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Derek Heeps

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Everything posted by Derek Heeps

  1. Thanks Philip , is this likely to be an issue with my Pentax prime lenses as well ? I just ordered the adaptor , which was inexpensive , last week and haven't received it yet . Since I'll primarily be shooting outdoors , I expect I'll be stopped down most of the time anyway .
  2. Hi , I have exactly that lens on my camera which I got only a few weeks ago . While there is nothing particularly wrong with it , I have been shooting video for decades and used to ENG lenses with a proportional controlled motorised zoom , and found out that others here have used adaptors to mount B4 bayonet lenses ( designed for 2/3" video sensors) onto a Bolex ; relevant to my since I have just such a lens upstairs . Of course , if anything , my Canon B4 lens is bigger and heavier than the cine zoom lens I have , but my aim was to be able to use the power zoom with a suitable battery pack . I have also just ordered a C mount to PK mount adaptor so that I can use my Pentax SLR lenses on the Bolex - in particular my SMC-M series primes , of which I have a good selection . There are plenty of C mount adaptors to the popular 35mm SLR mounts available , and a 35mm SLR zoom lens of similar range may be lighter and more compact than the cine lens you currently have ; especially lenses designed for APSC size sensor DSLRs - just make sure you get one with manual aperture ring .
  3. I’m in a similar place : first took an interest in photography early in high school , joined the camera club , learned from others . Sometime in my early teens my dad trusted me with his 8mm Bolex and I shot family holidays , air displays , and trains . After school , late 70’s , I started working part time in a hifi shop , just as early video equipment started to come in , and also got my first 35mm SLR . Later , I worked as a school audio visual technician , shooting still images and video , before moving into the conference/hire industry , where again there was some video production, as well as sound, lighting , projection and other stuff . One employer also had a wedding photography business , and I started doing commercial photography ( everything but weddings ) and video production there . Later , I moved to the fire service AV unit where the work is a mixture of scene photography/videography , PR photography and video production for training / PR . Have been doing that for 20 years now . Away from work , at some point I got a Minolta Super 8 camera and shot footage around the steam railway in my hometown , also a lot of still images . Down the years I’ve also worked my way through a variety of video formats , shooting things like trains , aircraft , motorsport , historic places , holidays etc . As I worked more with photography and video over the last 30 years or so , I did less as a hobby ; just this year , having time on my hands , I’ve been doing digital still photography: local places , and started a project tracing my family tree and photographing the graves of my ancestors as I find them . Having just been given two 16mm Bolexes , I plan to get some film to try them out. Alas the steam railway has been closed this year , but when it reopens it should be a good subject - especially to shoot in monochrome .
  4. Video8 , Hi-8 did not have.a control track as such ; they employed dynamic tracking by reference to a sine wave that was part of the helical scan , there was also a segment of each track used for PCM digital audio , and on some decks the video segment could be replaced by PCM multi-audio .
  5. That deck will allow you to capture over FireWire from tapes recorded on your camcorder and to archive edits made on your computer back onto DV tape . It is a good and ruggedly made deck , I used to have one . However , for a similar outlay , you can now buy an HDV deck which still works with DV and DVCAM but also supports the HDV format . If you get an HDV camcorder later , you can shoot and edit in high definition - a visible improvement over DV and still using the same tapes . Sony HDV products start with the code HVR and there is a whole range of decks and camcorders. Here is the entry level deck , which I’ve used myself for a number of years . https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sony-HVR-M15-HDV-Video-Deck-Plays-Full-Size-and-Mini-Tapes/363208356473?hash=item5490e7b279:g:R6gAAOSwyVZe-Ktt
  6. Instead of merely a DV deck , consider getting an HDV deck . It will still play existing DV and DVCAM tapes , but also gives you scope to upgrade to HDV later . HDV camcorders are now quite affordable and allow you to shoot in high definition whilst maintaining backward compatibility with DV
  7. Todd , while that sounds a good idea , it is frowned on at work to sell items given away and keep the money ( or use for another purpose ) it is normally expected that if you dispose of something you give any proceeds to one of the charities supported in the workplace . Apart from that I quite fancy keeping both cameras and all the lenses . I’m more inclined to buy a K-Mount adaptor so that I can use my Pentax lenses on the camera , which include primes at 50 , 55 , 70 , 77 , 100 , 120 , 135 and others both shorter and longer . I will keep updating here with my progress with the cameras .
  8. Thanks Phil , alas too late as I’d already tried it ! However , I did have to get round the issue of the film being on the spool the wrong way round , so I used my projector to wind it back onto the other spool , whilst pinching it with a piece of cloth as it rewound , nothing came off there , and I’ve just removed the pressure plate and checked the gate , all clean , and nothing obvious inside the camera . I only ran it through once , but it was enough to tell that the loops form correctly and stay formed over the length of the film . Im not going to run the camera excessively for now ; up to now I’ve ran it in short bursts without film , and the one time with the old film , just to test and familiarise myself with it . The next thing will be to purchase a roll of new film and run it through to test the camera , and get it processed . If all is well and I know there are no major issues , I’ll look into the cost of a routine service and get that done before any further use . Alternatively, I’ve seen DIY servicing guides both on here and elsewhere on the web , and I will do my homework before considering whether or not to have a go myself . I might have a go with my dads old 8mm S1 first , then if that goes ok , the REX before touching the REX 4 . I have in the past serviced projectors , tape recorders , vcrs , camcorders and numerous other devices ( including everything mechanical on my cars ) so , as long as I have the proper service manual it doesn’t scare me .
  9. Thanks Dom , yes I’ve seen some of the prices on eBay , although my interest wasn’t so much for monetary value as , initially , just to have the camera as a keepsake and maybe a display item in my living room . I used to have a number of older cameras on display in my living room until my then partner objected ; since we are no longer together I can please myself about such things . If I feel I’m going to start using the camera regularly then I’ll look into either getting it serviced , or to see how I feel about doing it myself : I have in the past , serviced video kit ranging from U-Matic down to Mini-DV and things like Kodak S-AV projectors , when my employer had about 100 in the hire stock . As long as I can obtain a service manual then I would feel reasonably comfortable at exploring it . If it is just going to be an ornament to sit on the shelf I wouldn’t bother , but I think I might actually use the REX 4 and just leave the other one sitting . The take up spindle and run release both seem fine . I’m going to load that reel of film that was in the camera and observe how it runs through . The camera seems to run very smoothly without film going through it . Both cameras do . Thanks again for the advice .
  10. The two primes I now have are now 16mm and 25mm . As for my K mount lenses , they range from a 15mm fish eye , shortest ‘normal’ prime being 20mm , although I do have a ( non fisheye ) 15-30mm zoom , and up to max 400mm which would be very long on 16mm . I have a video lens which comes out to 6.5mm at the wide end .
  11. And a few more : the REX can be distinguished by having no eyepiece and the round tripod mount on the bottom
  12. Above , the first pic is the REX4 , complete with eyepiece and the grip , lens and fader swapped over ; the lower pics are the REX with the two primes and the side finder fitted . Below are some pics of the REX as was when I got it a few days ago , and one with my dad’s old 8mm S1 which I last used around 1970 .
  13. A further development. Yesterday I got a phone call from my boss saying he’d found the other Bolex and did I want it as well ... Picked it up last night and this one is a REX 4 with pistol grip , two primes ( a 16mm Switar and a 25mm Pizar . The REX 4 seems to have a slightly larger reflex finder ( the box section is a bit larger ) and has the all important eyepiece although no rubber eyecup , but these are readily available ; it also has a non reflex finder on the side . This camera is , if anything , in even better condition than the other one , with the leather cloth just that bit fresher looking , but nothing to complain about on either . Having looked up the serial no against the Bolex collector site , this camera dates from 1966 , as opposed to the other one being a 1960 model . I swapped the zoom lens , pistol grip and Rex-o-fader over to the REX 4 , and put the two primes plus the side finder onto the REX . There was even a full 100’ roll of exposed , double perf film still in the REX 4 . It must have been there minimum 20 years and possibly closer to 50 so I see little point trying to process it ; I think I’ll just use it as a test film to check that both cameras load , form loops and run smoothly with film loaded . On the REX4 , the loop formers click in nicely enough , but on pressing the release button they were a little slower to jump back out ; repeated operations speeded this up so perhaps it will improve with use ; or perhaps on the REX , which I suspect has seen more use , things are just a bit more worn and looser . So , altogether a good find and I now feel I have a camera almost ready to go . I will just need to wait for my finances to recover from the festive season before I can afford to buy some film . The Wein cell for the ‘electric eye’ in the Kern zoom lens arrived yesterday too , but I haven’t fitted it yet . Some photos , as requested
  14. Thanks for all the info . I was only thinking of using the B4 lens and my K mount lenses because I have them already . I did a search on eBay , which drew a blank , but yes I will google for them . Re the eyepiece , I think I’ll need to find one elsewhere - the cameras lay in a cupboard for my 20 years there and were never touched ( I don’t think they were used after 1972 , that being the date of the last incident in our archive that was filmed on 16mm ) until our studio was recently cleared out to be converted into office space and the contents shifted into a store ( which we are losing ) by caretakers ( who didn’t seem to take much care ) , besides the other Bolex being nowhere near the one I got , of particular annoyance is that the pantographs and much of the rail system from our Bowens hi glide system appears to have been thrown in a skip !
  15. Thanks Phil , that’s very helpful . Yes my camera does have the turret lock . The Wein cell was only about £5 from eBay , so if the lifespan is reasonable I can live with that , I did see adaptors to use LR44 cells , so that’s an option too . Ive been watching eBay for a K mount adaptor but no luck so far .
  16. Yep , that looks pretty good , and I already have 15mm rods for my matte box , so support would be easy enough . I was also thinking the video lens would be easier to handhold since I could use the handgrip , and cobble up some sort of shoulder pad , maybe from an old video camera . So , your B4 lens covers the 16mm frame without vingetting ?
  17. As per my other thread , I recently obtained an H16 REX with the Kern-Paillard 18-86mm F2.5 Vario-Switar zoom lens . It seems a very nice lens and my main initial thought is that it may be a bit limited at the wide end ; obviously depending on what I’m going to shoot . I know there are various C-mount adaptors to other systems , so my main interest would be to look for a Pentax K adaptor since I’ve been shooting Pentax since the mid seventies and have built up a reasonable selection of glass , although use with the Bolex would likely be only with my SMC-M lenses from the film era , sadly since my DA Limited lenses require electronic control of aperture from the camera body . It also occurs to me that I have some ENG video lenses that might work ; in particular the Canon YJ12x6.5B4 which is a 6.5mm-78mm zoom ( with 2x multiplier ) hence quite a bit wider at the wide end and longer with the multiplier in. I used this lens on my Sony DSR500WSP which had 3x 2/3” native 16:9 sensors ; I need to check , but I’m guessing a 2/3” sensor must be a similar size to a 16mm frame , so the image circle ought to cover the 16mm frame . This lens ( like most ENG lenses ) has manual focus , zoom and aperture rings . The big question would be whether anyone makes C-mount to B4 adaptors ? I can always try IronGlass since they made me a 2/3” to 1/3” adaptor to allow me to use the lens on my JVC GY-HD251 which is a 1/3” camcorder. There is also the question of weight of this lens , but it is not all that much longer or heavier than the Kern lens . I will also need to consider how to expose correctly. I do still have my old Weston Master V light meter from days shooting still film and I recall it has scales for cine . The question here is whether the indicated aperture on the lens ( for example a 35mm film lens set to , say , f5.6 , won’t actually be f5.6 on a 16mm frame ? ) I’m thinking that only using part of the circle there will be a ‘stopping down’ factor ? Again I’m pretty hazy on this , but if memory serves , each f stop represents half the light getting through , so if I compare the area of a 16mm frame to that of a 35mm one , that should give me the conversion factor ? Same with the video lens , but if the two frame sizes are similar it might be negligible. Last thought , I may have asked this over on my other thread , can’t recall , but the H16 REX has a gelatin filter holder which slots in between the lens and the shutter . It occurred to me that it would be quite easy to fashion a 16:9 crop mask to slot in there so as to shoot a 16:9 crop within the 16mm frame . Has anyone done this ? While very easy to crop to 16:9 during telecine , it might be nice to be able to project at 16:9 straight off the film ?
  18. Hi , just through the week I was given a Bolex H16 camera , as there was a clear out of old kit going on at work and I was asked if there was anything I would like . I thought I was perhaps chancing my luck a bit when I asked my boss if I might have one of the two Bolexes I had oft admired in my 20 years there , and was mildly surprised when told just to take one . The one I could see had a large zoom lens fitted ; I know the other ( which was nowhere to be seen ) has two smaller primes on the turrets . A bit of background about myself - after school , I did Electrical & Electronic Engineering at Uni , halfway through the course decided it wasn't for me and went from a part time job in a hifi shop to full time , audio being my main interest back then , although I also did still photography , first medium format with an old Rolleiflex T I picked up , then I bought my first SLR , a Pentax KM back in 1976 or so ( this will be relevant later ) . Besides still photography , I shot some Standard 8 cine film using my dad's Bolex S1 , and later got a Minolta Super 8 ( still have both of these cameras , as well as two Eumig P8 protectors and a Eumig Mark S 702 ( I think ) dual gauge sound projector . I also have an Elf NT-1 16mm projector , which I have used to telecine various films . When the owner of the hifi shop died and the shop closed , I became a school audio visual technician , which I did for seven years , then I moved into the conference/presentation industry where I did sound , lighting , projection , set building - everything really for events large and small . With the advent of early home video kit , I had used VHS/SVHS/Video8/Hi-8/MiniDV/HDV kit , and at work cut my teeth with lo-band U-Matic and Sony Type V suites , as I'm sure many others did , working up through Hi-band , Beta , Digi Beta and currently working with XDCAM , and at work editing on Premiere and using FCP on my Macs at home . So , anyway , I was given this Bolex , on Tuesday this week . When I got home , I went on the net looking for a user manual to read up - I found the Bolex Collector website where , from the serial number stamped on the tripod bush I learned that I have an H16 REX from 1960 , my camera also has the REX fader and the Kern-Paillard Vario-Switar 1:2.5 18-86mm zoom lens . This lens has a metering unit attached which gives an auto aperture function , powered by an old PX-13 mercury battery . I removed the old corroded battery , and have ordered an equivalent 'air cell' which purports to be a suitable replacement - we shall see ( I have had past experience of replacing Mercury 1.35V cells with modern substitutes , both in my Omega f300 watch and in my Rollei 35S camera ) . Besides downloading a manual , I found someone on eBay selling original , paper manuals , so I ordered one of these as well . I've spent a couple of evenings going through the downloaded manual and familiarising myself with the camera , once I get the battery , I'll try to get a short end from somewhere so that I can try the camera out - I see there are a few online vendors selling black and white stock on 100 ft reels , with processing included ( need to make sure it's reversal stock and not negative ! ) so one way or the other I hope to shoot something over the holidays and try the camera out . The camera winds up and runs smoothly , the loop formers work fine and everything else seems to work as described in the manual . A few questions , please . Winding up - I'm a bit nervous of overwinding it - how many turns is it safe to wind the handle , to get , I believe around 30 seconds of shooting time ? Or does the handle go tight when fully would , I've only given it maybe six to ten cranks before chickening out , but I believe in being cautious with things I don;t yet fully understand . The viewfinder , I have figured out the focus wheel near the rear of the finder to suit my eyesight , and the little shutter near the front . All online illustrations I've seen show an eyepiece at the rear of the finder , which presumably magnifies the image , and allows attachment of a rubber eyecup - I have neither the eyepiece or the rubber eyecup . I have seen plenty of eyecups for sale , but not the eyepiece , which presumably screws into the threaded hole at the back of the finder ? Are there different viewfinders applicable to this model ? I have seen numerous different ones for sale on eBay , but mostly they are the side attaching ones for the non-reflex cameras , the one on the top of the camera does look as though it might detach somehow , but I haven't tried to remove it . I mentioned earlier my starting out with Pentax in the mid seventies - well I worked my way up the range until I had both two MX cameras and two LX cameras , plus a good selection of SMC-M K-mount lenses . I used the two LX cameras professionally for two decades before dipping a toe into the digital world with a pair of *istD bodies ( which I since gave one each to my children ) and currently have a K-3 , K-01 and K-1 as well as a selection of lenses , modern and old . The modern lenses rely on the camera to control aperture , but the old manual ones don't , so I'm wondering if there are C mount to K mount adaptors out there which might let me use some of my Pentax lenses on the Bolex ? Also , I need to read up on my theory , but for example f1.7 covering a 35mm frame won't be the same aperture when covering a 16mm frame , will it ? There must be some conversion involved since aperture is all about a ratio of light being admitted .... I do still have my old Weston Master V light meter which I recall has cine functions , so should help me to meter using manual lenses , also have a modern Gossen spot meter . Last question , I note that just behind the lens mount there is a slider , which is a filter holder for gelatin filters . Could one insert a mask there to crop the image to 16:9 format ? I realise it won't be Super 16 ( I do have a friend who shoots Super 16 on his two Eclair cameras , and I need to get in touch for some tips - and maybe a short end ! ) but it might be useful to be able to crop to that ratio . Does anyone make a properly machined insert for this ? This will be something of a learning curve for me , but I hope to make use of the camera , initially just as a hobby , but perhaps I'll get further into film as I go on . Sorry for all the questions , but this is all new to me - I'm not here to find answers and disappear next week or next month = when I take things up I generally stick with them . Kind regards Derek
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