Dom Jaeger

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.

Arri released a technical bulletin outlining the correct procedure to avoid shorting the SDI boards. This advice relates to all modern cameras: https://www.arri.com/resource/blob/194752/d3093e6af632150787ec95d176a39958/download-technical-information-data.pdf Here's a more informal explanation: https://www.newsshooter.com/2020/02/15/preventing-damage-to-sdi-outputs/ Essentially, you should always connect the power cables for ALL accessories first, then connect the BNC cables. When tearing down, do the reverse and disconnect all BNC connectors first, then unplug the power cables.

Thanks for the update Matthew, I’m glad you sorted it out.

Yes I would err on the side of caution and have it checked before running it again.

The minimum focus stop doesn't necessarily line up with a mark if that's you're concern, usually infinity is a hard stop though. Can you not use your camera to test whether the 3 ft mark lines up with an object 3 ft away?

Sounds like the belt slipped. On SR1s and 2s the motor stops in a fixed position so the belt timing determines the parking position. Should be an easy job for a tech to reset, though the belt may need replacing if teeth have been stripped or it's simply deteriorated.

Ah, if it's a 1.5x anamorphic then that changes the S16 capture area dramatically. The native 1.66:1 frame will expand out to 2.49:1, so barely any cropping needed to get to 2.39.

More or less correct, except if you are planning to crop for 2.39 then the capture area is 1.195:1 so you would be cropping the S16 frame considerably at the sides. Assuming the 70 degree angle of view relates to a S35 sensor in 2.39 anamorphic mode, then the width is more like 21.2mm for something like an Alexa Mini. You'd need to crop the S16 frame down to 8.85mm wide for 2.39 extraction. So the crop factor then becomes 8.85 / 21.2 or around 0.42 x. So 70 degrees would be cropped down to about 29 degrees.

It’s fine to use lenses that cover full frame on a S35 camera, the sensor just crops the image circle down. It’s only a potential problem going the other way, if you try to use S35 lenses on a full frame camera, then you can get vignetting.

Some lenses have two scales, sometimes one metric and one imperial, so there are sometimes two positions to mount the lens.

I wouldn’t recommend trying to do this yourself. Those lenses use a double helicoid focussing ring, with internal and external threads, that connect to the body and the mount. There are multiple thread starts, and each part needs to screw into the precise thread start for a precise number of turns in order to line up with the focus scale at infinity. There are other tricky bits that are easy to stuff up if you are not experienced in servicing cine lenses. I’ve had to rebuild too many Zeiss Super and Standard Speeds that were pulled apart by people who didn’t know what they were doing, and it can turn a 2 hr relube job into a five hr puzzle to solve. The greases are not molybdenum based, they generally use a synthetic hydrocarbon base and there are a variety of them available from Zeiss. I use one type for the helicoid, one for the guides and another for the iris ring. If you do try and do it yourself, make sure to measure all gaps at infinity and precisely mark where threads come apart. Take lots of photos.

This is the older style of Arri Standard mount that needs to rotate inside the camera or adapter mount, while the inside of the lens is located and kept from turning by a tab that fits in the slot at the back of the lens. The index mark was actually on the camera mount, and if memory serves it lines up with the centre of the tab slot. It should also line up with the aperture index mark, but if people have fiddled with the lens it might be shifted. Good quality adapters for this type of lens mount used to have an index mark on them, as pictured in this example:

Lenses marked "RX" or sometimes "DV" have a slightly modified optical design to compensate for the Bolex beamsplitting prism found in reflex Bolex models. The prism can introduce aberrations on normal lenses that are 50mm and under, though the aberrations are generally reduced the more you stop down. For an ACL or any C mount camera that's not a reflex Bolex you'd want to use normal lenses. If you did use an RX one it would probably be OK stopped down past around f/4. Be very careful with certain C mount lenses that have a mounting thread that extends more than about 4mm, like older AR (normal) Switar 25mm lenses, as they will screw in too far and can damage the baffle and potentially break the mirror on an ACL. I've seen a few broken ACL mirrors because of this. With adapters, you pay for things like material quality and machining accuracy, and whether the adapter spaces out to the correct flange depth. A Les Bosher adapter will be made from stainless steel, and should be very accurate in terms of flange depth and flatness, the PL lock ring will lock smoothly and at the right depth and the finish will be nicer etc. Cheaper adapters will be made from aluminium or brass alloys, which are more susceptible to wear, they may have burrs or machining defects, and they may not seat a lens accurately. If the flange depth is off even by a few hundredths of a mm it can cause a zoom to lose focus as you zoom out or a prime to not reach infinity. That said, the Raf Camera adapters are usually pretty decent. Be aware that PL to C mount adapters may not accept all PL lenses, or work on all C mount cameras. Check the drawing dimensions to work out compatibility. Again, expensive adapters tend to have been better designed to be more compatible. The Eclair TS adapters are exceptionally good quality, if you have one for Arri Standard you can use any Standard mount lens with it.

Yes H8 cameras are basically the same as H16s in terms of build quality and stability. Later reflex models in both gauges have better viewfinders, and the dedicated H8 RX lenses are extremely good, but there are plenty of nice D mount lenses for a non-reflex H8, like the little Switars. If you prefer smaller cameras, the pocket Bolex 8mm cameras (B8, D8 varieties) were great, not quite as solid as H8s, but really good for their size, and they take the same D mount lenses as a H8. Melbourne has a great film community, you're in the right town.

When you load the film with the loop formers closed, and it runs through the gate, it should be picked up by the claw just as a perf reaches it, and then the same with the lower sprocket. So you need to slowly hand crank the film through and first set the rotational position of the upper sprocket so that the claw picks up a perf just as it begins to move forward, and then set the rotational position of the lower sprocket so that a tooth cleanly picks up a perf when the film reaches it. If these are misaligned, either the film will jam or when you open the loop formers the loop will shift up and be off centre. It can be tricky to set correctly. There are two screws holding each sprocket in position, and when you secure them again you should also try to keep the sprocket height the same as you found it, with slight clearance above the guides. I have a tool to help set the height. Normally I would say this is a job for a tech, but see how you go. The alternative is to manually load and form the loop, or always check that the loop stays centred and never hits a loop former, and adjust it by hand if necessary.

That seems to be OK, but I would check it by slowly hand-cranking so you can really see if there's any movement. If the timing is only a little out the film will move just as the shutter is opening or closing, so I tend to mark the film with a squiggle that extends to the edges so you can see it even if the shutter is covering most of the gate. EBMs are pretty simple mechanically, there's no stop pawl or single frame or variable shutter to worry about, you just need to get the pulldown synched to the shutter. Some timelapse/animation motors need the 1:1 drive to be correctly synched to the shutter to work properly, in terms of where the pin and the red dot is. If you removed the front, you will need to remake the light seal. Did you de-solder the wiring and remove the mechanism? If so then the light seal needs to extend around the inside. If you undid the sprockets or shifted the claw gear you will need to re-time the auto-threading.

I’m not sure anyone ever made short extenders like that in Arri B mount or S mount, it was only ever 1.4x or 2x. And they generally don’t work with wide primes, only zooms or primes with minimal rear protrusion. The Optex conversion kits were replacement rear optics for the Zeiss 10-100 mainly, though I think they may have offered some for other zooms too. But they would have been all used up by now, I haven’t seen one for sale in many years. Maybe you’ll get lucky.

Yes, we often use custom optics to expand lenses, normally around 1.1x or 1.2x is enough without losing too much light or altering the focal length too much. The problem with off the shelf expanders is that they tend to be 1.4x or 1.6x which is often overkill and loses you at least a stop. Sometimes you can go to the trouble of expanding a lens only to find it's now the same focal length as a longer one in your set that already covered, but it's a stop slower and not looking so great wide open any more. They often also have shallow protrusion specs meaning a lot of wide angle lenses that stick out past the mount won't fit.