John N Campbell

Thanks David! I appreciate the wealth of information in your reply.

I'm looking for information about the color effect used in the John Huston film, Reflections in a Golden Eye. How was the over-all golden color cast created with certain object like red roses retaining their color in 1967?

The best source for info and parts is Procam. http://bolex-usa.com/

If your Bolex accepts 400' loads it is definitely a Rex 5 as that is the only model that takes 400' loads. The best source for info and parts is Procam. http://bolex-usa.com/

Sorry Richard but your reply has several errors which I feel I must correct. I double-checked with Deiter Schaeffer at Procam and he confirmed that the Reflex system causes a 25% loss of light, so 1/4 stop more is the correct figure. Deiter is probably the most knowledgeable person in this country on Bolex cameras and I've been using the 1/4 stop compensation figure for 18 years now with perfect results. 1/4 stop more is also the figure taught to me in film school by Chris Malkiewicz who wrote the seminal book "Cinematography". So the figure I'm quoting is from at least 2 highly respected sources. Most Bolex cameras have a shutter opening of 130 degrees (not 135). With the variable shutter open fully, running at 24 fps the exposure per frame is 1/65 of a second. Compensating for the 25% loss of light through the reflex system equates to an exposure of 1/80. (In single frame mode the exposure is 1/30, adapted to 1/40). I'm getting these figures from a table provided to me by Dieter at Procam. All these fractions and shutter angles are enough to make your head explode if you try to do the math in the heat of the moment, so just keep it simple and add 1/4 stop more. It's simple and it's accurate! On a practical note, compensating either 1/4 or 2/3 stop (Richard's figure) on today's wide latitude negative stock is probably not going to matter much. It's just nice to know the correct figure in case you're in a situation where multiple small errors could add up to cause a real problem.

If the serial number begins with 200 its probably a Rex 2 or Rex 3. The Rex means it has a reflex viewfinder which sucks about 25% of the incoming light away from the film and channels it into the viewfinder. All you need to do is add an extra 1/4 stop to compensate. So if your light meter tells you to expose at f8 (or t8), open the lens up to f5.6 and 3/4. When in doubt it's always better to overexpose than to underexpose. If you overexpose, the print can always be printed darker, but an underexposed negative is harder to print lighter and still have detail in in the image.

Check out this great website. Using the serial number and photographs you should be able to determine what model you have. www.bolexcollector.com/

I've been using a C-mount TV zoom lens that I bought from a flea market for $50. There is some slight vignetting at the shortest focal lengths but over-all I'm very pleased with it.

I'm pretty sure this streaking is due to the pressure pad not being seated properly. The footage looks a little soft in the focus as well as being streaked. This would indicate that the film was not moving through the plane of optimum focus because the pressure pad wasn't snuggly clicked into place. Forgetting to open the loop formers is also a good possible explanation provided that your model is not like mine which has a fail-safe feature which, if you forget to open the loop formers, will do so when the camera door is closed.