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Bolex and ESM Motor / problems with fps


John Paul Sniadecki

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Dear All,

 

I have been shooting 100 ft rolls of 16mm on a Bolex H16 Reflex with a Bolex ESM motor.

The first two rolls of 100' rushes came back at what looked like 16 or 18 fps, yet I was pretty sure I had set the motor to 24 fps and the Bolex camera to 64 fps (to disengage the spring, per the instructions that came with the motor).

Today I timed a 100' roll at the 24 fps setting on the motor and it came out to approximately 3 minutes and 15 seconds, which is, I gather, 30 seconds longer than what 100' of film should last at 24 fps.

I've checked all the various settings on the camera and have not found anything out of the ordinary.

Does anyone have any idea what is going on and what I can do to get 24 fps with the motor?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

JP

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"Today I timed a 100' roll at the 24 fps setting on the motor and it came out to approximately 3 minutes and 15 seconds, which is, I gather, 30 seconds longer than what 100' of film should last at 24 fps. "

 

Hey John Paul,

 

Welcome. How did you "time" it? Running in a projector?

 

I'm not that familiar with that model but others here are.

 

Tom

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You have to do a test of the motor/camera combination's running speed.

 

With the motor set to 24fps, set the frame counter to 000.

 

With a stopwatch in hand, run the motor for exactly one minute.

 

The camera should have advanced 1440 frames.

 

If the camera were running at 23fps, you would get 1380 frames

If the camera were running at 25fps, you would get 1500 frames

etc...

 

If the camera's running is way off, it indicates some kind of problem with the motor.

 

Cheers,

Jean-Louis

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  • 2 weeks later...

Dear All,

 

I have been shooting 100 ft rolls of 16mm on a Bolex H16 Reflex with a Bolex ESM motor.

The first two rolls of 100' rushes came back at what looked like 16 or 18 fps, yet I was pretty sure I had set the motor to 24 fps and the Bolex camera to 64 fps (to disengage the spring, per the instructions that came with the motor).

Today I timed a 100' roll at the 24 fps setting on the motor and it came out to approximately 3 minutes and 15 seconds, which is, I gather, 30 seconds longer than what 100' of film should last at 24 fps.

I've checked all the various settings on the camera and have not found anything out of the ordinary.

Does anyone have any idea what is going on and what I can do to get 24 fps with the motor?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

JP

 

ok... first i have to say i dont own an esm motor. i have the older ones, whatever theyre called. but on modern bolex cameras with two drive ports you have one thats governed, thats the upper one, and one thats not thats the one closest to the film plane indicator. the one thats goverened can be controlled by the standard speed dial. sounds like from your instruction your driving this shaft as you are supposed to set your camera body to max and control with your esm. thats fine. if so doing and your speed is off, either your body speed control is dragging, or you voltage is too low. check drag by using your rewind hand crank (if you have one) and turning the governed shaft by hand while changing the body speed control. should be able to feel it allow you to turn faster and faster before hitting resistance. otherwise test by using spring motor and checking a few fast settings against a stopwatch and your frame counter. then check voltage with meter at the motor end of the batt cable, make sure it is at min allowable voltage range for your motor. not much else matters. if the mot lever is at mot it just wont allow reversing. if the shutter switch isnt at m then its not gonna film at all.

 

now, the older motors have an overrun clutch. so unless im ramping, ill set the camera body speed to 24, put on the motor, and run up til i hear the motor clutch slip. back off till it quits slipping and im sure ive got 24fps. double chk with stopwatch and get used to the sound of 24fps. your only hope of being sure your on time. unless that things got a no sync alarm which it may i dont know.

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