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bell and howell 16mm


RAJENDRA BISWAS

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Bell and Howell only exist as a brand name these days, used by various companies to dress themselves in long faded glory. The film division I believe was bought by Alan Gordon Enterprises decades back, but when I asked them about Filmo parts they told me they didn't have any. The company now calling themselves Bell and Howell sells alarm clocks and razor blades, for vintage repairs their website directs you to an obscure phone number in California and an email address that I've never heard back from. As far as I know the only people even vaguely interested in repairing an old 16mm Filmo are odd little enthusiasts like myself, tinkering under rocks, scattered around the globe.

 

You haven't mentioned what camera it is, Bell and Howell made a few different 16mm models. Most common are the various Filmo 70 series cameras, first made shortly after Kodak introduced 16mm in the early 20s and continuing production until the 70s. They were one of the best built cameras ever made. If you're not put off by non-reflex, spring-powered regular 16 obsolescence, they're fabulous! Bodies without a lens go for as little as $20 on ebay, a turret model fitted with 3 Taylor Hobson primes might get several hundred.

 

http://www.tfgtransfer.com/filmo.htm

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  • 1 year later...

which model is it? Alan Gordon is one of the subject matter experts on some of their stuff(as noted above). I have a 70DL rebuilt by them but I haven't used it yet. It's a 16mm, but I am getting ready to use the 2709 first. The thing to remember is you can only put a certain amount of film in it and it'll only run for a short amount of time without a change. Also... if it's the spring-wound combat version which are very tough.. the spring is under a lot of tension when it's fully wound... it can break your 'digits' it's under that much tension. But there's plenty of info on line for them. It's a great handheld because of the weight, the only problem will be viewfinding while shooting, it's a whole lot smaller than a digicam monitor.

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