Share your Collection/Tools of Choice

[Rollef]

NALCOM Synchro Zoom FTL 1000 Pro
NALCOM Synchro Zoom FTL 1000 Pro Mk II - defect

What's the difference between these two models?

[kuparikettu]

16mm
Eclair ACL 1.5
Bolex H16 Supreme
Bolex H16 Standard

Super-8
Beaulieu 4008 ZM (max8 modified)
Bauer A512

[Rudat]

by Rollef » Sat Feb 18, 2012 8:51 am
What's the difference between these two models?

besides some cosmetic alterations the only difference (i believe) is that 100D is read as 160 in MKII models. Probably because G160 became available around that time...

[cameratech]

I've been fascinated by wind-up cameras since I started servicing 16mm Bolexes about 6 years ago, but I caught the collecting mania about 2 years ago when one of my now-retired camera technician teachers gave me a R8 Bell and Howell Turret Filmo and a Bolex 18-5 projector. I thought they were pretty cute, sourced some double-8 stock and shot some home movies of my then new-born daughter. Big mistake..

I always loved the look of film, but professionally I was used to 16 or 35mm. Being the smallest gauge, R8 was always something I'd dismissed as amateur, until I projected it up on my lounge-room wall. In a way it's the most 'filmic' format of all. You see the grain, the flashes, the scratches, but the tonal range is still there. It's painterly, magical, gloriously analogue. It's an aesthetic capable of far more than simply 'evoking the past'. And then there's the cameras...some like miniature semi-professional gear.. pressure plates, sprocket feeds, spool loading, some even with spinning mirror shutters or registration pins.. and so well made! As I delved deeper, I realised the diversity of design was incredible, a parade of technical history, with so many ways invented to solve the same fundamental problems.

Anyway, here's my collection, mainly R8. I've tested about a third of them, dissected and serviced about a quarter:

Arco 8-Zoom
Arco CH-803 (turret)
Bauer 88 B with wide and tele converters
Bauer 88 E
Bauer 88 RS
Beaulieu MR8
Beaulieu MCR8
Beaulieu TR8 (turret with Angenieux primes)
Beaulieu MAR8G
Beaulieu 4008ZM II with Schneider 6-66 (my only S8)
Bell & Howell Filmo 75 (16mm - most beautiful camera ever made)
Bell & Howell Filmo 70 DR (16mm)
Bell & Howell Magazine 200 (16mm)
Bell & Howell Filmo Turret
Bell & Howell Filmo 134G
G.B Bell & Howell 605 (turret)
Bell & Howell Zoommaster
Bell & Howell Magazine 172
Bolex H 16 RX4 (16mm)
Bolex B8 (x2)
Bolex D8L (turret with Switars)
Bolex S1
Campro (9.5mm camera/projector)
Canon Cine Zoom 512 (x2)
Canon Scoopic M (16mm)
Canon Reflex Zoom 8 (x2)
Canon Reflex Zoom 8-3 (x2)
Carena Geva 8
Carena 2
Carena Zoomex (x2)
Carena Zoomex S
Christen Reflex 8
Crown Zoom Reflex
Emel C96
Emel C93
Emel C94
Ercsam Camex Reflex
Ercsam Camex Cellule Reflex
Eumig C3M
Fujica 8EE
GIC 16 (16mm)
Ica Kinamo (35mm hand-crank)
Cine Kodak Special (16mm)
Cine Kodak 8 model 25
Cine Kodak 8 model 60
Leveque LD8
Mamiya 8 JE
Meopta Admira A8IIA
Minolta Auto Zoom 8
Cine Nizo 16L (16mm)
Nizo Heliomatic Reflex 8
Noris 8D
Pathe Pathescope H (9.5mm)
Pentacon AK 8
Pentaflex 8
Petri 8
Revere 55
Revere 81 Ranger
Sankyo 8-E
Sekonic Dualmatic Zoom
Siemens C8
Siemens C (16mm)
Siemens F (16mm)
Univex B-8
Vernon 18/28
Victor model 4 (16mm)
Zeiss Ikon Kinamo S10 (16mm)
Zeiss Ikon Movikon 8 with Movigonar and Movitelar converters
Zeiss Ikon Movinette 8B

Lenses are another collecting realm of course, and in terms of actual filmmaking they're more important than the camera. Favourites for R8 so far would be Taylor Hobson, Kern Switar and Angenieux primes, but I've also had beautiful results with Zeika, Waltz, Som Berthiot and Elgeet. Some work better with B+W, others with colour. Angenieux, Canon and Schneider top the zoom list. I've made a D-mount fitting for my Chrosziel projector-collimator in order to project and properly assess D-mount lenses, and reset back-focus if necessary, but these days collecting even 8mm lenses is an expensive business. Those damn digital shooters are using D-mount adapters on their GH2s or whatnot and have driven up the prices.

At the moment I'm exploring anamorphic 8mm, using a Beaulieu MR8 with a Proskar anamorphic and the Camex CR with a Sankor. The Canon Cine Zoom 512, Beaulieu TR8 and hand-cranked Ica Kinamo (perfect for 35mm short ends) are also getting occasional use.

[Rudat]

Hello cameratech, nice Adastra in your avatar... Do you own one?

[cameratech]

Hello cameratech, nice Adastra in your avatar... Do you own one?

Ha, I wish! I'll have a zigzagging Kemco Homovie and Louis Le Prince's camera before that happens..

[jap-o-lantern films]

Regular 8
Bolex H8

Super 8
Nikon Super Zoom 8X

Double Super 8
Canon DS8

Plastic
Bentley Super 8 BX-720 :lol:

JLC

[David M. Leugers]

Cameratech I am glad you mentioned the Elgeet lenses. A "sleeper" of a lens manufacturer. I cherish the D and C mount Elgeet lenses I have and they all produce great images. One of the best values out there because they usually go for much less than other lenses of comparable quality. R-8mm is a blast!

[grot]

cameratech (or anyone), can you please provide me with a detailed description of Cine-Kodak 8 Modell 25 (produced in Germany - if it makes a difference). I've been trying almost everywhere, including the Kodak company, but noone has helped me with that issue so far... The problem is that in the Internet you can find information that is mutually exclusive, for example:

under this link you can read that the camera used 16 mm film and was produced from 1923:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cine-Kodak

and under this link they write that the camera used 8 mm film and was produced since 1933:

http://www.geh.org/fm/mees/htmlsrc/mE13000688_ful.html

Thank you in advance for your kind help!

[cameratech]

Hi grot,
Cine-Kodak was the name Kodak gave to virtually all their movie cameras, starting with their first one, which was also the first 16mm camera, later named the Cine-Kodak Model A. That came out in 1923, along with 16mm film. Later on there were Cine-Kodak Models B, BB, E, K, M, Cine-Kodak Specials, Magazine Cine-Kodaks, and Cine-Kodak K 100s, among others.

When Kodak introduced double 8mm film in 1932, they also produced cameras to use the film - the Cine-Kodak 8 Model 20, and Model 60 (with interchangeable lenses). The Cine-Kodak 8 Model 25 came out a year later, with a fixed but slightly better lens than the Model 20. Mechanically all these very first 8mm cameras were all the same, just the lenses differed. Those models continued to be made up until just after WWII. I'd be surprised if they were ever made in Germany, given that period in history, but Kodak did have branches all over the world where they made equipment for local markets. Most would have come from Rochester, USA.

If you're interested in amateur camera history, Jurgen Lossau's book "Filmkameras" is a great resource.