aww cat salazar you're so sweet. <3

Totally, I have a closet full of old vintage cameras that are in working order, that I still use. I refuse to let the advancement of technology kill my passion for analog work. :-) Thanks for peeping out my lil sesh.

hahah you are correct. That is a jigglypuff. It sings me to sleep while I work.

Lol I'm such a pokemon nerd xD.

Pokemon4life<3

Haha oh man you wouldn't believe what I was like when I first saw one a couple years ago. I opened the box and was immediately "wtf'ed" by it. haha. I spent a couple days reading the manual and playing around with it before I got the hang of it. Thanks!

Oh man! I love super 8 as well. I have been shooting that recently. Thankfully the process is just as easy as putting the cartridge in and pushing one button. haha. Those light meter readings are what get me. I am glad you have an affinity for these old cameras. Thanks a lot mainjune! :-)

Yeah, it's a little pricey for processing and transfer or telecine, but well worth it. I don't care how crispy or awesome HD is, it still doesn't look like film. :-) Thanks for peeping this out Josiah! I got my Bolex (named Sebastian) from ebay, it was a really crazy deal. Sometimes they go for a lot, but every once in a while you can strike an awesome deal on them or the K3.

Haha thanks Jamar. ;-)

LOL it's a lot of jibberish if you're not around this kinda stuff but informative no less. Who knows, one day you might catch yourself in a situation where you'll need to operate one...then you can refer back to this. hahaha. <3

i can imagine the situation right now.

*sometime in the future* i happen to be walking around in LA and there is this movie being filmed, and they happen to be using a bolex camera. but the only camera man who was filming the movie had fallen off a ladder when he was putting up some props and broke his hand. the movie comes to a screeching halt because no one else knows how to work the camera & they are on a very tight schedule. plus that scene has to be done in a few hours. and then BAM! i open up my laptop, come to this page, and learn the basics of the bolex camera. thus i kaitlyn save the day& make a wicked awesome independent film all due to your wonderful video!
dont worry I'll mention you in my acceptance speech when i win a sundance award or something like that.
hahahaha

If you want to start super simple shoot Super 8. You don't need to measure lights or anything. I shoot with a Minolta, and it's pretty good.

As far as starting off with 16mm, I would recommend starting with a K3 before the Bolex. With the K3, you don't have to worry about that 2/3 stop compensation so you shoot as your light meter tells you.

As far as resources, I'm not entirely sure, I'm sure there are videos online with tutorials. Most of the time you just have to read the manual back and forth and practice and get the hang of things. If you do start shooting film, I would be more than happy to assist you in any way that I can.

:-)

Thanks Karen! Very helpful! Also, I'm pretty sure you should come out with an instructional series lol....

LOL i dont' know how exciting that would be... hee hee

Hee heee..huzzah! :-)

Roll film of 100ft is a little over 3 minutes. a 400ft roll is around 11 minutes or so. But that's the thing about film, it's so expensive anyway that you have to plan all your shots out carefully, so you don't end up wasting film. So chances are you probably won't go through that roll as quick as you think hee hee. This only works for the bolex, the K3 doesn't require the 2/3 stop compensation, and loading with a 400ft mag is different than loading this. When you shoot super 8 you just stick a cartridge in and you don't have to measure anything but these 16mms are a bit more tricky.

haha I learn this stuff because I pay over $100,000 for school and want to pass this knowledge onto people for free.

haha

and for that, Karen, you have a place in heaven :] lolz :]
btw...is it hard to find film\cartidges nowadays? [how expensive is it anyways?]and where would u develop such a thing? p.s-..ive heard about somehow screening it on a white wall, and filming it on a normal DV cam..but it sounds...i dunno..kinda lame...but it guess it works :]

Its not hard at all it's just expensive to get processed and transferred, etc. There are a ton of places online if you need specifics about a certain kind of film 35mm or 16mm or super 8 let me know and i can point you in the right direction when the time comes :-)

sounds cool! thanx for the inputs, and for making this video, Karen :]

oh my gosh did you shoot with it? Film is pricey, I'm gonna have to start selling my body for drugs or something haha.

Hee hee perfect! :-) Bolex friends..does your have a name? Mine is Sebastien.

There are over 50 of them- I don't know that many names :-)

Wee!!! i use them as albums, whichever ones i shot on that cartridge are hidden behind them and then i just recirculate. hee hee im glad u do it too so awesome!

I have a Bolex H16 Reflex.

As far as being worth it I would say absolutely so...its expensive but absolutely worth it.

I got my own projector from craigslist for $100 (it's a nice projector with great quality) and I'm starting to do my own dirty transfers.


Just the sheer feeling of watching projected film I shot myself is priceless. I love it. To me, it's worth it. Cost wise, probably not. But you can't shoot video and pump it with effects to make it even "feel" as warm as film
.

hahah i know right! I was friends with them. I even made their buttons for them. They broke up while I was in college. <3

Hahah dang, that's pretty awesome. I didn't really think anyone on Vimeo really liked that kind of music. I used to be in a few bands that were a part of that whole "scene", a little while back. Good times haha...

Most of the music I enjoy and like isn't conducive to editing videos with...you'd be surprised what else I listen to.

;-)

Yes you can get an adapter to use your lenses. I have nikon one, there are canon ones available. Recommended, yes it is so you get that delicious shallow depth of field. You can clean it, but you can only do so much, I would recommend getting it serviced (I need to get mine serviced too.) Just because there are so many bits and bobs inside. I don't have a motor with mine, but that sounds interesting. Parts I would recommend googling, looking on ebay, or camera shops around town that sell film equipment. I have a couple things online that I've shot with my H 16...any of the 16mm right now on my vimeo except for the ben and bruno music video was shot with a bolex H16, the ben and bruno one was half shot with an arriflex BL.

I would definitely shoot with it over digital if i possibly could. hee hee. If you have any more questions feel free to send them my way and I will try my best to answer them or point you in the right direction :-)

If you use daylight spools you don't need to load in complete darkness...just nothing too bright. If you need to load in complete darkness i would recommend using a changing bag or a changing tent :-)

hmm how do I know whats what? ug changing in the total dark seems a little scary, don't want to ruin my film.

When you have a daylight spool (typically what 100ft comes on) it where you have the black metal spool around your film, that can be loaded in a dark area, but not complete darkness. Typically when you get 400ft it is on a 1 inch core, and that needs to be loaded in complete darkness because there's no protective spool :-) I hope that made some sense. If not I can take some pictures of my reels around my room.

No problems, Questions are good, that's wha tI'm here for. I have a minolta incident meter. If you are really really serious about filmmaking, I would recommend a pentax spot meter..but those go for about 600 bucks. Sekonic makes the incident and spot meter which is also a couple hundred dollars. I guess it depends how serious you are about filmmaking. Cause a good spot meter is super expensive. Mine was only worth a couple hundred dollars...however, i found it on craigslist for super cheap and got it pretty much brand new for $50. So snoop around you may find one.

There are so many and I don't really know the year or number I just have a Bolex H16 Reflex

I would check out this site:

bolex.ch/NEW/index.php


:-)

OH~ Thank you Karen~ ^^

Hey no problem, I'm glad this was of help to some people hee hee.

Wee~!! Aww I have a super 8 and I love it, I shoot with it a lot still. Maybe you can get that acid all cleaned out? Mine came with a little and i just cleaned it and put batteries and it worked. I got my bolex from ebay on an unbelievably awesome deal. Usually they are a couple hundred, it really depends on the kind you get and the condition or what modifications was made for it.

I hope you get a hold of one they are true love. And if you have any questions I would be more than happy to help you out.

Some of them are reflex cameras meaning there is a beam splitter prism that uses about 2/3rds of light so you can see. So essentially what you see is what you get (perspective) wise. The other ones with the viewfinder of the side will give you a parallax error if the viewfinder is what you get just from the side...which doesn't matter unless you are filmming up close. But I've never used the side view finder ones. If it has a beam splitter in it, it could just be the same.

Thanks Karen. I found out the hard way. I bought a Bolex non-reflex camera on E-bay for $100. I now know the difference. I still like my Bolex, I’m going to test it out and may keep it. Thank!

Hey Michael! No problems at all. When you shoot with the Bolex or K3, they typically take Daylight spools, which is what that reel is. When you buy 100ft rolls of 16mm they tend to come in those (daylight spools). When you get 400 + they come in regular reels, hence the changing tents or the changing bags.

Arriflex cameras also take Daylight spools if you want to load 100ft rolls. ;-)

You just have to take out the core in them magazine.

I buy all of my 16mm and 35mm film from ebay and craigslist or straight through kodak or fuji. :-)


Vision 3 is love.

If you have any more questions, dont hesitate to ask.

I love my Bolex. I'm going to shoot some black and white reversal really soon and I'm pumped about it.

Very cool. Thanks so much for such a fast reply! Good luck with your black and white project! You'll make MILLIONS from it!

I didn't notice it till just now sorry! :-(

Awww… it’s okay…

Thanks AC

Yeah you need to get a lens. You need to get some C mount lenses that you can find on ebay for not too much. If you shoot with DSLRs you can get an adapter for those lenses. I have a Nikon adapter so I can use my Nikkor lenses on my Bolex, works like a charm. Don't forget to do the 2/3rd stop compensation!

if you use RX lenses you may need to compensate another extra 1/3rd stop.

<3