From: Nicholas Hamlyn (email suppressed)
Date: Fri Sep 16 2005 - 14:30:14 PDT
On 16 Sep 2005, at 19:56, Christopher Harris wrote:
> Thanks everyone for the feedback. I will begin searching for a
> non-reflex camera today.
>
> Nicholas, the gate viewfinder sounds interesting but quite mysterious.
> Do you know where to buy one?
You could try Andrew Alden: bolex.co.uk otherwise I have one you could
borrow. I could post it.
> Also, how does it work? I can't quite imagine how it gets the light
> to my eye through a non-reflex camera, particularly since it sits
> behind the film plane as it fits in the place normally occupied by the
> pressure plate.
It fits behind the gate, so the light comes through the filming lens.
You have to set the shutter open, by disengaging the internal motor,
switching the shutter release to "Run", and then nudging the shutter
open with a rewind handle. The finder has its own prism and a little
viewfinder. the image is very small, but it does the job. When you use
one, all this becomes quite obvious!
> Perhaps there is something obvious or obscure I am not thinking
> about? If the non-reflex camera has a side viewfinder with parallax
> compensation will I necessarily need to see through the pinhole at
> all?
Not necessarily, but the gate viewfinder is absolutely accurate, as it
IS a through-the-lens/gate viewfinder. The effectiveness of the side
viewfinder with parallax correction is OK: It depends on how critical
framing is, and how near you are to your subject. For titles, for
example, a gate viewfinder is essential, as most Bolex viewfinders are
slightly skew. For absolute accuracy, a gate finder is better.
Nicky.
>
> Steven, Tom Comerford showed me how to adapt a Bolex for pinhole
> cinematography. Its fairly simple (up to this point anyhow) and
> essentially involves mounting the pinhole directly over the turret
> mount where the lens would normally go. The pinhole is made from
> aluminum pie tins and painted matte black on the side facing the film
> plane so that does not reflect bouncing light inside the camera. With
> the reflex Bolex I was able to see through the pinhole sometimes
> depending on how brightly lit the subject was but I was also able to
> compose with surprisingly acceptable results even when I was not able
> to see through the viewfinder. The results of the test roll were
> beautiful.
>
>
> __________________________________________________________________
> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.
>
__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.