Chris Galipo

Just as a low-budget, quick solution is to use either a LCD monitor close to the actor's face (of course the should would need to be tight) and put some thing on such as an itunes visualizer. LCD screens are usually pretty bright and you can achieve a nice affect with a rim.

Or, if you want more flicker use a regular analog tv, don't change your shutter angle, put on a colorful dvd and have a PA fast foward the dvd.

I achieved this effect simply by focusing on the reflection of a TV in the actor's eye.

Very Guy DeBord

As far as sound goes if you have a small crew and your budget allots for it, a Sound Devices 7-series recorder is compact, light, and manageable by one person (I'm perfectly capable of mixing and booming simultaneously if I have one of these) and they have things that may save you due to lack of people (an adjustable pre-roll record time, nice file naming capabilities, etc). If the budget doesn't allow for one of these, a Marantz compact flash recorder with large cards will do the trick.

Hello all,

 

I'm contemplating buying a Krasnogorsk K3 16mm camera as I'm finding it hard to buy a Bolex on Ebay at a reasonable price without being sniped out at the last second.

 

I've used the Bolex before & think they're a great camera but could anyone give me advice on the K3, like the reliability, what problems to look out for (i've heard they have some common problems), cost, where is a good place to buy etc. Also how would they compare to the Bolex in terms of reliability, features, image quality etc.

 

Thanks to all who reply....

I've shot a lot of 16mm stock tests with the K3 and found these common problems usually dealing w/ the pressure plate:

the pressure plate often gets jarred if the camera goes through sudden movements. It's easy to tell when it happens because of the insane amount of noise-- fixable but annoying.

Second-- they can be very scratch-happy. If you look at the pressure plate you'll see that they have a patten of grooves running down them.

The scratches usually take on this pattern.

Overall the K3 is an unreliable 16 camera and the lenses are non-existent for some of the models unless you craft your own adapters. But, they are cheap and easy to find. Perfect for doing things like stock tests and small experiments- usually a horrible disaster for those doing more serious and expensive projects.

If you are shooting a short with this camera no amount of scratch tests is enough...