Bolex P1

[BrentPowers]

Just bought this one on eBay. Now, what's the skinny on film stock? The ad says the camera takes 100' rolls of 16mm film. Does this mean I can just go ahead and buy fresh 16mm film and get on out there? Do I need a special badge or something? Say, tell, share.

Thanks in advance,

Brento

[BAC]

It takes 25' reels of regular 8mm film otherwise known as Double 8mm. This is double perforated 16mm film. You shoot one half then flip it over and shoot the other half. The processing lab will split it so you end up with 50' of processed 8mm film. I recommend doing a little research prior to shooting with that camera, there's a lot of good information on this forum and on other internet sites. If you're in the US the best place to get film is from John Schwind, here is a link to his web site:

http://www.zerelda.com/internationalfil ... lfilm.html

[Will2]

If you tell them not to split the roll you can transfer it at any telecine house with a 16mm gate.

[Tommy]

Doesn't that result in a video picture with four individual frames and 2 upside down.....then what do you do?

[BrentPowers]

I have a telecine projector which I will use to do my own transfers to HD so I can edit with iMovie. I will release on HD to Youtube and Vimeo, possibly Mubi as well. Really depends on what I come up with using film again.

[mr_x]

Hi,

Here's an example of Standard / Regular / Double 8 footage through a 16mm projector gate:

http://youtu.be/nXXy4gYbhIo

You can zoom in on a single frame but you lose pixel density. However, it's better than nothing. Afterwards you have the option of splitting the film by hand or sending it away to be split.

This is a first experiment & I'd like to improve on it but it has resurrecting my excellent Bolex P1 which otherwise would have remained in a dark cupboard in a spare room. The film was Velvia 50.

Ric

[BrentPowers]

Bloody trippy, is what. I like the effect.

[beamascope]

Since the person you bought it from obviously knew nothing about it here is some helpful info.

http://www.bolexcollector.com/cameras/p1.html

and the manual

http://www.apecity.com/manuals/

You'll see they suggest lubing it every three years. I doubt if it's EVER been lubed and now it's 50 years old so you might look into that. I've bought a few that ran very slow which if you shoot a roll that way will result in fast motion and overexposure. It's best if you have a junk roll of film you can run through it to test it.

[mr_x]

Bloody trippy, is what. I like the effect.

yea, also managed to split the film and put it through an Elmo GP-E, but I shot the Standard 8 to put it through the 2 blade TQIII, so filmed at 25fps - that really bounced back on me when I put the split footage through the 3 blade GP-E at 16&2/3fps. So now I need to go back to the drawing board and film another roll, this time at the lower speed, that should give me a smoother transfer on the Elmo, fingers crossed

http://youtu.be/71UdUcGdjR4

But hey, you can split your own film - it works!

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p32/ ... norama.jpg

Though mind your fingers!

lol

Ric

[mr_x]

Since the person you bought it from obviously knew nothing about it here is some helpful info. http://www.bolexcollector.com/cameras/p1.html and the manual http://www.apecity.com/manuals/ You'll see they suggest lubing it every three years. I doubt if it's EVER been lubed and now it's 50 years old so you might look into that. I've bought a few that ran very slow which if you shoot a roll that way will result in fast motion and overexposure. It's best if you have a junk roll of film you can run through it to test it.

Yes she's a beauty and I got my manual from Old Timer company. Lubing would be a good idea but I bet there are no service manuals for that though? YES I did notice the action was tearing along when I transferred the footage and was very suspicious that the auto diaphragm was sticking every now and then but you may well be right re the speed - over exposure bleached out several shots on the first side of the film. Exposure-wise I actually got better results from my H16 which I have to meter by hand but that was refurbished 18 months ago so will be well lubed.

This was a test film btw - it showed & is showing up a lot of gremlins

Ric

[mr_x]

...bolex...p1... I've bought a few that ran very slow which if you shoot a roll that way will result in fast motion and overexposure

Hm, thanks for your input: I've been having another look at that clip, the Standard 8 footage I split & transferred

http://youtu.be/xUtxUVsXXuo

If what you say is so, with regard to "fast motion and overexposure" why is the bulk of the footage properly exposed? The overexposure occurs about 1/4 into the clip, then everything goes back to normal again?

I just re-transferred this clip & didn't even need to look for the software time parameters, you can see the foliage swaying naturally in the breeze for example.

The transport is jumpy I don't know why - possibly the camera or even the projector, but it doesn't overly concern me because Super 8 has that effect as well, due to the bobbing about of the Kodak cartridge in some cameras.

Best regards,

Ric