From: 40 Frames (email suppressed)
Date: Sat Mar 04 2006 - 08:31:06 PST
>> And about that Bolex, yeah it will run forever, as long as you have
>> Dieter
>> overhaul it every few years to the tune of many hundreds of dollars,
>> until
>> he retires, that is.
There's always the Bolex factory itself to do repair and service, David
Warren in the UK, Mansung at SMS, TCS Inc in NY, Richard Bennett at Camera
Engineering, Visual Products, Bernie O'Doherty at Super 16 Inc to name a
few folks. Dieter, though a fine tech, is not the only one.
I bought a new SBM several years ago (a demo model actually and so
reasonably priced when compared to the cost a dealer would sell an
overhauled SBM from the 1970s). Les Bolsher can make a Bolex B to Arri B
adapter.... and what do you know you can stick a mkI Zeiss SS on the front
or an Optar. You want C mt, well Switars are available by the truck-load.
And Dieter will super 16 convert for less than $1000, and Bolex for $1500.
All of this for not to much more than one would pay for a Sony PD-170 or
one of them HDV things.
Our 1973 NPR is running just fine (and it's as old as I am), and yes it's
true one cannot get something for nothing...it cost money to keep things
running.
I work in a facility where I watch people's DV tapes fail constantly.
Daily I have to remind folks that DV tapes cost less than $3. It's
consumer electronics...what does one expect for $3 of tape and plastic.
(And people refuse to pay the price of a DVCAM because they're on a
budget?! They worry about whether the facility has FCP 5 but not the media
they're recording on.)
This is not to say film does not fail (it scratches, the lab leaves
streaks on your prints, etc.), shit happens. My point is everything has a
price, and I think we're only beginning to see the price of new
technology.
Alain
Thx Josh for the kind words...
================
40 FRAMES
Alain LeTourneau
Pamela Minty
425 SE 3rd, #400
Portland, OR 97214
United States
+1 503 231 6548
Skype ID: frames40
email suppressed
http://www.40frames.org
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