Johnny Liu
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Posts posted by Johnny Liu
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I meant to write: "that were hard to find elsewhere as well as hard to find on eBay..."
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Have you tried this website? I have bought some filters from them before that were hard to find elsewhere and on eBay:
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OK, big mistake on my part. It turns out the screws were not screwing out or screwing back not because there was anything wrong with them, but rather, the screwdriver I have has this rubber sleeve/grip on the screwdriver handle shaft. I kept thinking I was turning the screwdriver, but the screws were on so tight, that all I was doing was turning the screwdriver handle within the rubber sleeve/grip. Thus, yes, the screws are on - and they are screwed down tight.
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3 minutes ago, Dom Jaeger said:
That doesn’t sound right, the 4 front plate screws should all screw down tight. It is weird if all are stripped, yes. Unless someone put in the wrong screws? Imperial instead of metric or something.
I wrote this a while back, all pocket camera are basically similar, if you ever want to go inside:
http://cinetinker.blogspot.com/2013/01/servicing-bolex-d8l.html
I also have another Bolex handheld (C8SL) that I have never used - I might take one of the front plate screws from that and see if it screws correctly/tightly with my B8.
Thanks for the link to your webpage - it's great and I have looked at it many times in the past. I need to make the time one of these days to do my own servicing of my cameras! Thanks for being a great resource on this!
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Oh wait, I think I misread what you had written. I didn't realize that on the inside of the camera, against the back wall of the camera, there is a little cover that (I think) is the footage counter cover. I will tape that up instead. Thanks
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3 minutes ago, Dom Jaeger said:
Well, the leak is across the film width. So look for any gaps in the film chamber going in that direction, perhaps the footage counter cover at the back? The frequency is probably related to how long your shots are, since the light must be leaking between shots.
My guess would be the footage counter, so as an experiment try taping over the edges of the cover inside and see if the leak continues.
If it is in-camera, you should be getting brighter flashes when shooting outside in bright sunlight, and depending on how long you pause between shots.
Thanks Dom for the idea. I will tape over the edges of the body on the inside where it meets the film door (is that what you are saying?). Maybe also just tape the outside edge of the film door with like painters tape as well.
I noticed something strange today. I was thinking it might be related to the shutter so, I tried to unscrew the four screws on the front outside plate of the camera and the screws just kept turning, but didn't back themselves out. I then thought I should stop so I screwed the screws back in and they never seemed to stop turning (all four of the screws). Do you think these screws are stripped - and if so - wouldn't it be strange that all four screws happen to be stripped?
I took my other camera - a B8LA that doesn't have the light blip issue and I turned one of the four screws on the front outside plate of the camera a few turns out and it didn't look like it backed out. I then screwed it back in several turns and it didn't seem to feel like it was getting tighter at all. I was hesitant to screw too much on this camera since it doesn't have any issues, so am a bit careful with it.
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On 3/31/2024 at 4:26 PM, Don H Marks said:
Mine just came today.
I don't have a standard C-Mount lens to test yet, but I did measure it and it will likely work. I got these numbers off the internet, not sure how correct they are.
D-mount flange focal = 12.29
C-mount flange focal = 17.526mm
Difference = 5.236mmI measured the adapter and it was about 5.18mm +/- some hundreths.
The lens I have in mind is the 75mm Yvar, as my Octameter has a setting for 75mm.
Another I was looking at was the 3" Wollensak.
Yes, I measured mine and it looks (from my calipers at least) to be correctly made. I a list of flange focal distance figures to use from this chart:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flange_focal_distance -
Please see the below video I uploaded to YouTube. My Bolex B8 has an issue where sometimes, every 10 or so seconds a horizontal blip of bright light appears in the frame. I don't think it has to do with the video transfer, because I use the same company to video transfer movies filmed using my other camera (Bolex B8LA) and don't get that problem with the transfers for that other camera. I have had the film for my Bolex B8 developed by two different companies and the results are both the same - still these blips of bright light. Thus, I don't think it is the film developer that is the issue. I have tried other lenses in the past with my Bolex B8 and I also still get the issue with the other lenses, so don't think the issue is the lens.
The blips of bright light happen at these time marks in the video:
0:01
0:12
0:15
0:24
Does anyone have any ideas what is causing this?
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On 3/18/2024 at 8:50 AM, Don H Marks said:
I just bought the same adapter off of eBay a few weeks ago. I will try to post an update once I have taken some footage using it on my Bolex B8 handheld.
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On 3/26/2024 at 12:17 AM, Aapo Lettinen said:
It can be fun if keeping it as a hobby and only doing fun stuff every now and then which is relatively fast and simple to complete. For example making simple camera gadgets (ultrasonic distance meter, battery voltage meters, etc) and 3d printing nice housings for them can be very rewarding. Actually I recommend the 3d printing stuff as a hobby instead of electronics if you can choose, it is much funnier to make 3d parts, faster to complete them and much more rewarding
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If making super complicated ambitious projects it is a living nightmare to do electronics stuff and not recommended at all, it will eat up all your time and money, your home will be full of unfinished projects and parts pissing everyone else living in there, your social life will suffer a lot (no time, money or energy to have any life outside your projects) and it is not that rewarding to get anything finished, you are just glad the suffering is over and can finally move on to next unfinished task which has waited completion for years.
so the "hardcore approach" is definitely not recommended unless maybe if you plan on leaving film industry completely and only making electronics stuff for living. in that case you may need to use even more time and energy on it as making super ambitious diy stuff is not enough to survive in work environment so you need to double or triple it to get forward
Yeah, I think I will start with some small electronics projects first. I do some 3D printing currently and you are right - it is pretty rewarding!
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23 hours ago, Aapo Lettinen said:
I made some hobby stuff when young and started to repair stuff again and learn more when worked with old cameras so learned the basics when young and continued from there when older. For the past almost 5 years I have used pretty much all my free time on electronics projects (maybe 6 hours a day every day) and at the moment am studying for a engineering degree as well which is of embedded systems and electronics designing as well.
So have been doing this full-time for couple of years sometimes getting money of it and the rest for helping with my studies, probably used close to 10 000 hours on the electronics and programming stuff so far during these couple of years and still learning more. I would rather make movies for living as that is much easier work but there is not much film industry work here anymore due to budget cuts and economic instability etc so trying to get making electronics stuff as main profession if in any way possible... there is tons of electronics and embedded systems work in this city whereas the film industry is pretty non-existent
That's really interesting - I think I will start reading up on electronics this year and try to make some simple projects
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23 minutes ago, Aapo Lettinen said:
It is not possible to shoot with the camera without the auto exposure system in working condition so the modification needs everything to work correctly.
Of course I could still make crystal sync Leicinas out of them but one would need to buy the whole batch at once and pay for them before I can start work on them. I think 5 cameras for 6k usd or something like that. Takes about 8 months including tests
Thanks for the rough estimates. I think it is amazing all the work you put into this - as well as another one of your crystal sync products that I had read about before for the CP-16. The valuable insights and pictures in your posts as your build these products is simply not available anywhere else online for some of the cameras you work with. I wish I knew more about electronics to be able to do what you are doing. Camera electronics has been one aspect of cameras that, unless you have some experience with, you feel completely helpless about and have to rely on others for help. How did you learn electronics?
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2 minutes ago, Aapo Lettinen said:
It is both cheaper to use converters instead of full lenses, but it would be a nightmare to make automatic exposure working with interchangeable prime lenses and would be cumbersome and very expensive to buy.
So I think the only right choice for that camera was converters because auto exposure would not been possible with interchangeable lenses and the auto exposure was main selling point of that camera model.
The SV model with built in zoom lens has auto exposure too (leftmost camera in the image). Interchangeable lens would had needed external motors like on beaulieus
Oh yes, you are right. I had not considered how automatic exposure would not be possible if lenses were truly interchangeable!
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17 minutes ago, Aapo Lettinen said:
Still have all of these and can sell part if you need Leicina stuff. Some cameras partially disassembled when I took parts for tests, some in original condition
Thanks - will keep that in mind if I decide to do things with the Leicina 8s. I was just reading through all your posts and it's too bad that the economics of the project prevented you from completing it (especially people expecting you to spend the money to perform 8mm footage tests all at your expense).
Did you mention that you had two finished kits for sale? Are they still for sale?
I don't need the automatic metering to work as I always do manual metering whenever possible when shouting with 8mm
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Just now, Aapo Lettinen said:
The 8s has fixed built in 15mm lens and one can attach their proprietary wide or tele converters in front of it. For example 9mm, 6.25mm, 36mm, etc.
I abandoned all 8mm camera projects but have all the Leicina8s kits still in storage if you want to buy cameras, bags, lenses or other stuff for spare parts
Thanks for the info. Yeah, that's what I was afraid of from what I could read online about it - coupled with your close up pics. That is, it seemed like it had some kind of fixed lens that only took proprietary lens attachments/converters. I wonder why they chose to go that route instead of making it "truly" interchangeable. I think it is still a really interesting camera. Though, any project I would use it for, I think I would try to modify it by taking out the fixed lens and installing a lens mount so that it could take a wide variety of lenses. Thanks for letting me know that you have a collection of them - I will keep that in mind!
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2 hours ago, Dom Jaeger said:
I think a Bolex H8 RX with H8 RX Switars, properly serviced, will give you about as sharp an image as 8mm can achieve.
Using a pocket Bolex like a B8/D8 you’ll be relying on the lens focus scale, which could easily be out using stacked adapters. And the pocket cameras don’t have the same registration stability as a H8 with a fixed sprocket-driven loop and better gate and pressure plate.
If you really wanted to test the resolution capabilities of an 8mm sized film frame, you could just crop such a frame from the centre from a high res scan of 16mm footage shot on something like an SR3 with Ultra 16 lenses, or an Arricam with Zeiss Supremes. Then compare it to the H8RX footage and see if it looks any better.
Thanks for your insights into this. Didn't think that focus might be affected by stacked adapters. I just thought that if someone made an adapter, they probably measured/manufactured it correctly, but I guess that would be an assumption!
I was thinking about getting an H8 to run the test with, but I already have a serviced/CLA'd B8 on hand, so just though of using the B8 for my test instead of spending the time and money to buy an H8 and get it CLA'd.
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3 hours ago, Mark Dunn said:
Of course the lens would be very long on 8mm, but maybe that wouldn't matter for a test. My thought would be that a modern lens is sharper, but not all that much sharper, and that the limiting factor is a frame smaller than your little toenail. 8mm. can look very good with a modern high-res scan; maybe it doesn't get much better than that.
Thanks for your thoughts on this!
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I had this idea to try a test with a Bolex handheld 8mm camera such as a C8/B8/D8LA. These all take D mount lenses and I thought of using a C to D mount adapter - and then stack it with something like an EF to C mount adapter or a PL to C mount adapter.and then rent a modern cinema lens like a Zeiss CP.3 prime lens -- and then use a good film stock like Vision 3 50D - to run a film test. I would also use a base plate, support rails, and a lens support to support the weight of this modern cinema lens. I'm mainly interested to see how far one could push the sharpness of 8 mm film. Any ideas, thoughts, or comments you have about this test plan - please let me know!
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Hi, and thanks a lot for all the work and information about your crystal sync project for the Leicina 8S. I would like to ask you about this camera. I understand that you can change the lens on it, but I haven't been able to find any information on the internet about what type mount lenses it uses. Does it use D mount lenses?
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23 hours ago, Geffen Avraham said:
Oh wow - thanks! I will am checking it out now...
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1 hour ago, Geffen Avraham said:
It's not fake to my knowledge, it's a fellow on Facebook named Jamie Welton,
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2248960670/user/650315100/
This camera is also listed by him on eBay:
Thanks a lot for the links and the background information on this seller! Seeing that he has sold several items on eBay before, I feel like it is more legit
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On 3/1/2024 at 5:09 AM, Aapo Lettinen said:
bad cosmetic condetion cameras may have moisture and / or mold damage. one wants to be extra careful with those and prepare to send it back if it turns out to be unusable. the price of those cameras is very good so there may be something the seller does not tell...
my non-working parts NPR body was this way, I can only use it for taking dimensions for motor projects because can't be near it without gas mask, would get bad symptoms if trying to use it for filming
Once again, thanks for the great advice. One more thing I need to consider. I had never thought about mold being an issue, so thanks for letting me know! -
On 2/29/2024 at 8:09 PM, Geffen Avraham said:
There are a couple of running eclairs being sold soon on Arriflex.co.uk
The one on there right now is not in great cosmetic condition, but it seems to run fine and is inexpensive.
Thanks a lot for the info! I see the camera on that website. Do you know much about this website - do you know anyone who has bought from them / are they reliable?
Now, have to do some research about the Eclair NPR - looks promising
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12 hours ago, Kamran Pakseresht said:
In my opinion, for the price you're looking to spend - buy an Eclair NPR (that's running) on Ebay for ~2k - send it to Tyler or Visual Products for a CLA (VP does a CLA for between 3 and 400 dollars) - and spend whatever is left-over on adapters and lenses. Once you have one that's been looked over by a professional (assuming it was running to begin with) - they should run well for many years to come. They are relatively quiet sync-sound cameras that are a great intro to the format if you're just trying to get up and running. At 4k - this is probably where you could realistically start.
If it was me and I'd never shot on 16mm before and I could give myself advice - I'd tell myself to just buy a Arri 16s or a Beualieu R16 that was gone over by someone and already running - you can do so much with just a solid camera, you don't necessarily need sync sound to get familiar with the format and explore the medium.
Thanks a lot for your thoughts on this. Yes, am keeping my eyes open for an Eclair as well
Bolex Intervalometer
in Bolex
Posted
That's really cool - great idea! I have made a few things with hobby servos before - but never thought of something movie camera related.
I found this guy a few days ago. He is making a new animation motor for Bolex H16 and H8 models - and from what I can see - it can also maintain a steady 24 fps or 25fps too. So, you can shoot sync sound it looks like:
His website is:
http://filmcurl.com/