Mark Sperry

A usually shoot super 8 for my personal projects, but I work in a camera store and somebody dropped off two Bolex cameras. I ended up buying a beautiful Rex 1 with a 25mm 1.4 and 50mm 1.4 Macro Switar lenses, in a beautiful leather case with gel filters and documentation. Got the whole thing for $120 dollars. Does that sound like a good deal? The camera runs smoothly at all speeds, and the gate appears clean. The lenses seem good, except some small fungus spots in the 50mm. At 24 fps it runs for 30 seconds from one wind up. It seems to click every other second when running, is this normal? Otherwise I don't know what else to check for... I'm still a little bit of a newbie to 16mm and Bolexes in general. What's a good test of the camera? And is it true that I need to over expose my film 2/3rds of a stop because of the prism? Basically what are the very FIRST things I should look at in this camera before I run some film through it? I bought 200' of Tri-X double perf film that B&H had on sale , and 100' of 100D. I'm going to use Pac Lab for processing, and Frame Discreet for my transfer. I also picked up a K to C mount adapter, so I can use my Pentax K mount lenses on the Bolex. I have a 16-50mm 2.8 zoom that should be good for it, as well as 15, 31, and 70mm primes. Any advice you good folks can offer would be appreciated. This will be a great augmentation to my super 8 film projects. And is Super 16 something I should eventually go for? Seems really expensive!

I'm tired of "Flea Bay" and Super8arena seems to be perpetually out of them. KEH sold me a broken R8 (which I was able to return), and a local craigslist seller also TRIED to sell me a broken camera. But I really want a used Nikon R 8 or 10. Either one I don't care! I'm buying for the great exposure meter and build quality. A perfect "Camera A" to my Nizo 481 Macro's "Camera B." Does anybody know of a seller who has one of these? I almost broke down and bought a Canon 814 Electronic but after reading a bad review of Super 8 Camera Shop I changed my mind... Or am I just crazy and I should use my great Nizo? I just picked up a Gossen Digisky which has a great cine meter mode, with incident and reflected sensors. It has the ability to set the shutter angle which is cool. I want to be able to use the newer high speed emulsions... I do weddings so speed is important and taking meter readings can be a pain...where as my Nizo's internal meter with 100D is always spot on... What to do, what to do?!

Can anyone recommend a good cine meter? I don't feel like spending $800 dollars for a Sekonic 758C... So I was looking at these: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/766133-REG/Gossen_GO_4039_DIGISKY_Flash_and_Ambient.html http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/783629-REG/Spectra_Cine_18002_ARD_Professional_IV_A_P_2000EL_A_Digital.html

EPIC FAIL: on the part of KEH. All they told me was that the meter door had a crack, which it does, and the crack doesn't matter at all. However what they DIDN'T tell me is that the diopter system is broken to the point where you can't make a sharp image in the viewfinder. Also the rust and corrosion on one of the contacts in the grip makes the power supply unreliable at best. I'm extremely disappointed with KEH. Their BGN condition is not supposed to be BROKEN. I either have to send it back for my money back or find a repair place in NYC. I'm not sure what to do though. Just from handling it I can see that it's pretty awesome, at least the parts that work are. UGH!!! They are going to hear from me tomorrow, and I feel sorry for that customer service rep.

Well that's good news! Hopefully the rest of the camera checks out. I'm thrilled I didn't have to spend more.

It was listed in BGN condition with a note that the meter door battery is cracked. The salesman said the camera works, and that it should just be a small crack. He also said that I have a trial period and a warrenty so I'm not too worried. But should I want to replace the battery door are they a standard type or will they be hard to come by? The camera will arrive next week and I am excited! I hate that my 481 Macro won't meter for more films, which is why I wanted the Nikon. I'm also debating whether I want to sell my Nizo 481 Macro. I got the R8 for $235, which I think is a pretty good price.

You said that 50 bucks a roll for stock-process-transfer was ridiculously expensive so I got excited that you had another option. I see now that you do not. :-( Oh well, I'm happy with my options at the moment. People have been super helpful and I'll probably try out every lab suggested.

Come on man quit holding out? Who will do it cheaper and do a great job? I'm honestly asking.

Dude all I'm looking for is a "hey, nice job!" or "looks great!" or "have fun with it!" Or even more amazing would be a "now you should try..." "You'll love x-y-z process/lab/film."

That's SO constructive!

I exposed automatically and had the film processed and transferred at pro8mm. I have a photo background so I'm not totally dim, but all things considered I think it came out ok! I LOVE overscanning. Very Cartier Bresson. Some photog habits die hard I guess... http://vimeo.com/26807901

Well I am a total newbie so please recommend a lab that offers a cheaper high quality alternative! What should one spend on a film-process-scan deal?

Anybody use Pro8mm to do SD transfers of their film? I see that they'll do 6 rolls of tri-x for $284 dollars, seems like a great deal. But in my opinion S8 seems to benefit greatly from HD transfer, because you retain the grain and aesthetic so well, where as SD videos online that i've seen just look like old video. Is this still true? Or is SD worth a try.

So I have a Nizo 481 Macro, which as you may or may not know has a CdS meter that will read up to ISO 100D or 160T. First of all, why are their different sensitivity levels for tungsten and daylight? I just got a roll of 100D back (pro8mm HD transfer) and it looks freaking fantastic IMHO. The internal meter did a great job, as well as Pro8mm doing the transfer and making everything looking consistant. Now I'd like to start using higher speed emulsions, but tri-x is just out of the reach of the camera's meter. Does anyone know how the internal light meter will read this cartridge? Will it think of it as 160 or just revert to some default setting? Can I rely on this reading at all? I have an external Sekonic L-558 (non-cine) and I could use this. However it assumes a shutter angle of 180, while my Nizo is 150. And it doesn't have my shutter speed, which is probably somewhere around 1/65th at 24fps/1/43 at 18fps. If only these cameras would just allow you to manually set the ASA it would save a lot of headache! Any suggestions for metering these films? Should I just use my incident meter at the box speeds, and try to compensate in manual mode on my camera? What Super 8 cameras can meter these speeds? Is it worth upgrading? I have a photography background and I'm getting into Super 8 now for my wedding photography business, and because I've always wanted to since I was a kid. Thanks!

I'm a super 8 newbie. I come from still photography, and have had very limited use of only digital video equipment. I do however use a lot of vintage still cameras, which is where this concern comes from. I just got a Nizo 481 Macro. I have a question about the meter batteries. I got PX625 batteries, which are 1.5v. It calls of course for 1.35v batts that aren't made anymore, except by Wein. The greater voltage causes the Auto exposure to put the needle on F11 when doing a battery check, which is incorrect (it should go to F8). So it's improperly exposing on auto (This could mean by exactly one stop under, but I don't want to waste film to be sure). This is fine, because I have an external meter, but my question is, will this greater voltage affect the manual setting of the iris? Can I be sure that when the needle indicates 2.8, it is 2.8? My concern is that the greater voltage will effect BOTH manual and auto exposure. This would be mostly just annoying, because I'd have to order the Wein cells online. I wish it was a little more like my still cameras, in which case I wouldn't need a battery to set the exposure manually. New world for me I guess!