizontal)

 

3. If the viewfinder has a problem, can I use the side-attachable viewfinder instead of this?(if so, I might block original viewfinder to avoid fogging damages)