Dom Jaeger

The ebay link doesn't seem to work in your other post in the Bolex forum.. It's always hard to say just from photos exactly how much work is needed. Given the amount of corrosion (never a good thing with precision equipment) I'd say the camera and mag would need a complete overhaul. It looks like the camera was dropped with a large lens and a motor attached, so there may be body distortion. Rusty electronics are rarely dependable, so don't count on any of the accessories working. The power supply pictured is for an MST motor, to run the camera at (non-crystal) sync speed. But that's missing. I don't know what the rusty motor in the photo is, maybe out of a powered zoom lens. The MM motor pictured is for the magazine. The camera needs a new turret plate assembly, winding arm, mag port cover and eyecup at the very least. The turret spindle is probably damaged, and given the storage condition there may be fungus on the optics. The shutter sector adjustment lever is bent and the motor attachment threads are damaged or missing. If the prism (now exposed due to the missing turret plate) is scratched or otherwise damaged I'd definitely forget about it. You're probably looking at more expense in repair and parts costs than another RX 5 in good shape. It would be a gamble.

It's been a little while since I worked on a Pan Cinor, but if I recall correctly, you should be able to adjust the rotational position of the lens mount thread so that the lens screws home with the lens viewfinder arm in an acceptable position. You can also unscrew the lens viewfinder arm and adjust its internal mask angle to match the camera viewfinder. So in essence there are two adjustments possible to align the lens to the camera. You will need an adjustable lens tool (or take it to a technician who has one). It might be a good idea to take it to a technician anyway, to check the lens/camera collimation as well, since without a reflex camera viewfinder you can't be sure that a sharp image in the lens viewfinder will necessarily mean a sharp image on the film, until you shoot a test. The whole thing should be a half hour job.

CP-16s (which were based on the Auricon) and 16 BLs were probably the most common magnetic sound cameras (at least here in Australia). The recording module fitted inside the camera cavity between the gate and the magazine port and was removable for non-sound work. You could probably find some 16BLs for rent, I know a few film schools that still use them. CP16s might be harder to find in good condition. A working magnetic sound module and the amplifier that it required might be the toughest part though, given that mag stripe film has long been discontinued. We have an optical sound Auricon, a 16BL with a mag sound module and its leather-cased amplifier (which was slung over the shoulder) and a mag sound CP-16 in our museum, but I have no idea if any of them would still work! From talking with a cameraman who used them, one of the oddities of the system was that the sound was recorded on the film several inches away from the simultaneous image. This meant the sound was always slightly out of step, and editing had to be done using the sound track rather than the image, to avoid cutting off words. Presumably the soundtrack was re-recorded and synched before the news broadcast.

A High Speed SR2 will run louder than a standard SR2, even at 24fps. The main difference (apart from the motor) is a marginally larger registration pin and a fixed pressure plate in the magazine. The rated noise level is 32 dB for a HS SR2 at 24fps, compared to 25 dB for a standard. This assumes they have been maintained. By comparison, at the same speed a HS SR3 is rated at 27 dB, and a standard SR3 at 20 dB. For most scenarios a maintained HS SR2 with a barney is fine for sync sound work.

For anyone interested, someone is currently selling copies of the elusive military repair manual for the Special II on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110612619236&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_915wt_692

Usually it's the spring clip screwed to the inside of the black winder handle that distorts or breaks. If it's broken or missing you should be able to pick up a new one from a Bolex tech for under 10 bucks. Or Chris might have a solution involving pliers and a paper clip... :P

11.5 mm is way too high for 2-perf, you would get overlapping exposures - it sounds more like a standard 35 (4-perf) 1.85:1 aperture gate, which should measure 11.86 mm in height and 21.95 mm in width. I would agree with Jean-Louis that the ground glass definitely looks to have 1.85/academy markings. As everyone here has recommended, you need to have the camera looked at by a technician and serviced, given that it is so stiff to inch over. They should also be able to explain why your lenses are fouling, and clarify exactly what kind of camera you have.

Aside from the issue of needing a focus gear ring for your lens, you'd also need to invest in a customised rod support to hold the follow focus. The original Bolex rods don't match modern follow focus standards. I would suggest you spend your money on a new lens (or two) instead. What you have is not a cine lens, nor is it designed for use with the Bolex prism (if you have a reflex model). A decent lens is far more vital than a follow focus, and having only one prime is going to severely limit your options. If you search the archives here you will find plenty of suggestions for good lenses for a Bolex H16.

Yes, it's quite common for the spring to slow down slightly just before it ends, usually no more than 1 or 2 fps. If you rewind the spring before each take you will generally avoid any problems.

Hi James, it's a complicated bugger, the 16 Pro. I don't have one in front of me, but I have the user manual. The viewfinder has a diaphragm which closes when you remove pressure from the eyecup. You need to depress the eyecup with your eye to open it. With age sometimes this mechanism can get a little stiff. The other possibility is that the power cable was removed while the camera was running and the mirror shutter is not in the viewing position. If you look through the lens port and can see the aperture, the mirror is not reflecting an image to the viewfinder. In this case, power the camera and briefly run it. The mirror shutter should then stop in the correct spot. There are also various viewfinder positions that change the viewing field, and allow a ground glass image to be replaced by an aerial image. I'm not sure if being halfway between settings might block the image completely, but just in case make sure the viewfinder is rotated to a proper setting. The zoom that was designed for use with the 16 Pro is the Angenieux 12-120mm f/2.2. The Schneider- Variogon 10-100mm f/2 is also compatible.

OK, so it's the spring loaded type, held with a nylock nut to stop it undoing when you unfold the legs. I think you're right, you'll need a long socket handle to hold the bolt head. It's possible that if you just poke a long rod down to compress the bolt head against the spring the friction might be enough to hold it while you tighten the nut. But nylock nuts grip pretty hard.

A sharp star washer under the bolt head will allow you to tighten the nut without having to hold the bolt. You just need to get the nut on and tight enough so the washer starts to bite.

Ah Simon, "pedantry is the dotage of knowledge". My Bolex service manual has the 1:1 shaft installed from serial no 210600 on, which puts it at 1964. The revision page itself is dated 09.63, so they were probably manufactured in 1963, but not sold until the next year. To add a thrust to my pedantic parry, they are not actually a REX-4 but a late model H16 RXOV. The subsequent RX 5 model was so designated to identify it's magazine saddle. Thus the single turret magazine model was called H16 M5 despite not being the 5th generation.

Recording ARRIRAW from Alexa is not yet enabled by the firmware. An uncompressed signal can be taken from the HD-SDI ports and recorded using a number of different recorders, such as S-Two's file-based OB-1 or mildly compressed using HDCAMSR tape. I've been told that for most TV work the on-board PRO SxS cards using PRORES seem to be more than adequate, although the camera speed is reduced to a maximum of 30 fps. When recording ARRIRAW becomes an option on Alexa, I suspect it will mainly be used when going to a film out, or for Blu-Ray distribution. The only recorders I'm aware of that are ARRIRAW compatible are OB-1 and Codex. The rental house I'm at has an OB-1 package including flash mags and docking station for around two-thirds the cost of the basic Alexa camera rental. As previously mentioned, some serious hard drive space is also needed. Other rental houses might have different pricing arrangements, but recording ARRIRAW will definitely increase the cost from using on-board cards.

No H16 reflex has double sprockets. All H models after serial no. 76471 (1952) were fitted with single tooth sprockets and the first reflex wasn't introduced until 1956. The first 1:1 drive was added in 1964 to the H16 REX-4. The Bolex Collector site has excellent information on the various models and their features: http://www.bolexcollector.com/articles/07_05_11.html Andrew Alden's Bolex Bible is probably the best single resource for H16 information. It's available from his website: http://www.bolex.co.uk/ (I am in no way affiliated.)

Good grief, really? So as well as possible edge shadows every zoom would track off to one side. What dinky cameras.

The Arricam mags have a different core locking device to the 435. When the core is placed on the spindle a button in the centre of the spindle pops up, indicating that the core is locked in. But it won't pop up if the core is put on already lined up with the key. You need to put it on not lined up, so that the key is depressed, which pops up the lock button, then twist the core until the key locks into the core slot. To remove the core you press the button in.

A quick way to check would be to mount the zoom upside-down (if the mount allows). If the vignetting remains on the right side, I would concur with Stephen that the camera mount is probably not correctly centred. Alternatively, mount a lens that you know will vignette and see if the porthole is off-centre.

Until recently, most Cine rental houses wouldn't have bothered with video cameras, outside Panavision's Genesis or Sony's CineAlta series. It was the indie filmmakers, small production houses and owner operators who bought miniDV cameras in the 90's, then had to upgrade constantly through the range of HDV cams, P&S adapters, REDs and now the DSLR fad. At the consumer level, people have been convinced to replace their home video cameras every few years since the first Betamax camera displaced Super 8 in 1983. Well maybe not too many 50 year old cameras, although the rental house I work for has an Arri 16ST for student rent which would be around 50 and a couple of Bolex Rex5 kits that would be hitting 40, all working just fine. A Panaflex G2 or Arri BL4, both perfectly acceptable and still rentable 35mm synch sound cameras, would be 25 odd years old, as would an SR2. In most cases the upgrades to sound film cameras since the 80's just added a few bells and whistles, maybe made them more modular or a fraction quieter. For MOS work, a 40 to 50 year old Arri 35IIB/C or a Bell and Howell Eyemo, PL mounted and crystal controlled using modern stock and lenses can give you an image indistinguishable from a 435 Advanced, providing they've been well serviced. Prior to the disposable age we now live in, many people looked after the gear that sustained their livelihoods, so a surprising number of these cameras are actually in good condition. Maybe not quite as reliably steady or easy to view through, and you don't get all the modern features, like adjustable shutter angles and speed ramps and such, but otherwise just as good as the latest.

If you can't source a spare rear element and the scratching is not too deep you could have it polished out and recoated.

What lenses did it come with? There should be focal lengths marked on each lens - you set the viewfinder zoom scale to whatever focal length is set as the taking lens. Usually a 13mm is the standard, with 6.5mm as a wide angle and 25mm or 38mm as telephotos. The dial marked 8, 16...64 would be the fps speed dial. It should move freely from my experience with double-8 cameras. It may well be corroded or frozen up. Try a drop of oil. They're pretty cute the old standard eights, but if it's running sluggish, has corrosion or the lenses are damaged, don't waste your money on film and processing (if you were planning to try it out). You can pick another one up on ebay for next to nothing.

I assume this nonexistent band would include recent S16 features like The Hurt Locker and The Wrestler, which would have looked way better shot on a DSLR? :blink: At least a 50 year old film camera will still work, and with a little servicing it can produce an image just as effectively as a modern camera can. In 50 years, of course, a DSLR will be worth less than the aluminium it could be melted down for. Oh wait, did I say 50 years? I meant 5.

I'm not familiar with that collimator, but it looks a little like one of the collimators I have in my workshop, an old 50's model that was set up for Bolex mounts. Unless you have a mount set up in line with it with a mirror behind at exactly where the film plane would be, I think it's more of a field collimator. With a lens mounted on a camera, set wide open and at infinity, you point the collimator down the lens and adjust the knob until the reticule visible in the collimator eyepiece is at its sharpest. Turning the knob should move a marker on the scale to tell you exactly how far out the back focus is, so you can adjust or shim the lens accordingly. The camera flange depth needs to be correct, and while film in the gate will reflect a little, ideally you put a mirror at the film plane or use a very reflective backing plate such as is used to measure the camera flange depth with a depth gauge. You also need to adjust the collimator eyepiece to your eye - on my old version you focus so the texture is visible. If the camera flange depth is set a fraction under the nominal depth (on a 35mm Arri it is usually 2 to 3 hundredths of a mm under 52.00 for example, to allow for film breathing in the channel and to penetrate into the emulsion) you need to take that into account. By turning the mirror in front of the gate aperture you can check the ground glass depth, although being less reflective it can sometimes be hard to see. Wider and slower lenses (like Lomo anamorphics) are also harder to see. Hope that helps a little.

Hi Murray, the I/T lever problem is quite common - basically if someone undoes the screw holding the lever, the shaft can easily push through and lose its locating position in the mechanism within. This causes the release mechanical stop to be out of position, creating problems like you're seeing. If you know what you're doing it's a fairly simple fix: the front needs to come off, and you get your fingers inside and relocate the I/T mechanism. Unfortunately if you're not familiar with the mechanism, the relocation can be tricky as you can't see what you're doing. Also you will lose the shutter/pull-down timing when you take off the front, so you need to reset that, which requires getting the gear meshing correct and knowing how to check that the timing is now good. And one last hurdle is that the light seal around the front will now be broken and need resealing. Plenty of people work on their Bolexes, so I don't want to make it sound overly difficult. If you're technically minded it can be quite fun, if frustrating. But a Bolex tech should be able to fix this quite quickly, and do an overall check while they're at it. It probably depends on how serious you are about using the camera and what results you expect.

Don't know Phil, but if you were, the starry-eyed phase is definitely over.. :D