Raaf Sundquist

@Dennis Toeppen - Have you tried a brisk walk around the block?

Make sure you see The Love Witch and Jennifer's Body too. His amazing work is what led me to this site. The only thing that exceeds David Mullen's talent is his generosity in sharing his advice and experience with this community.

Actually I think the caption on the first photo is correct - that it shows the Redondo Beach Bath House, and not The Venice Plunge. The Cameraman was filmed at The Venice Plunge and features a large white fountain as part of the set - I don't think we don't see that here. It plays in a key part where a naked Buster Keaton steals some pants from a larger female swimmer. I say this not to point out that you're not correct, but only to add some dimension to these very cool photos you've generously shared. Instead, I say it mostly to encourage people to go back and watch the film. Even cooler in motion. Buster's acting, his stunts...and his vision for cinema are so inspiring - and timeless. In so many moments where you see a familiar gag or setup in his films...you have to pause and understand that in many cases, this is the first time it was done on screen. The whole film is terrific and The Venice Plunge scene is a lot of fun. Early Los Angeles certainly had some interesting sites and Buster made it his cinematic universe. EDIT: Duh I didn't realize you attached the clip in your first post. I thought you were referring to the photo - so indeed, the Venice Plunge.

Which ones are the "big three"?

Wow. I just looked at a couple of these. Very high quality scans...and a glimpse into what now seems to be a foreign and far off world. It's like propaganda from a parallel universe. Thank you for sharing.

Where there is friction, there is opportunity... https://www.indiewire.com/2021/11/rust-shooting-gun-bans-set-1234676635/

It's hard to say what he means exactly. He could be talking about the inherent difference between the aspect ratios of each format (16mm, Super 16mm, Ultra16mm) and their relationship to the side of the frame. I suppose it could also have something to do with how the cameras were converted to either Super16 or Ultra16 and perhaps the viewfinder does not reflect the same field of view as the captured image. But may I recommend taking a step back? Here is a great article describing the differences between Super16 and Ultra16. https://noamkroll.com/super-16mm-vs-ultra-16mm-why-im-converting-my-arri-sr-ii-to-ultra/ It will explain the aspect ratios mentioned above and the pros and cons of each format and may better inform your decision. You should also consider that some labs may not support (someone else here can probably confirm this) Ultra16 as this is a less common format. I do not have direct experience with this. All that said, in my opinion, Super16 is probably a good universal choice.

My opinion isn't worth much, but I respectfully disagree. 🙂 I almost made it through two episodes and then I just couldn't take it any longer. It was so laborious. It's like they set out to write this for two great actors to show absolutely every nuance of dramatic acting instead of just driving the story. I think they are both terrific actors and I have enjoyed other prior performances. Just saw Dune, Isaac was fine...and Chastain was great in the Tammy Faye movie. But in this? Oh my. Also some of it was just weird. Why was he so interested in learning more about the other man? He was fawning at times. It looked like he was going to bat his eyelashes at one point. I just didn't care about either of them and just kept saying to myself JUST EFFING LEAVE ALREADY. I was so frustrated by the pace, the arduous dialogue, and YES when he started diving into that leftover pasta - I know what you mean Stephen. Come to think of it, that might have been the last noodle for me. Maybe it got better and I missed out, but when you start hating the characters and it's just two people in a room, I start looking for the exit. I DID enjoy the look behind the scenes at the beginning. I honestly would have liked more of that. ...and technically, it was all beautifully shot in my amateur opinion. ...but that phone book boat anchor of a script... Loved Marriage Story too by the way.

The Spy Who Loved Me was SO cheesy...and absolutely terrific. Jaws really scared me as a kid - the fight scenes with Roger Moore have a strange tension. There was also something so especially cold about how Stromberg dropped his assistant in with the shark near the beginning. That Lotus...the British flag on the ski stunt - and what a soundtrack. Good times. I haven't seen No Time To Die yet. I wonder if I will have as much fun.

What economy are you referring to? Is this meant to sound favorable or unfavorable? The supply chain is problematic worldwide right now. If Kodak has any dependency on shipping of materials, they like many manufacturers right now aren't going to be able to keep product on hand. This is a completely unrelated product but serves as an example of the kind of things companies are running up against: https://emulsive.org/articles/news/announcement-kodak-supply-chain-issues-require-a-temporary-change-to-all-35mm-canisters-effective-immediately We also don't know how much Kodak actually intends to manufacture. Just because demand may be higher doesn't necessarily mean production is trying to meet that (even if it could). Behind the scenes other factors like cost of goods (margin) etc can play a role and we'd never know. Shipping costs are eating away at margin for many. Cost for moving a 40 foot shipping container is 4x what is was last year. And then there are the logistics - all the green dots offshore are ships just waiting. All speculation...but it's really rough out there right now.

Manu - wow. Thanks for that! -- Raaf

Forgive the off topic question...but is that The Racetrack in Death Valley? 🙂 Beautiful camera in a beautiful place.

Dom, Well that answers that. Makes sense and I appreciate your help. -- Raaf

Hi, Can anyone recommend a source for an adapter to allow for mounting of M lenses to Bolex C mount? Bonus question - does anyone have any experience shooting with M lenses on Bolex? Any other considerations? I have a few of these and would like to leverage them if possible. Thank you, Raaf

Kevin, The shots look good for available light - what lens/aperture did you use? -- Raaf

Rick, Rather than confusing you in my own words, this article explains it nicely ==> https://noamkroll.com/super-16mm-vs-ultra-16mm-why-im-converting-my-arri-sr-ii-to-ultra/ Hope that helps. -- Raaf

Thank you sir! I'm going to shoot some film with it, confirm the results, and based on that send it out for full servicing. ...and potentially upgrade to Super 16 at the same time. Dom - your insight has been invaluable.

Dom, Thank you very much. I wasn't getting that the ground glass was on TOP of the prism. I've repeatedly read this, but kept interpreting this as one side or the other, not the actual top. Duh. So now I've correctly identified the ground glass and cleaned it. That made a huge difference and all but cleaned up the smaller debris. Leaving only...the larger dark spots show here: One thing to note is that when I ever so slightly move my head to left and right I can see these obstructions moving left to right in FRONT of the rest image in the viewfinder as if they are much nearer. So even though these obstructions don't move when I turn the diopter, does this mean these are most likely in the viewfinder? I'd love to get rid of these but if I knew they weren't going to appear on film I'd just hold my nose and call it "character." Just trying to get everything solid before I put my first roll through. Thanks again for your help.

Ok, while the arrow is now gone I am still seeing some debris/obstructions in the viewfinder that does not appear to be on the prism. The debris does not move or spin when adjusting the diopter. Do you think this will show up on film? I am fine if it's just in the viewfinder.

Nevermind. I figured it out. I was seeing the variable shutter warning indicator.

Hi, I just acquired a Bolex H16 Rex 4. When I look through the viewfinder I see some noticeable debris in the middle and one large upward pointing arrow shape in the lower left corner - it covers about 20% of the height of the view. I tried pointing towards light and swinging the prism out to see if this was on the prism alone. It's not, I can see the shape already in place as the prism comes back into view - so it's not on the prism. Does this mean the obstruction or debris will affect shooting? I fear it will since it's independent of the prism. Thank you! Raaf

Friends, I am in the process of finding and acquiring a Bolex H16 (probably Rex 4 or 5) and wanted to ask the community which vendors are most recommended to perform Super 16 conversions. I understand the list of capable vendors may be shortening so I thought I'd pose the question. Thank you for any insight you can provide. -- Raaf