Old School 16mm camera

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PDX_DVX

Veteran
We recently acquired a hand-wind Stewart-Warren 1935 Hollywood
model 16mm camera. I believe it takes 100 foot film rolls, are these still available? And what is the best resource to buy them from? The camera seems to be working, and we would like to shoot a roll or 2 just to see what it looks like. I know of a couple of telecine places in town, I just don't know where to buy the film and get it developed....
 
you can get 100' spools directly from kodak. i don't know about places in the nw specifically, but any film/video supply place should have 100' spools. 100' spools are the standard load on bolexes, scoopics, krasnogorsk, arri s, beaulieus, etc. in other words all of the silent 16mm cameras that are still in use by tons of people. there are a lot of really good filmmakers from your area shooting this stuff. (matt mccormick is one who comes to mind.) anyhow, this should be easy for you. oh, also, any schools out there that do film production should either have the film available on campus or have a source for students to order from. good luck.
 
What is a good resource to buy a camera such as an arri 16s or bolex h16 from? I know I see them on ebay alot, but is there somewhere online that is a better resource?
 
I've always wanted to try 16mm. It would probably be more realistic to use it for slow motion shots. I guess the other option would be to buy/rent an HVX when it comes out. Only problem is the whole high def thing, I would have to downconvert it or something since the bulk of my footage would be coming from a DVX and I would probably use it for a b-camera (if I was renting...)
 
Wouldn't you be "downconverting" either way? From film, or from HD, to standard def.

good luck with the 16mm! It looks so good in the forest.
 
PDX_DVX said:
I've always wanted to try 16mm. It would probably be more realistic to use it for slow motion shots. I guess the other option would be to buy/rent an HVX when it comes out. Only problem is the whole high def thing, I would have to downconvert it or something since the bulk of my footage would be coming from a DVX and I would probably use it for a b-camera (if I was renting...)
Click to expand...

From what I understand about the HVX, you can shot variable frame rate 720P and convert it to DV in the camera.


Here is a good resource for 16mm filmmaking.

http://www.chamblesscineequip.com/

There are a lot of relatively inexpensive 16mm cameras out there. I got a Bolex Rex-4 with MST constant speed motor, battery and a reflex zoom for $400. Works great. Went out the day after I bought it and shot pick-ups that intercut shot for shot with footage from an Arri SR2.

With the variety of available stocks a 16mm camera is a handy tool to have.
 
where did you find the rex-4? Can't that camera be hand wound also? The NW film center offers short classes on non-sync 16mm camera operation (arri 16s, bolex h-16 etc etc) for relatively cheap, I am considering taking one, because right now, I don't know a whole lot about how to make 16mm look right (exposure, how to focus it etc...) and I don't want to try and shoot only to find I wasted the money because of unusable footage. I sort of want it for artistic cutaways and slow motion shots.
 
I got my Rex-4 out of the community trader magazine that is put out in the Detroit metro area. Just kept watching the photo/video sections every week looking for bargins. (also got 10 750watt fresnel lights for $300 and a Bogen 3046 head with sticks for $80). I went to E-bay last night and there are a lot of good 16mm cameras for sell.

To learn how to expose motion picture film, I would get a cheap 35mm SLR (with manual everything), get a light meter and run movie film through it. A lot of companies sell motion picture film in still camera rolls (as slide film). I've used RGB color in Hollywood. They are OK. However, they print their slides at 50:50:50 so there is no color correction. Use a slide scanner and take the slides into your computer for manipulation.
 
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