Switar vs Yvar lenses

[T-Scan]

Most Bolex's come with Switar or Yvar lenses. Are they much different?

[Blue Audio Visual]

Switars are generally faster for any given focal length- and were more expensive in their day. There are also Pizars.

[Blue Audio Visual]

Double post...

[svejk]

Yeah, the Switar lenses give you an extra f-stop or so to play with; they have quite a few more elements inside IIRC.

For 8mm Kern-Paillard lenses, the wide-angle (5.5mm) lens came in a choice of Pizar / Switar flavours rather than Yvar / Switar (the Pizar has yet another different internal arrangement). See this page for...well, probably more information than is necessary.

Of course if you get a German or French specification Bolex, you might end up with Schneider or SOM Berthiot (Lytar) lenses respectively. The Schneider lenses are excellent, apparently.[/url]

[Rob]

I concur with all of this. I've used both Yvars and Switars on my Bolexes and I cant tell the difference when I'm watching the films. The Switars may be technically better, but the Yvars are exceptionally good. What you really get is an extra f stop at the bottom of the range. In the case of the 13mm f0.9 Switar, you're getting an extra two stops over the standard Yvar.

Rob

[Will2]

Are the Bolex H8 RX lenses c-mount or their own type of mount?

[T-Scan]

Are the Bolex H8 RX lenses c-mount or their own type of mount?

Good question, because the same lenses for H8 seem to be less than H16. The mounts must be the same, but different collimation.

I picked up a Bolex 16mm rex from a local camera shop yesterday. It's a good clean body, but was outfitted with Kodak Ektars. I was able to snag a 25mm f1.4 Switar, and looking for 2 more. I'd love to find a 10mm but they are so expensive... and a small telephoto. The Angenieux 12-120mm works, but I want to keep the camera small.

[morales72]

Are the Bolex H8 RX lenses c-mount or their own type of mount?

Hi to all. There are not many lense choices for the Bolex H8RX. Basically you have only Switar primes (5,5mm, 12,5mm, 36mm and 150mm, but this last one I've never had it).I once had a 100mm Som Berthiot that actually worked pretty well, so maybe there are more of these lenses available. I've never seen Ivars or Pizars (cheaper in their time) for this camera. As zooms you can use the 8-40mm Som Berthiot Pan Cinor and the Switar 8-36mm (2 versions). Hope this helps.

Best regards,

Morales.

[Blue Audio Visual]

Are the Bolex H8 RX lenses c-mount or their own type of mount?

Good question, because the same lenses for H8 seem to be less than H16. The mounts must be the same, but different collimation.

The Bolex H8 takes D-mount lenses, which is a smaller screw size than C-mount.

[sciolist]

Besides the three standard H8 RX Switar primes, there were three long Kern-Paillard lenses made for the H8 RX - the 75mm f/2.8 Yvar, 100mm f/2.8 Macro Yvar, and 150mm f/3.3 Macro Yvar. The mounts of these lenses are engraved 'H8 RX' to distinguish them from the physically similar but optically different H16 RX lenses. Kern-Paillard also made the Vario-Switar 36 8-36mm f/1.9 zoom and Vario-Switar 36EE 8-36mm f/1.9 zoom for the H8 RX.

[T-Scan]

What about reflex and non reflex lenses? Do all the non reflex lenses day "AR"? My camera is a non reflex, but the Switar I got just says"C", but also doesn't say RX.

[Jim Carlile]

I believe the later H8 reflex takes C-Mount lenses instead of 'D', but they are mounted differently than the 16mm C's. So they're not interchangeable, at least at all focal lengths.

[Rob]

I believe the later H8 reflex takes C-Mount lenses instead of 'D', but they are mounted differently than the 16mm C's. So they're not interchangeable, at least at all focal lengths.

Yes, non-reflex H8s are D mount and will take any standard D mount lens. Reflex H8s are C mount, but you need to use lenses specificly designed for the H8 reflex. The mounting thread is standard, but the lens to film distance isn't.

Rob

[T-Scan]

Actually I was talking about the H16. I found out that they are both C mount, but the reflex lenses are designed for the light loss.

[Jim Carlile]

I think the reflex lenses are set for a different distance as well, not totally compatible, but more so than is usually known:

http://www.city-net.com/~fodder/bolex/truth.html