It really is tough to figure out sometimes. My only suggestion would be to really work on the battery compartment, just to make sure it's clean. Outside of that, I know very little about the inner workings of these things.
The 155 was impressive in the fact that a bracket was supplied to show slides or create credits on clear plastic slides. The close up focus was impressive. I shot many a cartridge of film with this cam. I tried doing some time motion showing a map and a red cardboard pointer cutout. a little jerky but did the job. The lens hood could also be used to do scene changes with a vertical sweep using this hood.
Absolutely right, Dale! I have that bracket for my 155 (and 150) but haven't used it for anything yet. I also have the little filter holder for round filters. I have shot a few rolls through my 150 but nothing in my 155 yet. Looking forward to messing around with it soon!!
I wish I could help you out but unfortunately I don’t have any leads. That camera doesn’t seem to be that difficult though, anything specific you’re looking to find out?
Absolutely, Dave! I was so relieved to hear from them and even more so after our several email exchanges. I didn't receive canned responses, they were full page and personal (to my complaints). Definitely not what I expected in today's climate, so very well received.
I'm considering purchasing a 8MM camera and I've had my eye on a couple Bolex models and this model came up on my ebay suggestions. I'm not sure it's exactly what I'm looking for but when you played the footage you shot with it I thought I recognized the location of the first couple shots. However, the more shots I saw, it dawned on me I know where you were filming. I have lived in the area for many years and I'm happy to see them here. Truly a small world! Hopefully I'll make a decision soon and maybe i'll bump into you when I am out filming in the area. Thank you for your in depth reviews.
Well hello neighbor!! I'm out and about quite a bit in this area, please say hello if our paths ever cross. I love this Bolex Super line of cameras. In fact, I picked up the next one in their lineup, the 155 Super not long ago. I just need the 160 now, lol. I did a video a few months ago, where I shot a single roll of film (50D) in 10 different cameras. I used this Bolex 150 Super as one of them and quite honestly, I think it looks better than most of the others. Thanks so much!!
After seeing a lot of reviews of this camera, I've noticed that the eyepiece viewer cup is missing. The rubber material has long since. I'm wondering if any other eye cups could be adapted to fit this camera?
That's a great question, Dale. The original eyecups on the 150 have a sort of oval opening and the 155 has a square one (where the eyecup fits to the viewfinder). For this reason, I feel like you'd have to probably either find an original replacement, or perhaps cut and retrofit something like an aftermarket Bolex cup.
Great video, very informative,especially the way you address those wonky PX batteries. A friend just gave me a 160 he found. Any idea where I can find a replacement eye cup?
Thanks so much!! The 160 has so many more options than this 150, so bravo to you! As far as the eye cup, that can be tricky. I usually just keep an eye out on eBay for something I think will fit. It can be frustrating and a bit of trial and error but I usually end up with a decent mix that I can use on different cameras.
I was kinda thinking the same thing, jury rigging something. I found a modern eye cup for my Rex-3 so maybe I can get something like that to fit. Thanks!
Snazzy, camera, Mike. However, I'm beginning to wonder if you have your own oil well pumping in your backyard! I never seen anyone buy as much equipment/antique cameras and gear as you. Your home is turning into a museum. Great vids, though! Keep em coming!
The original idea was to buy cameras (though I've been doing it for 35 years now) for use on UA-cam for testing, etc. then sell, repeat. Well... And when your house is as small as mine, wife calls it something other than a museum, hehe.
Ok, after two tries, I finally got a working 155 model. This one cost me all of $3 plus shipping. The first one was $20 something but has electrical issues. Thanks for this video and your thorough examination of it. This will be my 2nd viewing.. because now I have one that purrs after a little bit of TLC. Now to pop in a cartridge of Vision 200T and see how she handles it.
Hey Filmboy24, I just have the Bolex Macrozoom 160, I'm thinking about buy the Bolex B8 too and use both of them for amateur film purposes, should I buy the B8 or the Macrozoom 160 is enough?
I have a couple of the Bolex 8mm cameras and they're a lot of fun but they're a completely different format that your Bolex 160. If I were you, I'd stick with the Bolex 160 super 8 unless you were wanting to shoot both super 8 and 8mm.
@@Filmboy24 Wow, that is odd though, as you might expect one such scratch, but several? maybe the cartridge was in worse shape physically itself than usual? We'll compare to there such incidents as they happen to you, me or otherwise and see.
@@nicholassheffo5723 I'm thinking this particular roll was probably not stored well. It was about 15 years old when I got it, so it's hard to tell for sure. I shot it almost 3 years ago, so I don't remember it's physical condition but I do know that this doesn't happen often.
@@Filmboy24 I keep getting a single scratch no matter what cartridge, sound or silent, I load into my Bell & Howell MS45 and a smart UA-camr on Single 8 warns all the Elmo stand-alone single 8 cameras might be crashing the cartridges, doing long-term damage to them and the film inside. Don't know if compartment shrinkage might be an issue on some models, but we'll see.
Did you get that Multitrix thing for effects and titles? I would like to see someone explaining how that thing works. (It’s probably less harder than my mind thinks) And I have a similar question on kaleidoscope and other wacky effect filters for 8/16mm because I would like to try a lot of those. Like I saw ones in the shape of an old style keyhole and such
I do have the Multitrix accessory, although I haven't used it yet. I got it with my Bolex 155 (the 150 doesn't do closeup). It's really simple, just an arm and holder on the end. There were a lot of cool mattes used in filming back in the day. The keyhole was one of them (along with the binoculars effect). It's simply a matte cutout, usually inside a matte box, so that the lens picks up the effect, then the subject.
Now that you reviewed the 150, did you ever work with the S155 model. I got one when they were new. I liked the fact that some controls were NOT automatic (zoom and focus). Other cameras were selling for ~ $100. The S 150 was $ 250.00. Not cheap but well worth it. My next 'upgrade' was to Beta video. A completely different format. I love the option to focus desolve.
@@Filmboy24 such a strange aperture indicator dial through the viewfinder though, don't you think? It's a sort of logarithmic spaced line of notches. Bolex really went their own way with this one.
@@ZeroBudgetFilmSchool Yes, quite odd indeed. As I understand it, the size of the notches are/were suppose to kind of indicate the size of the aperture opening, for quick(er) reference I guess. The larger the cutout (or notch), the larger the aperture opening. I think it was Bolex trying be Apple in the 60s :)
Great looking camera, is it considered retro future or future retro? When I first saw one I thought it took the 200 foot sound cartridges on top. But I don't think they had them when I bought my Chinnon in the mid 70's. Exposure looked ok to me. All in all it's aways fun to watch.
Thanks so much, Barry! You can't throw those retro tongue twisters at me, my head will literally explode, haha. I think the "retro" magazine looking top is what really gets me going with this camera and yes, I also thought it accepted something other than just a standard cart when I first saw one. BTW, Chinon super 8 is another all time favorite of mine!!
@@Filmboy24 I had a great one ,the 1206SM sound camera and the Elmo 1200ST stereo projector both of which did not survive the storage in the south Florida heat
@@barrysteinlage6888 Wow, what a great combination! That projector is a real thing of beauty. Yeah, that sticky, hot, humid, salty Florida air does not sit well with electronics :(
@@Filmboy24 I wonder what Roger Watkins shot the rest of his movie with? I wonder if he used a Bolex H16? I know some independent filmmakers of this time period used Arriflex 16S models too, I know John Waters used a Cinema Products CP16 to make some of his early movies. Tobe Hooper used a Bolex Rex-5 for his films. And the infamous Manos The Hands Of Fate was shot with a B&H 70 series but they never tell you what model exactly it was Other than a “Bell and Howell with no sound that shot 32 seconds of a time” or whatever.
@@Filmboy24 Ok doing a little comparison between the 3 models and the one used in Last House On Dead End Street, I’m pretty sure the 155 model is being used in those scenes. It was actually a gift to Roger Watkins from Otto Preminger.
@@oldradiosnphonographsthat's a good question. On IMDB, it says the aspect ratio is 1.37:1 and a Google search tells me that this was the 4 perf pulldown 35mm. Pretty cool if he really did use 35mm for this little film.
@@Filmboy24 A 150/155/160 also shows up on the British TV sci-fi classic U.F.O. from THUNDERBIRDS and SPACE:1999 producer Gerry Anderson. The user captures a hostile UFO landing and gets zapped & killed for his troubles, but the film he shoots survives. Good thing these early Bolex models use so much metal!
It does look amazing. Funnily enough for me, I bought a few super 8 and stills cameras off ebay and for me, untested means it usually works but the seller is too stupid or lazy to try and they just want rid of it. Like an estate sale or clearing out a relatives garage. So I pay the cheap price and test it myself and when it works I can sell it on for a higher price (edit: not a rip off price but a reasonable amount to buy more film) because I ran film through. It is a risk but I have had great success so far. People even buy ones that don't work for spares or decoration. So it isn't a problem to sell on for close to what I paid even if broken. There's an old geezer at my local market who buys and sells old cameras broken or not too.
Yeah, I probably should've added a caveat, I have also picked up some great untested deals. I picked up a "Lot of 3" Canon 1014XL-S cameras that were listed as untested, for $340. I took a big chance but every single one ran fine with no corrosion. I guess I just think it sounds "scammy".
@@Filmboy24 Yeah I know what you mean it's good to be cautious too. I have seen old broken cameras being sold locally that have turned these dead movie cameras into lamps and charging anything from £50 to a couple of hundred. And if you paid £10 for that broken camera it's a good profit. And actually I kind of want one!
Man, or Filmboy, the camera contains steel parts, but the body is aluminium. Aluminum, as it is in America. Next, the finder system does not offer a ground glass, you have an aerial image which makes it more difficult to focus. As a little candy to help you over the harsh corrections I pull in let me tell you the shutter opening angle. It's 138 degrees. S.
I’m taking a $33 gamble on a 155 model that comes with a bag and accessories. If hopefully Bolex is up to a higher standard where the survival rate is higher, and hopefully they don’t suffer any of the same issues B&H, Kodak, or B*ntl*y (had to censor that bad name for cameras here lol) battery op cameras have. If it doesn’t work at least I’ll have accessories for a fully working one later on…part of me wishes they kept spring motors for S8 cameras and I know there’s a spring driven Russian model but I don’t like importing outside the US.
I'd say $33 for a 155 is a pretty good gamble. I also have a working 155 model but have yet to run any film through it. I'd say you have a pretty good chance if the battery compartments aren't corroded. I really believe the Bolex cameras were made much, much better that those others that you mentioned. I like all the metal parts, they seem to last forever. Good luck with it!!
@@Filmboy24 battery corrosion can bring the best of cameras down. I tested a Technicolor model at the antique store thinking it was a more solidly built camera. Thankfully I took AA Batteries with me to test cameras. And in that large antique mall this was the only S8 camera I could find! So excitedly I opened the battery compartment and ACK! I was greeted by 4 40+ year old corroded Duracell’s! That Capone/shangrilas tune (the one that goes “Oh No No No No) stared to play inside my head as I pulled these batteries that died during Regan’s presidency out of the handle. A part of me still had some hope that maybe the batteries didn’t ruin this camera so I put in the 4 I had and my worst fear was confirmed. I pulled the trigger and nothing! No dice! As dead as a doornail! I was disappointed but not surprised. I even thought I heard The Price Is Right fail horn in the background. So yeah that’s my sad story about getting skunked again for the 4th time on an S8 camera. Thankfully I didn’t waste my $27 on another broken camera…
@@oldradiosnphonographs Hahaha, you just described my life story!! It's unfortunate that this is so "the norm" now. Occasionally, life hands you a beautiful little bonus and you find a battery-free vintage electronic, but...not very often :(
@@Filmboy24 I guess the gamble paid off because it seems like it works. No battery corrosion thank goodness! I opened up a box of expired in 1988 ektachrome 160 type G I had lying around I put a dot on the film with a marker, ran it a couple seconds and took the film out and the mark I made was gone! so I think I have a winner here! I’m still gonna need batteries for the zoom function to get the thing to zoom in and out and I’m gonna need an eyepiece for the viewfinder too. But I think I’m up to a great start here. I knew I could trust Bolex!
When i bought untested they all worked (i bought 3 but on a swiss page similar to ebay) i think the cameras just belonged to their family and they didn’t know how to use them
![Bolex Paillard 150 Super 8 Camera - troubleshooting & fixing intermittent running fault [4K]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EpCblxaHDp8/mqdefault.jpg)
I owned one of these in the 70s and intend to get another - the real reason is that they just look super cool!
I wholeheartedly concur! Probably the coolest looking Super 8 camera ever made :)
I was a high school film student in 1969-1973 and that was my daily camera.
Hey! I have one these guys and the shutter trigger isn't working properly, any idea of what I can do to get it fixed/fix it myself?
Thanks :)
It really is tough to figure out sometimes. My only suggestion would be to really work on the battery compartment, just to make sure it's clean. Outside of that, I know very little about the inner workings of these things.
The 155 was impressive in the fact that a bracket was supplied to show slides or create credits on clear plastic slides. The close up focus was impressive. I shot many a cartridge of film with this cam. I tried doing some time motion showing a map and a red cardboard pointer cutout. a little jerky but did the job. The lens hood could also be used to do scene changes with a vertical sweep using this hood.
Absolutely right, Dale! I have that bracket for my 155 (and 150) but haven't used it for anything yet. I also have the little filter holder for round filters. I have shot a few rolls through my 150 but nothing in my 155 yet. Looking forward to messing around with it soon!!
I have a Bolex 250 that I haven’t been able to find any information on online. Any suggestions? Just looking for a manual. Thanks!
I wish I could help you out but unfortunately I don’t have any leads. That camera doesn’t seem to be that difficult though, anything specific you’re looking to find out?
@@Filmboy24 Well for starters, the battery pack has nothing regarding polarity of the AA cells.
@@ArthurJS123 Trial & error :)
I just got a BOLEX 155 SUPER and I have never used one. This video like all your films is very informative.
Thank you, Jim, I appreciate it!!
Great to hear that Kodak still cares about customers even in a small market, compared to yesteryear 🙂, like Super 8.
Absolutely, Dave! I was so relieved to hear from them and even more so after our several email exchanges. I didn't receive canned responses, they were full page and personal (to my complaints). Definitely not what I expected in today's climate, so very well received.
I'm considering purchasing a 8MM camera and I've had my eye on a couple Bolex models and this model came up on my ebay suggestions. I'm not sure it's exactly what I'm looking for but when you played the footage you shot with it I thought I recognized the location of the first couple shots. However, the more shots I saw, it dawned on me I know where you were filming. I have lived in the area for many years and I'm happy to see them here. Truly a small world! Hopefully I'll make a decision soon and maybe i'll bump into you when I am out filming in the area. Thank you for your in depth reviews.
Well hello neighbor!! I'm out and about quite a bit in this area, please say hello if our paths ever cross.
I love this Bolex Super line of cameras. In fact, I picked up the next one in their lineup, the 155 Super not long ago. I just need the 160 now, lol. I did a video a few months ago, where I shot a single roll of film (50D) in 10 different cameras. I used this Bolex 150 Super as one of them and quite honestly, I think it looks better than most of the others.
Thanks so much!!
@@Filmboy24 I do like the retro, futuristic styling of this camera. Well, I may just get it, lol. Thanks again😁
After seeing a lot of reviews of this camera, I've noticed that the eyepiece viewer cup is missing. The rubber material has long since. I'm wondering if any other eye cups could be adapted to fit this camera?
That's a great question, Dale. The original eyecups on the 150 have a sort of oval opening and the 155 has a square one (where the eyecup fits to the viewfinder). For this reason, I feel like you'd have to probably either find an original replacement, or perhaps cut and retrofit something like an aftermarket Bolex cup.
Love your channel! Collect and shoot film myself, keep up the great videos😎👍
Thanks so much!!
Good job Miguel. Is the Bolex one of your favorites.
Thanks Pop! Yes it is! They produced some of the most robust and beautiful cameras ever.
Great video, very informative,especially the way you address those wonky PX batteries. A friend just gave me a 160 he found. Any idea where I can find a replacement eye cup?
Thanks so much!! The 160 has so many more options than this 150, so bravo to you!
As far as the eye cup, that can be tricky. I usually just keep an eye out on eBay for something I think will fit. It can be frustrating and a bit of trial and error but I usually end up with a decent mix that I can use on different cameras.
I was kinda thinking the same thing, jury rigging something. I found a modern eye cup for my Rex-3 so maybe I can get something like that to fit. Thanks!
Awesome camera! Love the style of it! Great content!
Thanks so Much!!
Snazzy, camera, Mike. However, I'm beginning to wonder if you have your own oil well pumping in your backyard! I never seen anyone buy as much equipment/antique cameras and gear as you. Your home is turning into a museum. Great vids, though! Keep em coming!
The original idea was to buy cameras (though I've been doing it for 35 years now) for use on UA-cam for testing, etc. then sell, repeat. Well...
And when your house is as small as mine, wife calls it something other than a museum, hehe.
Ok, after two tries, I finally got a working 155 model. This one cost me all of $3 plus shipping. The first one was $20 something but has electrical issues. Thanks for this video and your thorough examination of it. This will be my 2nd viewing.. because now I have one that purrs after a little bit of TLC. Now to pop in a cartridge of Vision 200T and see how she handles it.
I love stories like that, Mike!! My 150 produces really nice images, way better than I expected. Coincidentally, I also has a non-working 155 :(
@@Filmboy24 thanks. I’m looking forward to Sunday at 2pm.. uh, I think it’s 2.. ? I forgot to put it in my calendar.
@@flyingo 2pm sharp, don't be late! 😄
Hey Filmboy24, I just have the Bolex Macrozoom 160, I'm thinking about buy the Bolex B8 too and use both of them for amateur film purposes, should I buy the B8 or the Macrozoom 160 is enough?
I have a couple of the Bolex 8mm cameras and they're a lot of fun but they're a completely different format that your Bolex 160. If I were you, I'd stick with the Bolex 160 super 8 unless you were wanting to shoot both super 8 and 8mm.
@@Filmboy24 Thank you! Helped a lot!
Excellent review and demo , thanks.
Thanks a million, Cecil!!
How do you set the iso on it
The camera reads the notches on the carts and sets the exposure automatically. You do have to make sure you have the button cell batteries inserted.
Will the camera work without the cell batteries?
@@steadyprime Yes, as my 160 did, but I took out the filter in all cases.
Mike, how did your resulting black and white film land up with vertical scratches?
That's a great question. It certainly happened during one or more steps along the way. My best guess is when I pulled the film from the cartridge.
@@Filmboy24 Wow, that is odd though, as you might expect one such scratch, but several? maybe the cartridge was in worse shape physically itself than usual? We'll compare to there such incidents as they happen to you, me or otherwise and see.
@@nicholassheffo5723 I'm thinking this particular roll was probably not stored well. It was about 15 years old when I got it, so it's hard to tell for sure. I shot it almost 3 years ago, so I don't remember it's physical condition but I do know that this doesn't happen often.
@@Filmboy24 I keep getting a single scratch no matter what cartridge, sound or silent, I load into my Bell & Howell MS45 and a smart UA-camr on Single 8 warns all the Elmo stand-alone single 8 cameras might be crashing the cartridges, doing long-term damage to them and the film inside. Don't know if compartment shrinkage might be an issue on some models, but we'll see.
Did you get that Multitrix thing for effects and titles? I would like to see someone explaining how that thing works. (It’s probably less harder than my mind thinks) And I have a similar question on kaleidoscope and other wacky effect filters for 8/16mm because I would like to try a lot of those. Like I saw ones in the shape of an old style keyhole and such
I do have the Multitrix accessory, although I haven't used it yet. I got it with my Bolex 155 (the 150 doesn't do closeup). It's really simple, just an arm and holder on the end.
There were a lot of cool mattes used in filming back in the day. The keyhole was one of them (along with the binoculars effect). It's simply a matte cutout, usually inside a matte box, so that the lens picks up the effect, then the subject.
@@Filmboy24 I guess the effects cards were sold separately. But I still got a 54 year old grease pencil with it
@@Filmboy24 I’m having trouble finding this stuff on eBay
Now that you reviewed the 150, did you ever work with the S155 model. I got one when they were new. I liked the fact that some controls were NOT automatic (zoom and focus). Other cameras were selling for ~ $100. The S 150 was $ 250.00. Not cheap but well worth it. My next 'upgrade' was to Beta video. A completely different format. I love the option to focus desolve.
Hi Dale, yes, I actually also own the 155 Super. I haven't had a chance to mess with it too much lately but I do love this series of cameras!!
Excellent video Mike! You taught me a few things I didn't know about my own Bolex 155. I wish mine wasn't stuck on f.2 though...
Thanks a lot, Ben! I Really do like this little Bolex series of cameras, so well built.
@@Filmboy24 such a strange aperture indicator dial through the viewfinder though, don't you think? It's a sort of logarithmic spaced line of notches. Bolex really went their own way with this one.
@@ZeroBudgetFilmSchool Yes, quite odd indeed. As I understand it, the size of the notches are/were suppose to kind of indicate the size of the aperture opening, for quick(er) reference I guess. The larger the cutout (or notch), the larger the aperture opening.
I think it was Bolex trying be Apple in the 60s :)
@@Filmboy24 Yes , very much the Apple model of "You WILL buy all your kit from us from now on, and you WILL use it our way."
@@ZeroBudgetFilmSchool Haha, Truth!!
Great looking camera, is it considered retro future or future retro? When I first saw one I thought it took the 200 foot sound cartridges on top. But I don't think they had them when I bought my Chinnon in the mid 70's. Exposure looked ok to me. All in all it's aways fun to watch.
Thanks so much, Barry! You can't throw those retro tongue twisters at me, my head will literally explode, haha.
I think the "retro" magazine looking top is what really gets me going with this camera and yes, I also thought it accepted something other than just a standard cart when I first saw one.
BTW, Chinon super 8 is another all time favorite of mine!!
@@Filmboy24 I had a great one ,the 1206SM sound camera and the Elmo 1200ST stereo projector both of which did not survive the storage in the south Florida heat
@@barrysteinlage6888 Wow, what a great combination! That projector is a real thing of beauty. Yeah, that sticky, hot, humid, salty Florida air does not sit well with electronics :(
@@Filmboy24 the rubber captains in the camera and projector seemed like the same material. They felt like they'd been wrapped in old electricians tape
Oh if anyone’s seen the 1973 horror film “Last House on Dead End Street” a model similar to this is featured though out the film.
After you mentioned it, I had to look for it. Just watched the trailer, you're right, that's definitely a Bolex. My kind of movie too :)
@@Filmboy24 I wonder what Roger Watkins shot the rest of his movie with? I wonder if he used a Bolex H16? I know some independent filmmakers of this time period used Arriflex 16S models too, I know John Waters used a Cinema Products CP16 to make some of his early movies. Tobe Hooper used a Bolex Rex-5 for his films. And the infamous Manos The Hands Of Fate was shot with a B&H 70 series but they never tell you what model exactly it was Other than a “Bell and Howell with no sound that shot 32 seconds of a time” or whatever.
@@Filmboy24 Ok doing a little comparison between the 3 models and the one used in Last House On Dead End Street, I’m pretty sure the 155 model is being used in those scenes. It was actually a gift to Roger Watkins from Otto Preminger.
@@oldradiosnphonographsthat's a good question. On IMDB, it says the aspect ratio is 1.37:1 and a Google search tells me that this was the 4 perf pulldown 35mm. Pretty cool if he really did use 35mm for this little film.
@@Filmboy24 A 150/155/160 also shows up on the British TV sci-fi classic U.F.O. from THUNDERBIRDS and SPACE:1999 producer Gerry Anderson. The user captures a hostile UFO landing and gets zapped & killed for his troubles, but the film he shoots survives. Good thing these early Bolex models use so much metal!
It does look amazing. Funnily enough for me, I bought a few super 8 and stills cameras off ebay and for me, untested means it usually works but the seller is too stupid or lazy to try and they just want rid of it. Like an estate sale or clearing out a relatives garage. So I pay the cheap price and test it myself and when it works I can sell it on for a higher price (edit: not a rip off price but a reasonable amount to buy more film) because I ran film through. It is a risk but I have had great success so far. People even buy ones that don't work for spares or decoration. So it isn't a problem to sell on for close to what I paid even if broken. There's an old geezer at my local market who buys and sells old cameras broken or not too.
Yeah, I probably should've added a caveat, I have also picked up some great untested deals. I picked up a "Lot of 3" Canon 1014XL-S cameras that were listed as untested, for $340. I took a big chance but every single one ran fine with no corrosion. I guess I just think it sounds "scammy".
@@Filmboy24 Yeah I know what you mean it's good to be cautious too. I have seen old broken cameras being sold locally that have turned these dead movie cameras into lamps and charging anything from £50 to a couple of hundred. And if you paid £10 for that broken camera it's a good profit. And actually I kind of want one!
@@bletheringfool I've seen some of those lamps, they are pretty cool and a good way to keep these little gems out of the landfill.
Man, or Filmboy, the camera contains steel parts, but the body is aluminium. Aluminum, as it is in America. Next, the finder system does not offer a ground glass, you have an aerial image which makes it more difficult to focus. As a little candy to help you over the harsh corrections I pull in let me tell you the shutter opening angle. It's 138 degrees. S.
I’m taking a $33 gamble on a 155 model that comes with a bag and accessories. If hopefully Bolex is up to a higher standard where the survival rate is higher, and hopefully they don’t suffer any of the same issues B&H, Kodak, or B*ntl*y (had to censor that bad name for cameras here lol) battery op cameras have. If it doesn’t work at least I’ll have accessories for a fully working one later on…part of me wishes they kept spring motors for S8 cameras and I know there’s a spring driven Russian model but I don’t like importing outside the US.
I'd say $33 for a 155 is a pretty good gamble. I also have a working 155 model but have yet to run any film through it. I'd say you have a pretty good chance if the battery compartments aren't corroded. I really believe the Bolex cameras were made much, much better that those others that you mentioned. I like all the metal parts, they seem to last forever. Good luck with it!!
@@Filmboy24 battery corrosion can bring the best of cameras down. I tested a Technicolor model at the antique store thinking it was a more solidly built camera. Thankfully I took AA Batteries with me to test cameras. And in that large antique mall this was the only S8 camera I could find! So excitedly I opened the battery compartment and ACK! I was greeted by 4 40+ year old corroded Duracell’s! That Capone/shangrilas tune (the one that goes “Oh No No No No) stared to play inside my head as I pulled these batteries that died during Regan’s presidency out of the handle. A part of me still had some hope that maybe the batteries didn’t ruin this camera so I put in the 4 I had and my worst fear was confirmed. I pulled the trigger and nothing! No dice! As dead as a doornail! I was disappointed but not surprised. I even thought I heard The Price Is Right fail horn in the background. So yeah that’s my sad story about getting skunked again for the 4th time on an S8 camera. Thankfully I didn’t waste my $27 on another broken camera…
@@oldradiosnphonographs Hahaha, you just described my life story!! It's unfortunate that this is so "the norm" now. Occasionally, life hands you a beautiful little bonus and you find a battery-free vintage electronic, but...not very often :(
@@Filmboy24 I guess the gamble paid off because it seems like it works. No battery corrosion thank goodness! I opened up a box of expired in 1988 ektachrome 160 type G I had lying around I put a dot on the film with a marker, ran it a couple seconds and took the film out and the mark I made was gone! so I think I have a winner here! I’m still gonna need batteries for the zoom function to get the thing to zoom in and out and I’m gonna need an eyepiece for the viewfinder too. But I think I’m up to a great start here. I knew I could trust Bolex!
@@oldradiosnphonographs AWESOME!!! That's exciting to hear! I call times like that, one of life's little bonuses. Have fun with that little gem!!
When i bought untested they all worked (i bought 3 but on a swiss page similar to ebay) i think the cameras just belonged to their family and they didn’t know how to use them
That's awesome!
@@Filmboy24 have you ever tried buying untested ones? (or have you and they indeed didn't work?)
@@Schneeeulenwetter I have bought a lot of untested cameras. Unfortunately, sometimes you get duds, sometimes you win and they work great.
$30-$75?? This camera is going for $150-$500 on etsy
Always use eBay “sold” listings as a reference for fair market value of used items. Definitely not worth anywhere near $500.