GAS or Creeping Equipment Syndrome

[CHAS]

...Bolex 155 ... Not what anyone would call "professional" cameras, perhaps, ...

Bolex 155 and 160 are sweet! Awesome glass, all-metal ruggedness, and not too many features...very professional indeed! ~:?)
I even have in mind the feature I'm going to make with the ones I recently acquired. Alls I need is the $$ for filmstock and processing.

Mitch

Yeah, you can't beat that macro lens. I made some good stop-motion animation stuff with that camera as well. I need to get my 160 looked at as it consistently underexposes by 2 stops. If those cameras had better manual exposure controls I'd be using them all the time!

[Mitch Perkins]

...Bolex 155 ... Not what anyone would call "professional" cameras, perhaps, ...

Bolex 155 and 160 are sweet! Awesome glass, all-metal ruggedness, and not too many features...very professional indeed! ~:?)
I even have in mind the feature I'm going to make with the ones I recently acquired. Alls I need is the $$ for filmstock and processing.

Mitch

Yeah, you can't beat that macro lens. I made some good stop-motion animation stuff with that camera as well. I need to get my 160 looked at as it consistently underexposes by 2 stops. If those cameras had better manual exposure controls I'd be using them all the time!

Chas, I have a super-easy mod you can do to convert your Bolex to manual exposure [only]. When the mod is done, you rotate the lock button instead of pushing it, so you have to clamp some little thing on there for better grip.
Wanna hear it?

Yes, that macro, fully rampable from front element to infinity is fantastic.

Mitch

[Dr Smith]

CHAS wrote:

It is pretty irritating to hear about people talking about their 4008s and R-10s and 1014-XLS cameras but they don't make anything with them!

I totally respect you for making films and getting them in Fests, Chas. I haven't shot my first film yet so would you prefer I did not post anything at all and just read the posts of my 'betters' until I have?

[CHAS]

CHAS wrote:

It is pretty irritating to hear about people talking about their 4008s and R-10s and 1014-XLS cameras but they don't make anything with them!

I totally respect you for making films and getting them in Fests, Chas. I haven't shot my first film yet so would you prefer I did not post anything at all and just read the posts of my 'betters' until I have?

NO -- I didn't mean it like that. Post and ask questions and learn. I guess I am referring to some people who do nothing but post and talk about their equipment and never film at all. I have learned a ton of stuff on this and other forums and I think it has helped my filmmaking tremendously. But I think you have to make the plunge and make something at some point, whether or not it's going to be the technically perfect film. I think that's what some people are worried about since there are so many perfectionists on this forum (and no, I don't mean that as an insult). My first film was definitely not perfect -- it has some out of focus shots and such -- but I must have done something right because it made it to a few fests and even won best short in Boston Underground film fest. There are a ton of fests out there that accept really short films; start shooting, man!

[Dr Smith]

I take the point, I think you are right.

Have you ever had that moment when you slap 'submit' and then think...damn If I'd have only waited two seconds more to cool down? I guess its this heatwave. Well, peace and love all round. Here's to making movies!!

[CHAS]

Chas, I have a super-easy mod you can do to convert your Bolex to manual exposure [only]. When the mod is done, you rotate the lock button instead of pushing it, so you have to clamp some little thing on there for better grip.
Wanna hear it?

Yes, that macro, fully rampable from front element to infinity is fantastic.

Mitch

Hell, yeah! bring it on! I love that camera. It's amazing how much better the viewfinder is than my Elmo 1012 even. And the lens is so sharp. Yes, please post!

[CHAS]

Here's to making movies!!

I never would have submitted my film until I started going to short film festivals -- as many as I could -- and saw so many wretched movies that were accepted. Then I realized that if the filmmakers behind those atrocious films had the nerve to submit I shouldn't feel bad about mine!

Good luck in making your movie!

[Mitch Perkins]

Chas, I have a super-easy mod you can do to convert your Bolex to manual exposure [only]. When the mod is done, you rotate the lock button instead of pushing it, so you have to clamp some little thing on there for better grip.
Wanna hear it?

Yes, that macro, fully rampable from front element to infinity is fantastic.

Mitch

Hell, yeah! bring it on! I love that camera. It's amazing how much better the viewfinder is than my Elmo 1012 even. And the lens is so sharp. Yes, please post!

viewtopic.php?t=13378&highlight=bolex+manual+exposure

Ignore the part about slipping the heat-shrink over the lock shaft; there is already a rubber collar on it.
Let me know if you need pics, though the one part about bending the brake is well-nigh impossible to get close enough to shoot, and it's the only part that isn't pretty much self-explanatory

[sonickel]

Um.

GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) affects me.

I have owned a beautiful Bolex H15 Rx5 since November last year. Have I shot anything but a couple of measly test reels on it, though?

No.

Sometimes owning a camera extinguishes the desire to use it.
And much salivating over cameras ensues, when you don't have the model in question.

I also know a couple of other people like this; they know all about their cameras tech specs, brag about the rare/ old models they have. But they don't make films on them. Well, they haven't gotten round to it yet, anyway.

[audadvnc]

Just because you own a nice camera doesn't mean you have to run it into the ground today. If you care for it and drive it around the block enough to keep the lubrication from seizing up it'll be available for your grandkids to use.

In some museum in England, they've got the original chronometers built by that, uh, famous chronometer inventor of "Longitude" fame, whatever his name was (Harrison?). But the museum doesn't operate them any more than they have to nowadays, because the mechanisms are about 200 years old, way beyond their design lifespan. The museum used to run them for public demonstration until the curators realized the parts were wearing down.

[flatwood]

Everybody repeat this five times, More gear is good!!!

[etimh]

Everybody repeat this five times, More gear is good!!!

Double post.

Tim

[etimh]

Everybody repeat this five times, More gear is good!!!

Agreed. 5x 8)

Tim

[steve hyde]

...I like this post... It is easy to just sit around and pass GAS. For those of us choosing to work with antique cinemachinery (virtually all of us) it comes with the territory..... Anyway, I'm reading this post as one of those *what the hell are you all doing* posts. I started shooting super 8 two years ago. I have bought shit cameras and shit lenses from time to time and have spent way too much time aquiring and testing equipment, but I see it as part of the cost of a cinematography education. I now own three reliable motion picture cameras and a set of decent lenses that are cross compatible. Over the past two years I've shot thousands of feet of film - mostly super 8 and I'm sort of stumbling my way through mulitiple projects including:

a multi-screen super 8 film instalation that will be on view for one year at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research building here in Seattle. "The Man Who Thought He Could Fly" (Director: Winnie Westergard)

I have also made a few "private documentaries":

a black and white / Kodacolor portrait of a family reunion in East King County. I have also covered a couple of weddings, including one yesterday.

I'm a street photographer. I am engaged in an ongoing project that is photo documenting the urban environment that surrounds me. Some of this work will be on view in Nathan Coombs "Global Super 8 Cities" project.

...but in some ways all these projects have felt a bit gassy in a way because I have not completed anything that I would call "a film". What I mean is a work of story cinema: documentary or narrative. I'm not there yet... However, in August we are planning a 2:30 minute 16mm piece that will serve as segway into a longer form short that I am making with some friends in Peru in September this year... My friends have wanted to make a road movie down there and this is how I got started shooting super 8 in the first place. I bought a super 8 camera for a trip down there in 2004 and it broke before I left to go down. I took a mini-dv camera along, but it is - you know - a mini-dv camera so I shot a little travelogue that is useless for anything but a few jokes among friends.... This time we are going to attempt a work of story cinema.. Funny thing is none of us are filmmakers. We are cinephiles, and my friends Jim and Stan are musicians. I'm a geographer!... Wish us luck because we will need it.. 8O

Anyway - when I'm not toiling with my day-job: teaching and research at the University of Washington - I'm often talking shop around here, shooting film or engaged in some form of "GAS". To sum up - I agree, collecting antique cinema machinery is one thing and making films is something else...Balancing both seems to be the challenge.

Steve

[Stevedix]

In some museum in England, they've got the original chronometers built by that, uh, famous chronometer inventor of "Longitude" fame, whatever his name was (Harrison?).

John Harrison. The collection is at Greenwich Museum, right on the Meridian. His Marine Timepiece was tested by none other than Capt. Cook.

http://www.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/conWeb ... viewPage/2

He built his first clocks completely from wood, so it's no wonder they've worn somewhat.