Herb Montes

Did you have the shutter on the viewfinder closed when you shot the footage? When you don't have your eye on the viewfinder stray light can get through your viewfinder and fog the film while making exposures.

I have a Bolex M5 with an EM motor attached. With a prime lens it makes for a lightweight electric camera since the battery is held in a pouch from your belt. It also can drive the 400 foot magazine but this adds weight to the camera. Add a large reflex zoom and you will be needing a shoulder pod or tripod. I once handheld a clockwork M5 with a large Pan Cinor zoom and after several hours my arms were falling off. That's why I eventually got a CP-16. The CP-16 would be a good candidate for an electric camera with 400 foot film capacity and it can be converted to Super 16. There are plenty of them around.

As for using a 16mm projector you might have to mill out the gate a bit since it cuts off some of the edges of the image. I once did a rotoscope experiment with a movie projector using a filmstrip projector for the light source after removing the movie projector bulb and moving the film frame by frame with the inching knob and reflecting from a mirror to the back of an animation board made of clear plexiglass. I was eventually planning on adapting a Slo-Syn animation drive to the inching knob. The same principle applies to the J-K printer. By removing the shutter and having the claw stop while it's in the film before it pulls it down you get a sort of pin registration. One projector ideal for this is the old RCA. I even rebuilt claws for this model.

I might be able to do something with that AutoMax having machinist and electronic experience. I can make an animation drive for it.

If you buy the "Gulliver's Travels" or "Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor" DVDs there should be an extra documentary that was made about the Fleischer Studios when it was located in Florida. There are scenes in the camera department showing the horizontal animation stand in use and even some scenes of the 3D setback that was used in some of their films. According to a former Fleischer animator they used lathe beds for their camera stands. From what I read these stands were destroyed when Paramount took over the studio and moved it back to New York. So none may exist. Disney's original multi-plane animation stand still exists. This blog also discusses these unique animation stands: http://deneroff.com/blog/2008/03/04/willis...ptical-process/

The 200 ft. mag is roomier than the 100 ft. ones. I recently got a Mitchell 16mm with a Tobin time lapse/animation motor. I want to use it for cel animation because it has pin registration and the rackover allows me to accurately line up the camera. I do eventually want to get a 35mm Mitchell as well. I have a lot of 35mm short ends sitting in cold storage I want to use. Because of the weight of the 35mm camera I may have to build a horizontal animation stand like the kind used by the old Fleischer Studio.

I can take pictures of the prisms if you like. As for the backlight it was a simple grain of wheat bulb wired to a AA cell battery pack. I would use it with several cameras I tested on my animation stand including a Kodak Cine Special and B&H 240. The non-reflex Bolex cameras I have are an M4 and an M5. I also have a Rex5 and using the prism I found the viewfinder did not exactly have the same coverage. The viewfinder cutoff a bit around the edges. It makes a difference when filming a 12" wide animation field. Now this was a while ago and I had dismantled my old stand but I'm thinking of rebuilding it, this time a Mitchell camera. As for non-Bolex cameras to consider for your rig there is the Kodak Cine Special. There is a lot of space behind the gate since the pulldown claw is below it. I knew an animator who replaced the Bolex on his animation stand with a Cine Special because he said they had more steady registration. I got two old Cine Specials gathering dust in my collection. They're old and heavy cameras but still work.

I have one of those JK gate prisms and used it to line up my non-reflex Bolex on my animation stand. Since it's hard to get my eye close to the prism I simply used a small light to shine through the prism to project the gate onto my animation board. I later got one of the Bolex gate focusers. The JK prism is held in pace with the same post for the pressure plate. The Bolex focuser uses a magnet to hold it in place. But it has a built-in focusing eyepiece.

One trick I remember seeing in an old book on film titling is to drill a small hole in the center of the lens cap. A string from that hole with a small plumb bob at the end is used to line up the camera to a target on your animation board.

My CP-16 still has the maghead and amplifier in it but without magfilm stock it's redundant. I know Kodak made some Pageant models with mag stripe recording capabilities. Haven't seen one in a long time. Mostly seen the optical track models. This site has manuals for many projectors and their forum can help you with some information: http://www.film-tech.com/

My regular webhosting is down for the moment so I'll have to link to my scrapbook on my deviantART account. Bolex Rex5 with compact zoom and matte box. Shown with Meritek animation motor. Mounted on a Quicket gearhead and pedestal. This setup is for stop motion animation filming. http://hmontes.deviantart.com/art/Bolex-Re...Drive-114843197

I actually had a large adjustable iris that came from Edmund Scientific. It was used to control the light in a microscope stage. It's big enough to fit in front of most 16mm prime lenses. It's lost among my boxes of gadgets. But you can still get them from their optical accessories site: http://www.edmundoptics.com/onlinecatalog/...?productID=1461

Bolex accessories go fast on eBay. I have found various ones there and through other sources. The matte box I got I won through eBay in an auction bidding against Andrew Alden himself. Some accessories I'm lucky to find as a result of good timing, like a gate focuser and or magazine rollers. Eventually I find I don't need some things so I sell or trade them. I got two H8s, one I got through a trade another I bought locally. But I use my H16s more often.

I believe the round knob on the side of the viewfinder is the diopter adjusment.

I can sell you the one I got. It came with a Bolex H8 and I don't really use it since all my H16s are flat base ones. I have another flat base adapter that's made by Bolex. It's silver and much nicer looking. I'll see if I can find them and take some pictures to send you.

I got one of those. I don't think it allows for attaching the matte box. There is one made to adapt the matte box to round bottom Bolxes but I haven't seen it often.

I have a JPG copy of the schematics for wiring a Slo-Syn motor for animation. And you can still buy these motors on the surplus market from this place: http://www.herbach.com/

If you're going to do research you should get Andrew Alden's "Bolex Bible". It can answer a lot of questions about the Bolex.

Yes, the lens hood holds the filter in place. And they can't be stacked. The compact Pan Cinor zoom uses Series 7 filters as well. As it is is I use the gel filter holder built into my Bolex.

This lens like other Pan Cinors uses Series 8 drop in filters. I have the Pan Cinor 85 and I use the Series 8 filters on it.

Yes, you can load daylight reels in the Kinor mags.

I tend to find Bolexes rather stable even in single frame mode. Project the film with the frameline showing. If it breathes then it is something with the camera. Other factors could be in the film transfer to video.

I would love to but my funds are tight right now having been in the hospital and medical bills to pay off. I'm even looking to sell off some of my gear to make ends meet.

Ah, that's a beauty. Would love to shoot with one of those.

Mike over at the Cine Kodak collector's forum knows a lot about these cameras: http://messages.cinekodak.org/index.php