Problem with Calkovski

[Sheri Lawson]

Has anyone bought from Calkovski?
Bought a Bolex RX4 with 2 lenses that did not fit.
The guy knows nothing about cameras.

 

[Lee Rust]

I've purchased several items from Calkovsky with no problem, but mistakes do happen.  Let him know what the problem is.

[Sheri Lawson]

He was implying that i did not know how to use a camera. 
Guess you were luckier than I was

[Lee Rust]

We all have our rude moments. Let it go, talk to him and work it out.

[Dom Jaeger]

1 hour ago, Sheri Lawson said:

He was implying that i did not know how to use a camera. 
Guess you were luckier than I was

I’ve had some rude interactions with him, but he eventually covered the repair costs for the clients I was representing, who had bought “serviced” cameras from him that arrived with faults. 

What lenses did he sell you that don’t fit the Bolex? 
If they don’t fit but he sold you the kit as a package, then he has a responsibility to replace the lenses. If you bought the lenses separately then you have less of a case.

 

[Dennis Toeppen]

My personal opinion is that you should steer clear of Calkovsky. 

[Sheri Lawson]

I will for sure

[Rene Mühlberger]

Hey!

I bought a non RX kern 10mm switar lens for my RX SBM Bolex camera from Calkovsky last year. Rudy said that it will fit my RX camera, though I was hesitant. He said it´s gonna be sharp because he collimated the lens for RX. 

I have only shot 2 testfilms but cannot really get sharp images. (My poe100 is supersharp, the camera has been serviced by a pro).. The lens was pretty expensive and I also had to pay 150 euros import taxes. He wrote a much lower value on the package, but that didn´t work. Bummer.

After googling about 20 or more hours to find out if a collimated non RX kern will be okay on a RX bolex I am still unsure and frustrated. And afraid of using the lens.

I got in contact 2 weeks ago - but he insured me that the lens is okay. He said if the image is sharp in the viewfinder, it will be sharp on film. I am not sure why, but that´s just not the case. There is a lot info on the internet saying it can/will never fit the RX model.

I payed about 700 euros for that lens including shipping.

Rudy said it´s too late to return the lens. So, that´s my story.

I am frustrated, but not really sure if it´s my fault.

If anybody knows more about the AR lens on the RX model.... I´ll be happy to hear about it.

 

Wish u more luck...

René

 

 

 

[Dom Jaeger]

Sorry to hear that René. Rudy should be absolutely avoided for this sort of thing.

Firstly, you cannot just "collimate a lens for RX". He's talking out of his arse. An RX lens has a different design that compensates for the aberrations that the Bolex reflex prism introduces. If you use a non-RX lens under about 50mm on a reflex Bolex, the prism will introduce spherical aberration and astigmatism at wide apertures. Some lenses will be affected more than others, but as a basic guide the wider the lens the worse it will be. Adjusting the back-focus (ie "collimating" it) does nothing to change that fact, it just shifts where the focus scale lines up. If you're focussing by eye it makes zero difference.

Secondly, 700 Euros for a 10mm Switar is an absolute rip-off. That's expensive even for the much more sought-after pre-set version. Ebay has a "sold" listings filter which shows you what people are actually paying for things, if you are patient you can pick up a 10mm Switar for around 200-300 Euros:

https://www.ebay.de/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=Switar+10mm+&_sacat=0&rt=nc&LH_Complete=1

If you stop the 10mm down past about f/2.8 it should be OK. If you're finding that even stopped down what you see in the viewfinder is not what ends up on the film (and assuming you have set the viewfinder eyepiece correctly for your eye), then something other than the lens is not right. It can be hard to judge perfect focus through the viewfinder with a wide angle lens, but what you see should be what's on the film, if the camera is properly set up. A properly collimated lens should be sharp when you set the lens distance scale to match the distance to your subject.

Feel free to PM me if you have any Bolex questions rather than spending 20 hrs googling the internet - there is a lot of misinformation about Bolexes floating around the web. 

 

 

[Simon Wyss]

Second Dom Jaeger entirely

RX lenses have stronger positive rear elements. There is no other possibility of correction of the optical changes the reflex double prism introduces. “Collimation” of a regular lens for RX models is fraud. AR simply means Anti Reflection (coating). DV on the other hand was an early designation of reflex lenses. DV for Direct Vision

The Switar 10 mm, f/1.6 is a ten-elements system, five cemented achromats. It should cost more than an Yvar 75, 100 or 150 which are triplets. The Macro Yvar have an additional element, so four glass. People tend to be impressed by long tubes and flatter glass surfaces. I see Yvar 100 and 150 offered for hundreds and thousands of $, totally wrong. I think an unscratched Switar 10 is worth USD400 today. An Yvar 75-2.8 around 200 max. Switar 25 some 300 max.