H16 rack over?

[mr_x]

Hi,

Am wrestling with a non-reflex H16, trying to get my head round it. It has the side 'octameter' to correct parallax but then what is the 'rack-over' please, and how does it improve upon the octameter. Couldn't see the rack-over attachment at the otherwise encyclopedic Bolex Collector site either, but may have missed it.

The Bolex has all its (presumably) original lenses but the 75mm is stiff to focus. Better that than loose of course, the other lenses are fine - 16 and 25mm. The motor runs sweet as a nut

Will have a lot of questions on the H16.

Thanks,

Ric

[David M. Leugers]

The Bolex rackover device can be used on round bottom Bolex cameras. It rotates the camera up/down and diagonally so that if the lens you are going to shoot with is placed to the focusing viewfinder port, you can both focus and accurately frame the shot. When you then position the lens to the taking position and "rack back" the lens will capture the scene exactly as framed. Sounds like a lot of nuisance but it is not really. Very handy for filming titles and extreme close-ups. Very old school...

[mr_x]

You mean round as where the camera sits on the tripod? Mine certainly is that. Sounds intriguing. Thanks

Only defect so far is the footage counter, which is lazy on re-set and takes about 30 seconds to spring back to zero after the film cover is removed. Also the 'octameter' milled side knob is graded through 0.5 to 5 units to infinity, but there is no clue as to feet or metres, on the camera or in the instruction booklet. In fact if feet, what is "0.5", five tenths of a foot or 5 inches? If metres we are looking at 50 cms (20"), seems unlikely but the top dial is definitely in millimetres. It is quite irritating if amusing to reflect that ambiguous handbook instructions were not invented by DIY flat-pack assembly companies c. late 20th century, they appear to have been around for a considerable time indeed! :lol:

[bolextech]

You can switch the distance scale ring from feet to meters by removing the two screws holding the knob in place and flipping the scale ring the other way.
Be sure to align your infinity mark with the index when the octameter is set parallel to the camera body.

0.5 to 5 units sounds like the meter scale.

Cheers,
Jean-Louis

[mr_x]

You can switch the distance scale ring from feet to meters by removing the two screws holding the knob in place and flipping the scale ring the other way.
Be sure to align your infinity mark with the index when the octameter is set parallel to the camera body.

0.5 to 5 units sounds like the meter scale.

Cheers,
Jean-Louis

Gosh. Thanks!

You mean there is another set of numbers on that dial somewhere?

I can see how it works now, and that the common fixed lens types for H16's are set into the octmeter's viewer: ingenious

Ric

[StoneBuilder]

"I can see how it works now, and that the common fixed lens types for H16's are set into the octmeter's viewer: ingenious"

There's also clip-on lenses that adjust the parallax for non-standard primes. I have the 10mm one, which I intend to use with an 11mm Scneider. I too have a rackover (boxed!) but have yet to get it set up.

[mr_x]

"I can see how it works now, and that the common fixed lens types for H16's are set into the octmeter's viewer: ingenious"

There's also clip-on lenses that adjust the parallax for non-standard primes. I have the 10mm one, which I intend to use with an 11mm Scneider. I too have a rackover (boxed!) but have yet to get it set up.

Thanks. This is a real learning curve (I had no idea) which I am enjoying. The early H16's have no variable shutter control so fades and lap dissolves are going to be 'creative'.

Really got to be on the ball with that non-reflex tri-lens turret arrangement and do a visual check to make sure the lenses are square over the film gate / parallel with the octameter.

I am also wondering if some judicious WD40 might ease the octameter (stiff) and free up the footage counter (lazy)?

;)

Ric

[StoneBuilder]

No, don't use WD40 whatever you do. It goes everywhere it shouldn't and only lasts ten minutes where it should. Use meths to clean off gunge and proper oil to lubricate. Some would say use sewing machine oil, others single grade gearbox oil. Just a tiny drop in the right spot, and well away from the places the film will travel.

[mr_x]

No, don't use WD40 whatever you do. It goes everywhere it shouldn't and only lasts ten minutes where it should. Use meths to clean off gunge and proper oil to lubricate. Some would say use sewing machine oil, others single grade gearbox oil. Just a tiny drop in the right spot, and well away from the places the film will travel.

Thanks - I have sewing machine oil I used on a projector once. The H16 footage counter is very slow to spring back to zero on opening the lid, it sticks on the last film unit for a good 30 seconds then suddenly pings back to nought. I am worried that unless lubed it may get stuck for good. I think it is triggered by the internal metal rod which is looking up at you when you open the camera, at the back rear of the camera body, so a drop of machine oil down this rod should go straight to the footage counter spring hopefully.

Ric

[StoneBuilder]

If you gently warm both the camera and the oilcan - say to about 20C - then the oil will run further into the mechanism - all things being equal. That octameter also comes apart with just four (I think) setscrews holding it together. The inside of the glass on both ends tends to have become 'clarted up' in the fifty or sixty years between it being assembled and now.

[mr_x]

If you gently warm both the camera and the oilcan - say to about 20C - then the oil will run further into the mechanism - all things being equal. That octameter also comes apart with just four (I think) setscrews holding it together. The inside of the glass on both ends tends to have become 'clarted up' in the fifty or sixty years between it being assembled and now.

Thanks. I couldn't wait though :o last night I gently lubed the octameter side arm and also the footage counter trigger pole within the camera, and left it to percolate its stuff overnight.

Today the octameter is freely operating and the spring-back to '0' on the film counter has gone from 30 seconds delay to 5 ~ so the sewing machine oil really is having an effect!

Worrying news though - someone tells me Fomapan are going to the wall which means no more UK stocked Standard 8 film for me and the end of Foma 'R' 16mm film here, which I have't even used yet! - urgh!

That would mean the complete end of my Standard 8 filming since I am not about to import this film from continental Europe - the postal rate is crippling.

Just as well I started investigating 16mm when I did, it seems.

Ric

[sciolist]

There are two versions of the Bolex rackover device - one for H8 cameras and the other for H16 cameras. There's a Brass disc with a raised pin in the slot where the carriage supporting the camera travels. The pin determines the position of the camera in the focusing position. If the pin is positioned above the two screws securing the disc, the device is for an H8. If it's below, it's for an H16.

[mr_x]

Many thanks, this is helpful advice

Ric