Bolex Rex 4 with 13x Viewfinder, original or upgrade?

[Mana]

Just purchased a very nice Rex 4 with a 13x viewfinder. Now I always thought that all Rex 4's came with the 10x finder. It was one the reasons I pulled the trigger on the purchased. Anyway I was trolling Bolexguy's site and noticed he listed a serial # 224892 (1966) for a Rex 4 with the 13x finder. The serial # on mine is 225055. I just find this odd as both the serial #'s are early for Rex 4's, and would think that if any, it would be found on cameras with late serial #'s. Anyone know anything about this? Maybe Jean-Louis (Bolextech), could shed some light?

Here's the link: http://bolexguy.com/Directory.html

Scroll down until you see the table with serial #'s

[bolextech]

To the best of my knowledge, the RX-4 and the 13x viewfinder were never available together. It could either be an upgrade of a RX-4 or it started out as an RX-5 with 13x VF and the RX-5 body shell was swapped with a RX-4 body shell. I also purchased one like this in the past and this is exactly what the seller had done.

Concerning the upgrade of an RX-4, beware of installing a 13x VF tube on an RX-4 with the original front plate optics. The combination actually gives too much magnification and part of the groundglass image is cropped by the inner light baffle in the VF tube.

However, if a camera such as this were converted to super-16, this mismatch would be corrected, as the magnifiers in the front plate are eliminated in any case.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Jean-Louis

[Mana]

Thanks for the reply Jean-louis!

Concerning the upgrade of an RX-4, beware of installing a 13x VF tube on an RX-4 with the original front plate optics. The combination actually gives too much magnification and part of the groundglass image is cropped by the inner light baffle in the VF tube

Interesting, I will have to compare the finder of my Rex 4 with my EBM.

I also purchased one like this in the past and this is exactly what the seller had done.

My camera sports a "Cameraspro" sticker inside. Most likely an upgrade I suppose.

However, if a camera such as this were converted to super-16, this mismatch would be corrected, as the magnifiers in the front plate are eliminated in any case.

Super 16 conversion in the works soon!

Cheers!

[woods01]

I recently purchased a Rex 5. How do you know if you have 10x or 13x viewfinder?

[Mana]

The factory 13 and 14x finders have a much larger eyepiece with silver lines going around the outside. Just look at any EBM/EL. Some companys that do Super 16 conversions of Bolexes with 10x finders modify the insides making them 13x, they look the same as they did before the conversion. Also 10x finders have a round mask when looking through the viewfinder, 13 and 14x are rectangular.

[Mana]

I recently purchased a Rex 5. How do you know if you have 10x or 13x viewfinder?

JK Camera's website is helpful: http://www.jkcamera.com/Super16.htm