Dom Jaeger

I would first check that the images on the film itself are soft on one side, to rule out a possible issue with the transfer. If it is indeed on the film, then it looks like the film was not seating flat in the gate. Check that the pressure plate latches closed properly. I don’t think it’s an issue with the lens mount or turret - it would need to be quite noticeably warped to produce this much flange depth variation from one side of the gate to the other. A Super 16 gate actually needs either an enlarged pressure plate to properly span from one support rail to the other, or the pressure plate needs to be shimmed to sit a little further to the left. I’m not sure how Arthur (Dr Bolex) solves that issue with his conversions, but if it’s just the original pressure plate unmodified it could cause some issues with film flatness.

Yes, an index mark for either T stops (measuring actual light transmission for accurate exposure) or f stops (the geometric aperture which determines depth of field) could be selected. Later lenses for professional cinematography were all just marked in T stops.

You’ll need to know the width of the stage, then calculate what angle of view you need to cover that width from 50m. Basic trigonometry. Then use any of the online angle of view calculators to determine what focal length has the required angle of view on a S35 sensor.

The take-up spool should spin faster than the film going through the gate, but it should slip to keep taking up film without pulling on it too hard. If you run the camera and hold the take up spindle you should be able to stop it turning fairly easily. If it is hard to make it slip, the clutch assembly inside needs to be serviced. Often this assembly is just friction between two plates, so it may just need fresh grease.

Did you shoot anything before converting it? Could be the jumping and light leak were already issues. Have you removed the loopformers? The film records upside down, so a leak on the right is left side in-camera, so probably the door.

Up until the 30s, the widest focal length generally available for 35mm movies was 32mm. The more common focal lengths were 35mm, 40mm, 50mm, 75mm and 100mm. In the early 30s Zeiss broke that barrier with a 27mm Tessar, then in the mid 30s a number of companies released 24 and 25mm cinema lenses, the most popular being the Cooke 24mm Speed Panchro. So when Toland filmed Citizen Kane in 1940 it was a relatively new thing to have such a wide angle in movies. Even though its influence was phenomenal, for a number of years after Citizen Kane most films still stuck to longer lenses, only using something as wide as a 24mm for occasional establishing shots. In 1951 Angenieux released an 18.5mm which ushered in a period of more wide angle use, followed soon after by the 18mm Speed Panchro released in 1954. Around this time there was also the very wide bug-eye lens made for Cinerama which was the widest angle of view ever seen in movies at that time. The Series III 18mm Speed Panchro released in the early 60s was an improvement on the earlier version, using an aspheric element and finally providing filmmakers with a wide angle lens that had virtually no compromises compared to longer focal lengths. In the late 60s, the French firm Kinoptik released their 9.8mm Tegea, expanding the view of cinema cameras even further, a lens famously used by Kubrick in films like A Clockwork Orange and The Shining. See this post for more details about the history of wide angle lenses in cinema:

Short answer, no not really possible. It would cost more than buying an S/B model. If you find a junker S/B you could have a tech swap the turret over but flange depth would need to be checked and possibly adjusted.

There are no sensors in film cameras.. 🙂 There are currently no reliable Bolex conversion vendors that I would recommend, so unless you buy an already converted camera I would suggest just cropping the standard 16 image to wider aspect ratios in post. If you do end up getting your camera converted, those lenses should all cover S16. The 10mm only barely covers, so the converted camera needs to have the mount perfectly re-centred otherwise you will get vignetting on one side.

No it should fully close. Check that the ring under the eyecup is screwed all the way out to allow the mechanism to close. You can screw it in (or maybe it’s the other direction, I forget) to keep the flaps permanently open. Otherwise the mechanism may be sticky and need a service.

Series 1 Speed Panchros are an older design, early versions might be uncoated or with very basic coatings. The series 2 SPs came out in the mid to late 50s, so they are an improved design with larger coverage and better coatings. Most rehoused sets of SPs use series 2 (and series 3 for the 18 and 25mm). The yellow cast can usually be graded out or white balanced in-camera. That said, you might like the look of a series 1 75mm, given how often people are deliberately degrading lenses these days to add some character to their images. If you are planning to use these lenses without rehousing, then the mechanical condition will be more important than a bit of a discolouration. Testing or better yet having a tech check them on a projector will tell if there is image shift, focus lag, element decentration or haze/fungus inside. Also the condition of the iris blades can affect the image, if they are oily or very shiny.

Someone more local to you may have other recommendations, but Du-All in NJ and Bolex USA (Procam) in AZ are both very knowledgeable and reliable.

Sorry to hear that, Alexander. Unfortunately it’s not the first such complaint I’ve heard. See if you can reach him on the Bolex User Facebook group. He is a member of that group, even given “expert” status, but rarely posts much anymore after several people posted similar stories to yours. I’ve been telling my clients for a while now that there are no reliable Bolex S16 conversion people currently around, except Jean-Louis Seguin who is semi-retired.

With SR2s pressing the “test” button rotates the mirror/shutter 180 degrees so you can see the gate from the lens port, and removing the mag is very simple if you need to clean the gate.

This wasn’t “nearly completely shot on 16mm”. Take a look in the mirror before you LOL at other people getting facts wrong. The production used a lot of 35mm (shot and graded to emulate 16mm), on season one they had 4 Millenium XLs and a 435 on main unit. There were 2 416 cameras as well as 2 Pro-8 4008 Super 8 cameras, plus several old Ikegami video cams. They shot over 1200 carts of Super 8, the biggest production Pro 8 had ever been involved with, so there is quite a bit of Super 8 in the mix. https://www.pro8mm.com/blogs/blog/winning-time-the-rise-of-the-lakers-dynasty-now-on-hbo-max https://theasc.com/articles/hoops-heaven-winning-time

That's not a normal Kinamo shutter, someone has fabricated that one with a very tiny angle. Not sure why, it will make filming in even slightly dim light very difficult (especially if you use the original f/3.5 Tessar), and create a very stuttery, staccato movement, as Mark said. The normal shutter was around 180 degrees from memory.