8mm film loading

SkipA said:

Ray's site is here, Building a slitter

Very detailed instructions, GREAT diagrams. It's a flatbed design intended to slit short fixed lengths of film for reloading into Minox cartridges. You wouldn't want to use that exact design for 25 to 100 foot lengths of DR8, but Ray's lucid treatment of issues related to slitting film and his detailed construction tips are well worth reading.

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hi skipA
thanks for the links!

- john

You're quite welcome.

In case anyone is interested, I just found out from John at J&C that the supply of roller type DR8 film slitters, which I think may have originated from Russia, has dried up. He can't get them anymore. So I guess those of us who might want one will have to watch eBay, or get busy building a razor blade type slitter.

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

is a thread I started a while back and SkipA was very helpful there also - hope the link is of interest to anyone here (;

Bolex H8

Hi,

I thought I'd take advantage of the wide expertise on the forum.
Can anyone tell me what the shutter angle is for a bolex H8 at 24fps?

Thanks,

Jenni

Hi Jenni,

A lovely range of cameras. Do you have a reflex (Rx C-mount) or non-reflex (D-mount) version? Is the lower lobe of the film chamber completely round except for the tripod mount, or does it have the flat matte box plate at the front? You are probably aware that there are two numbers for the 'shutter speed' of Rx Bolexes: the actual shutter speed (For later Rx H-8 1/65th second, equivalent to 133° - it isn't a spinning shutter, so it's only an equivalent or 1/62nd for earlier Rx cameras, no significant difference) and the shutter speed to use for exposure determination that takes the beam splitter loss into account (1/80, equivalent to a measly 108°).

The non-reflex version has an effective shutter angle of 190°. That, along with the lack of beam splitter loss, is why I have ancient non-reflex H-8 and H-16s as well as a few reflex versions. You can't have too many.

Best,
Helen

Hi Helen,

Thanks for the reply. It's a non-reflex version with a round base. I assume that the angle is 190°, and that I can use the F-stop readings straight from the meter without compensation. Would this be correct?
I'm completely new to cine, and it appears I have a lot to learn .
I can also see that one cannot, indeed, have too many Bolexes.

Jenni.

mobtown_4x5 said:

Incredible timing on this thread- I have a friend who has the 8mm bug- I stupidly told him that I could probably figure out a way to process his BW myself...anyone ever taken a crack at it?

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I used to have an Arkay Rewind Tank and shot some 16mm out of a B&H Filmo D. Great camera. The processing was relatively easy with a Kodak TMax Reversal kit (not sure if you can get them any more). The hard part was drying the film. 100 Ft in a small darkroom is a challenge

Dave M

MacCaulay said:

It's a non-reflex version with a round base. I assume that the angle is 190°, and that I can use the F-stop readings straight from the meter without compensation. Would this be correct?

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Hi Jenni,

That would be correct, if there isn't some difference between our cameras that I'm unaware of.

The little D-mount on the non-reflex H-8 has advantages over the Rx C-mount of the reflex versions. There are some very nice D-mount lenses from Kern - like the 13 mm f/0.9 Switar. You can get an adapter to C-mount, so you can mount any normal C-mount lens, like the Angenieux 25 mm f/0.95 which makes a nice fast, moderately long lens. You've found the focussing position on the turret, I guess.

Good luck,
Helen