Aapo Lettinen

as a general note, it is usually easier to make replacement motors for cameras where the motor is externally mounted to the side than for cameras where it is built-in. External motors are also usually much cheaper, from half to 1/3 of the price. If wanting to future proof camera purchases it is clever to buy a camera where the motor is external and at least some mechanical parts could be replaced with off-brand or newly made ones. The Arri SR is particularly difficult because it has tiny electronics base and special-ish motor with belt drive, a bit difficult to replace and to fit new electronics and everything needs to be very carefully custom designed. If one could attach some extra axle to the SR to get reasonable motor drive axle to the outside of the camera then could just attach my Universal motor to it without further thought. Makings things too small and handy has its drawbacks and really bite the arris in the leg in this case... As for availability of special belts for stuff like 35BL. I would just make replacement mechanics which replace the special belt drive with one using more common standard belt. It is cheaper than letting the camera collect dust in any case. A 98% working system is better than 0% working so as long as it can be restored to usable condition it will be fine. Collectors can collect empty shells of cameras, no need to reserve the fully working ones for them. Same with CP16 cameras. they have the magazine drive clutch belt which is difficult to get but when thinking about it, that belt is used only for takeup and for mechanical footage counter. If you don't need the footage counter you don't need the belt because you can rig a small electronic motor to run the takeup. Or some other type of belt which runs directly to the takeup and no need to bother the footage counter. One can use electronics counter like my Aaton counter even with the original electronics so the mechanical counter is not mandatory if it is difficult to arrange. ----- I decided to take the risk and try one more time with the Bolex crystal motor project. Either people need them or not, have to test now when having the last chance of designing them as otherwise it would be bugging me for the rest of my life 🙄 If they don't want it then case closed and no reason for them to whine about the unavailability of crystal sync bolexes anymore 😄

I still have possibility to make Bolex crystal motors in 2026 if there is possibility to get enough paid preorders so that I can buy a reference bolex with 1:1 axle as I only have 8:1 older versions. And get enough budget for cnc machining tests, these have more complex mechanics than most of my motors so the tests cost a lot. The plan is to make one crystal motor version with two slightly different mounting systems so that there is versions for both 1:1 and 8:1 bolexes available. Not promising the motor part would be exactly the same, it is possible that I would need to make two entirely different motors but the features would be approx the same on both. Works at 14.8v batteries so mini-vlock batteries etc work fine with these. At least 4 crystal speeds but can be more, will know in Summer about speeds if the project is possible to start now in Spring. These projects always have the financial risk of not getting enough paid orders and I would then need to make the motors with huge losses and the schedule would overshoot a lot. Additionally it is sometimes challenging to estimate the exact price of the motor with these lower cost ones because it is so uncertain how much demand there is and the batch size affects directly the parts costs. So in the case of this particular project there would be a deposit which needs to be paid when placing the order. IF the project would not get made then the deposit would be returned (in full if wire transfer or paypal friends&family, otherwise the paypal costs taken off first and the rest returned). IF the project gets made but you decide to not pay the rest for not needing the motor after all, then the deposit won't be returned but you could use it as partial payment for other products I am offering like the 4-speed motor or Aaton Counter etc. When there is enough orders so that it is certain the project would be made, then the rest of the price is paid. This would be between February and April 2026. I need to start the project in March 2026 so there is couple of months to collect orders now. I can only make one batch of motors in Autumn2026 so this won't be available later. The plan is to make as many Bolex motors as possible in 2026 so that there will be as many crystal sync cameras as possible available for aspiring filmmakers when I stop making motors in 2027. I estimated the Bolex motor would cost between 900 and 1050 usd with shipping. The exact price is known when I have all the orders in and can calculate the exact parts costs. Both the 1:1 version and 8:1 version is available so these should fit all Bolexes. The 1:1 mounts to the mounting points on the camera side and the 8:1 has a mounting bracket which is attached to the bottom of the camera and possibly to one corner too to keep the motor in place. Deposit 250usd when placing the order. The remaining amount and exact final price is calculated when there is enough orders in to start the project. Available for order now. Let me know asap, you can DM here or on Instagram(aaplet14).

Yes it is nice to have other colours for change than just the basic black and dark grey typical on camera accessories 🙂 I am also testing how the different colours look like on the anodizing finish so that can plan better the future accessories I am making. btw made this really basic cheeseplate for Konvas, mounts in place of the strap mount next to the magazine. enough space to mount a mini-vlock plate to power the 4-speed motor and the spacing is such that the plate can be mounted sideways, upright or at 45 degree angle. the test pieces will be cobalt blue to test that colour 🙂

And of course I have a Christmas campaign too! the campaign motors will be assembled in late Spring but I will order the aluminium parts already this year so need the orders before 15th to arrange the parts. At the moment looks like that most of the motors will be Champagne colored and most mounting parts grey but will see after the orders are in what colors will have on these.

I have one standard 4-speed kit available for order with the Krasnogorsk mounting kit and pink 4-speed motor body. the Krasnogorsk kit has a faulty mounting plate which does not have all the threads, there is not 1/4" mounting threads. I will manually tap the M4 threads for motor mounting. If bought now in December the outside-EU price is 680usd with shipping as you are only paying for the motor and axle adapter, the mounting plate is free of charge. Shipping will be in January-February once I assemble the pink motor. There is possibility that I could have another similar kit with faulty plate for 680usd but will see later. This one is at least on sale.

I mean film cameras are mechanical devices. You can always get them working some way no matter what. If one starts nitpicking about the replacement not being exactly the same than what was originally on it 50 years ago then it may be much more difficult or even impossible. It is much easier to design completely new stuff than to try to replicate vintage electronics 1:1 without schematics or original parts available Old soviet camera run with a modified battery drill because original motors cannot be found anywhere

Yes new electronics can be made for SR. I investigated this briefly a while ago when asked about it. The only thing needed is time and reference camera body and enough money up front to start the work. I have not been able to secure those so could not proceed further yet. Same with the Aaton LTR electronics. I can make new electronics for it and I even have aaton ltr here. But my camera is fully working and I absolutely won't rip it apart and ruin the original electronics unless I get money up front so that I can be sure I have budget to finish the new electronics as I can't just put the originals back and expect it to work once it it taken apart. It is about money and time windows. Ticking clock and people being hesitant, having cold feet at wrong time and the time window was lost. For example the LTR and SR electronics take so long to design and test that if the project start goes past June they probably won't be made at all

The sr cameras have pretty sturdy electronics so people want to see how long they can go with the originals and hesitate any newly made option. Thus there is not enough demand to develop new sr electronics because raising the funding is too difficult. On eclairs and cp16 there is lots more demand and thus people are willing to pay for the developing work. Thus we have newly made motors available for those cameras and some spinoff versions which fit lower demand cameras like konvas and krasnogorsk. It is a paradox really. Sturdy stuff is less future proof than slightly unreliable gear. Because people need repairs often for unreliable stuff so there is replacements and newly made options available. On sturdy gear there is one original spare part in the world and once it is gone your camera is bricked. I will likely start making cp-gsmo version of my cp16r electronics in January if everything goes well. I know there is lots of these cameras needing update, in the past one other person discussed with me about update options and they had like 6 of those gsmo cameras in storage. Some scoopics as well. Other people have gsmos too. So would expect the update to restore from 10 to 15 gsmo cameras, some of which would be sold immediately. I am selling some of my own cameras next year as well. At least the cp16r with 45speed update but probably also the eclair acl and some konvases. Thinking of keeping the npr but will sell lots of motors for them, probably around 15 to 20 if everything goes well. The kinor16 I already sold. Then have the photo sonics 1vn which I will restore at some point and sell. There is definitely cameras available, they are just mostly hidden as people kind of save them or collect them instead of listing for sale. If people are more interested in updating the krasnogorsk cameras with 4speed motor then would have dozens more sync cameras available. I could make the 4speed fit Bolex too but the bolex users have not preordered those kits so I don't have the developing budget for the mounting kit and the bolex version is on hold. Hopefully people would order it before Summer so that I could still have time to make it. That bolex version would pretty much explode the sync sound shooting as there is tons of those bolexes easily available and the same motor kit would work with H8 bolexes too

yes cropping to aps-c will enhance the result but it still has rolling shutter. If using the S5, I would likely try to use it with longer exposure rather than shorten the exposure time to blend the movement to hide the effect. if you have possibility to use global shutter camera like Komodo, some older Blackmagic models or some Zcam models which have it then would not have problems. Could shoot separate broll of the most problematic shots with the global shutter camera and shoot the rest with the S5. I think the Zcams and Komodo would be much easier to match to S5 footage than Blackmagics so maybe borrow one of those and shoot couple of hours of footage with that to cover the most problematic scenes.

Personally I see the completely newly made complete cameras more as "cool gadget projects" than really helping redefine the film origination. Especially on the low budget level. Maybe 10 or 15 rental houses would have them total? They would make a small difference but it is just a tiny droplet in the ocean. The key would be to get more of the old cameras restored and working instead. There would be thousands of them, maybe more. That would matter, a lot. Making a cool gadget camera which 10 people use would be cool and empowering but would not really change anything other than some old arri sr retired because it was replaced with the new gadget. Probably the net amount of working cameras did not even change by the new gadget, it just replaced older stuff like video cameras replace the previous year's models

The key to cost effective machining is that you determine for each individual part what the finishing quality and tolerance needs to be and then have multiple different places with various capabilities and reliability to outsource the work. If something needs to be swiss-clock-style-precise with jewelry-like finish then you use the best expensive place and if the soviet-style angle grinder finish is fine then you outsource those to China no questions asked. People don't value artesan cameras nowadays enough to pay premium for them. They want stuff that works and does not fail most of the time so that they get the job done. They don't care if it has a bit rougher surface finish on inside parts which only technicians see. The parts which must be mirror polished will be but other stuff left with basic finish. Some people don't like my designs because I don't make them with ultimate jewelry finish and use years designing. The shade of grey or other finishing color may not be just the perfect coolest trendy one and may change from batch to batch. It is not about 'not caring' , it is about making stuff which works, on a budget, fast. Arri people have never liked my stuff much but Aaton and Eclair and CP16R users etc like them. They are also more open to modifying cameras and accessories to keep them working. The whole Arri culture is a bit like "if it is not original spare part or accessory it cannot be used". Every freakin washer needs to be original Arri one 😂 I get it they are like Ferraris, one simply does not mix heretic parts with them but the end result is just the mentioned death of the technology because the infrastructure is lost. I mean how many Eclair ACL users there would be in 5 or 8 years if they all would be unwilling to change the motor to a off-brand newly made one? I think it is pretty close to zero. Same with cp16r. Some nprs with original motors maybe left. The technology was never meant to last forever, it was designed to be upgraded and changed regularly. People just forgot that after the 90s and thought the 60 years old electronics were supposed to last to eternity. Then buy another used original motor when the technology designed to last 20 years failed them after 50 or 60 years.

I do have this kind of 4-speed motor version too if someone is planning some special camera modification and just wants to have some motor which runs at stable crystal speeds. Basically it is the same components than the Universal 4-speed but it does not have the cnc machined motor body, the motor is separate instead. Will add some kind of protection for the cable. this does work with the mounting parts kits I designed for the Universal 4-speed normal version but needs a plate on the motor side with the same mounting the kits have. I can make a cad model of a suitable plate if people order this version. 500usd with shipping. 6 crystal speeds and works at 14.8v, same specs than the normal 4-speed motor because the electronics and motor drive are the same. empty casing in the reference photo but the control panel is exactly the same than on my other 4-speed versions you saw in photos and videos

I figured out I could make adapter system to use my 4-speed Universal Crystal Motor with the old straight-viewfinder Konvas 1KCP cameras, the ones which had the hand crank and spring drive option with the large round spring motor cavity on the side of the camera. The adapter is a little more complex than on my other 4-speed mounting kits so the price is a little higher, for preorder 900usd with 4-speed motor and later on 980usd if there is still stock available. I need to replicate the big round mounting plate to hold the motor which is why it costs a bit more than other 4-speed mounting kits, much larger aluminium parts which are more expensive to cnc machine. The standard 4-speed crystal motor run the Konvas 1m fine with the 200ft magazines so it would work fine with the older 1KPC which has those smaller magazines too. If I get orders before January could start working on it in Spring2026 and hopefully shipping in April. By my knowledge there has never been original crystal motors available for this older 1960's Konvas model so this would be the first one made. (straight finder 1KCP with the original rheostat motor)

I figured out I could make adapter system to use my 4-speed Universal Crystal Motor with the old straight-viewfinder Konvas 1KCP cameras, the ones which had the hand crank and spring drive option with the large round spring motor cavity on the side of the camera. The adapter is a little more complex than on my other 4-speed mounting kits so the price is a little higher, for preorder 900usd with 4-speed motor and later on 980usd if there is still stock available. I need to replicate the big round mounting plate to hold the motor which is why it costs a bit more than other 4-speed mounting kits, much larger aluminium parts which are more expensive to cnc machine. The standard 4-speed crystal motor rund the Konvas 1m fine with the 200ft magazines so it would work fine with the older 1KPC which has those smaller magazines too. If I get orders before January could start working on it in Spring2026 and hopefully shipping in April. (straight finder 1KCP with the original rheostat motor)

closer look of the Konvas mounting parts. the finished aluminium plate arrived today