Patrick Cooper Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 I note that some of the non reflex Bolexes have an Octameter which provides viewing fields for 16mm, 25mm, 35mm, 50mm, 63mm, 75mm, 100mm and 150mm lenses. Though what if say you mounted a 10mm lens? How could you compose accurately with such a short focal length lens? I suppose you could make some kind of external frame finder. Hope there might be resources somewhere with suggestions on how large to make the frame to match the field of view and dealing with parallax. Shining light through the gate with the wide angle lens attached might give some kind of guide. I'm open to ideas and suggestions. Many, many years ago, my father made an underwater housing for a Yashica camera which he used successfully while scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef. This camera was not an SLR. It may have been a rangefinder perhaps. He made a frame finder for the housing which appeared to work quite well - judging by the underwater slides that were exposed with that camera. Overall, the compositions were pretty good so he must have been doing something right. I wish I could ask him how he worked out the dimensions and placement of the frame finder but he's not around anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Todd Pinder Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 Bolex makes an attachment for the octameter, like this... https://www.ebay.com/itm/Paillard-Bolex-Octameter-Viewfinder-With-10mm-Lens-For-H16-16mm-Movie-Camera/352988804490?hash=item522fc5b58a:g:bQQAAOSwtYRdog6R Or early ones take a slip on... https://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-10mm-Field-Adapter-PAILLARD-BOLEX-For-H16-Octameter-Viewfinder-in-Box-AH-332/223760881495?hash=item3419301757:g:g6AAAOSwHU9d1vAn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Webster Colcord Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 Bolex also made a small rackover attachment which your camera would mount on. The camera slides on it so the critical focus lens is taking lens position. You may also want to refer to this old thread: https://cinematography.com/index.php?/topic/18989-reflex-viewing-with-non-reflex-bolex/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Cooper Posted March 30, 2020 Author Share Posted March 30, 2020 Todd, ah thankyou. I didn't realise there were ready-made solutions. That's going to save me from making a frame finder! Webster yes, I have heard of this rack over device before. Sounds very useful for close up work with a non reflex Bolex. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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