Bolex still makes 16mm cameras!

[Ektagraphic]

I was browsing around the web and I found that Bolex still exists and is producing 16mm cameras. They have an electric and wind up model. The wind up model looks just like to ones that are 50 years old. This is great! http://www.bolex.ch/NEW/?p=1

 

[Europan]

Of course are they still here, I could have told you. I have a Bolex and a couple of Diksi-Dixi. Swiss craftsmanship is still alive.

 

[Lightproof]

If they only would represent their cameras with better product photography :|
Lets be honest, these pictures are a shame!

 

[Ektagraphic]

I thought that they went out of buissness years ago.

 

[Dirb9]

They even still make a spring driven camera: http://www.bolex.ch/NEW/?p=9

 

[AgX]

I thought that they went out of buissness years ago.

Perhaps you mixed them up with Beaulieu.
Beaulieu stopped production of their 8mm cameras back in 2002.

 

[nick mulder]

They make them from the years old spares stockpile ...

As of about a year ago they ran out of parts to modify the 12.5-100mm zoom lens to cover super16 - I think they wont even modify the cameras to super16 any more.

Get in quick - the current sprung driven models come in a really nice powder black

 

[Matt5791]

The spring wound cameras are popular for extreme documentary photography in cold climates, hence why, I believe, they guarantee they will work at minus-30 degrees C., but will probably work at -50.

Matt

 

[Lightproof]

Can't they also be used in explosive atmospheres? Or is there still dangerous static voltage when film is wound up?
Would be interesting for our still cameras, too...

 

[Photo Engineer]

Can't they also be used in explosive atmospheres? Or is there still dangerous static voltage when film is wound up?
Would be interesting for our still cameras, too...

The Rem-Jet is an antistat on MP film to prevent static discharge even at high speed and/or low humidity. In addition, antistats are included in the support.

PE

 

[Matt5791]

The Rem-Jet is an antistat on MP film to prevent static discharge even at high speed and/or low humidity. In addition, antistats are included in the support.

PE

I have often wondered how they have managed to get around this when they started to load super8 cartridges with Ektachrome 64T, and also those companies loading super8 carts with Velvia etc - which have no rem-jet

Any ideas?

 

[AgX]

An alternatve to using gelatine loaded with carbon particles to enhance conductivity is to use conductive polymers which can form a permanent and transparent conductive layer. An example is PEDOT/PPS coated as a laquer onto PET base by Agfa.

 

[Photo Engineer]

I have often wondered how they have managed to get around this when they started to load super8 cartridges with Ektachrome 64T, and also those companies loading super8 carts with Velvia etc - which have no rem-jet

Any ideas?

AgX answered this and I had also included it in my original post.

PE

 

[railwayman3]

The Rem-Jet is an antistat on MP film to prevent static discharge even at high speed and/or low humidity. In addition, antistats are included in the support.

PE

Just out of interest (and slightly OT for this thread, sorry)....why would Rem-Jet be used on Kodachrome still film (and not on other still film?), if its main purpose is anti-static for MP film?

 

[Photo Engineer]

Just out of interest (and slightly OT for this thread, sorry)....why would Rem-Jet be used on Kodachrome still film (and not on other still film?), if its main purpose is anti-static for MP film?

I'm not really sure. It may have something to do with the way it is coated or the support it is coated on. I never asked, sorry to say.

PE

 

[railwayman3]

Thanks, PE, I was just curious...on thinking more, maybe it followed on from Kodachrome being, of course, also movie film from the start. Whereas Ektachrome only became an amateur movie film much later.

 

[PHOTOTONE]

Thanks, PE, I was just curious...on thinking more, maybe it followed on from Kodachrome being, of course, also movie film from the start. Whereas Ektachrome only became an amateur movie film much later.

I'll bet thats it. Kodachrome was marketed (from the first) as an amateur movie film-and-slide film. It would have been almost silly to engineer 2 different versions of the film, when both were processed in the same cine-processor type machines. Since Ektachrome was primarily a still film, and also from the start designed for end-user processing, rem-jet would have been avoided.

 

[Photo Engineer]

There were and are a whole series of MP Ektachromes. They were not on Rem-Jet.

So IDK if that is a valid reason for the difference.

PE

 

[MattKing]

Would it damage a non Rem-Jet film to put it through a process that included the Rem-Jet removal step?

Matt

 

[Photo Engineer]

Not AFAIK from theory, but I never tried to do it personally.

PE

 

[Europan]

If they only would represent their cameras with better product photography :|
Lets be honest, these pictures are a shame!

So true, the whole website has no marketing breath.

 

[cmacd123]

Would it damage a non Rem-Jet film to put it through a process that included the Rem-Jet removal step?
Matt

About the only non-remjet film compatible with a rem-jet removal process is Eastman Colour print. It used to have rem jet, and the new process has deleted the step, but it was used during the transition.

The early versions of Fuji MP film were designed for ECN process but did not have a Rem-Jet backing. That got added later.

Anti-static is a minor feature of the rem-jet, it makes a great anti-halation layer. Since halation is bad for sharpness, it makes sense to use it on Motion Picture negative. Kodachrome has a very complicated process anyway, so why not use the best anti-halation. A second point with Kodachrome is that it is exposed theough a filter from the back in one of the reversal steps, so a silver anti-halo layer like on many colour neg films and some B&W reversal would not work. By the looks of it ektachrome may also have the silver Anti-halo.

 

[B&Wpositive]

Yes, and there is also another manufacturer who has some pretty darn sophisticated cinema cameras in their lineup...the cinematic equivalent to the Nikon F6. The name escapes me.

 

[Ian Cooper]

Yes, and there is also another manufacturer who has some pretty darn sophisticated cinema cameras in their lineup...

Arriflex ?
Aaton ?

...Both of which are still developing and producing 16mm motion picture cameras.

 

[Lightproof]

Aaton is really great. Have a look on their audio products, too. Its so beautifully made.

I love professional stuff like that. I dont have a MP film camera yet, but the sound stuff is ready to go.

A Stellavox SP7, waiting for a camera that features Synchroton: