Buying first S8 Cam help - bauer or canon?

[supermonkey]

Hi all, have been lurkin around here a little while, hoped y'all could help me take the plunge.

I have access to a friend's Nizo 801 and 560 (and have shot with great results) but now I have decided to spend up to around £100 on a good cam of my very own for a short film, and I need a little help making the decision...

Bauer A512 or S715XL OR Canon 814/1014XLS

I see all these camera on ebay regularly for similar money (canons seem more), but which for me?

The A512 is claimed to have a rewind function, which I hope would allow double expose of much greater than 100 frames!

While the 715 has 220 shutter and exciting lens etc.

But the Canons have variable XL shutter, and some of you lot seem to think they are more user-friendly

I can't decide. They all make me drool, I'm just hoping to spot one of the above real cheap and that will make the decision for me!

[paul]

Bost bauers and canons's are very good cams. I doubt however you wil get a (high end) canon for under a 100. I think it is best to go with the bauer 715. It is quite silent, has a very good lens and many features, and it often comes for a good price,

BTW

You can do a search in this forum on these cams. This will give you a lot of info.

Also, the Bauer 715 can also be bought as a Porst camera, I don't know which type, but one of these is exactly the same as the Bauer 715.

Paul

[paul]

I saw this one, but it went for over 1oo punds

http://cgi.ebay.nl/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie ... eName=WDVW

Ever thought of a bauer c900?

They have a 1.2 very sharp lens, it is the last (1981) camera bauer build. On of my favourites. I have two of them my self.

http://cgi.ebay.nl/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie ... 99501&rd=1


Paul

[ultramarine]

Bost bauers and canons's are very good cams. I doubt however you wil get a (high end) canon for under a 100. I think it is best to go with the bauer 715. It is quite silent, has a very good lens and many features, and it often comes for a good price,

BTW

You can do a search in this forum on these cams. This will give you a lot of info.

Also, the Bauer 715 can also be bought as a Porst camera, I don't know which type, but one of these is exactly the same as the Bauer 715.

Paul

It's the Porst 1500 microcomputer. I have that one (and the 715), they are identical, and both excellent! Go for them! You can find them on Ebay.de for cheap! ( => 100-150 eyros).

[ccortez]

I agree with everything above. If you can find a Porst, that seems like a great choice. I may eventually buy one myself as a backup for my 715 XL.

[S8W]

I bought that Bauer 715XL, it arrived today and works!

I think the the top end of Bauers are great cameras. I have used an A512 for over 12 years and it always produced great images. I have never used a Cannon camera so can't comment.

I think its important to buy a camera that can be serviced or easlily repaired. I wish I could send my new camera to someone for a health check.

Pj

[supermonkey]

Thanks for the comments, I am on the lookout for a reasonably priced 715XL. The cannons do seem to go quite high for some reason.

But I spotted this Nizo 2056 http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... RK:MEWA:IT

I've translated the text, suggests its in working condition. Looks like a may get it for a good price, but is a wire transfer a reasonable way to pay.

I'm still tempted by the A512 though... specially with mattebox and masks. But could someone with experience of this camera confirm that it has the ability to rewind for long double (or greater) exposure?

Thanks again for any help. Will be sure to post my movie when its done!

[charlieboy]

The rewind function on most cameras is set to rewind a certain amount of frames, this limitation is because of the super 8 cartridge itself, basically the take up cog is stopped and an amount of film is gathered up inside the cart, which can be rewound for a second exposure, when the 200ft cart was available, the Nizo 6080 and 6056 (I believe) could rewind an unlimited amount of frames, but sadly they are now not made anymore.

[supermonkey]

Interesting, charlieboy, this was my inderstanding, but some ebay adverts seemed to suggest the Bauer A512 was an exception. They certainly suggest it can film backwards! (but for how long?) http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... RK:MEWA:IT

I also hear talk of something called a backwind key, whatever that is.

Oh, also spotted two more bargains that I'm not sure are suitable for me...

Bauer A506 and Beaulieu 2008S. Anyone know if I should part with my hard earned for either of these?

[matt5791]

I used to own a Nizo 2056 - I though it was an excellent camera. I think that its maximum frame rate is only 36fps, but apart from that it is very similar to the more expensive 3056, 4056, 4080 and 6080 - and it is very quite running.

they always seem to sell for very little money - probably one of the most underrated cameras.

Remember that nowadays many people will transfer their films and edit on computer, so it doesn't matter about performing transitions and other effects in-camera.

Oh, and they can read the notches for the vision2 500 stock

Matt

[christoph]

i'm aware that everybody has his own preferences, here a few comments on the comments though:

the Bauer 715XL and the Porst 1500 are not quite identical, the porst lens is only f1.8 while the bauer has the f1.4 lens.

as for camera noise: i have the 709, the 715 and the 1500 and while the 709 and the 1500 are about the same, the 715 is *much* louder.
all of them share the same crappy viewfinder though, which means i'm going to sell the 1500 and the 715 (along with most of the rest of my cameras), even though they have some nice timer functions.

as a side note, i also just got a Nizo 4080 and it's noticibly louder than my 6056.. and the viewfinder is worse as well. i'll try to compare with a friends 6080 but atm i'd say the XX56 line is the better deal.

some models that i'd still buy are:
Canon 310XL (low-light, light, cheap) - 1EUR
Minolta XL Sound 84 (cheap, good allrounder) - 20EUR
Nizo XX56 (best choice for sync sound, good overall cam) - 80EUR
Nizo Pro (or 801/Bauer508/512/Royal for time exposures) - 30-150EUR
Beaulieu or Leicina Special (for manual control) 150-300EUR

what i'm really missing is a small light camera with good lens, 24fps and manual exposure :/

++ christoph ++

[paul]

Hi christoph,

Isn't the bauer 900 xlm small enough for you, it has 24 fps, is around 50 euro, and had a really good lens, and time lapse and manual control and macro, f stops in viewfinder and can be fold even more compact..

Paul

[ccortez]

what i'm really missing is a small light camera with good lens, 24fps and manual exposure :/

++ christoph ++

that's what i use the nizo 801's for. but you have the pro already... you want something smaller i guess?

for small and super-cheap, i'm liking the yashica super-50 lately. until recently, it's been collecting dust on a shelf in our studio. but i shot some with it recently and the stuff turned out great. not much zoom range, and there's not much of an eyecup to that viewfinder so if your eye isn't pretty close it's easy to shoot out of focus. but it's nice and small...

[christoph]

Isn't the bauer 900 xlm small enough for you

looks like a fine camera (was the viewfinder any good) - but was rather thinking of something the size of a canon 310xl... if possible with less plastic. any ideas?

kinda off that nobody cared to design a really small, solid, barebones super8 camera... something like the minox photo cams in 35mm. i guess the marketing was all about auto-gizmos those days.

++ christoph ++

[paul]

looks like a fine camera (was the viewfinder any good) - but was rather thinking of something the size of a canon 310xl... if possible with less plastic. any ideas?

I never had difficulty with the viewfinder. It isn't really big but bright enough. If i rember correctly, the 700 xlm was with less plastic. But the 900 was and is a decent camera, its costed around 2000 DM at the time.

There is the Kodak Instamatic M22 with a 14mm 2.7 lens and manual f stop setting, and apparantly rocksteady images (source Lenny Lipton's Independent filmmaking).. but 18fps only.

And the afga gevaert Microflex, no manual settings but apparantly very micro (same source), no furter details

regards,

Paul