Jump to content

Bolex

Coordinates: 46°27′19″N 6°23′24″E / 46.45535°N 6.390115°E / 46.45535; 6.390115
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by LongLiveMusic (talk | contribs) at 08:06, 27 November 2023 (Link Kon-Tiki expedition). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

46°27′19″N 6°23′24″E / 46.45535°N 6.390115°E / 46.45535; 6.390115

Bolex International SA
IndustryCamera Manufacturing
Founded1925
FounderCharles Haccius and Jacques Bogopolsky
HeadquartersYverdon,
Switzerland
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Hugo Diaz (Administrator)
ProductsMotion Picture Cameras
Websitebolex.com
Usine Bol, Geneva, Switzerland

Bolex International S. A. is a Swiss manufacturer of motion picture cameras based in Yverdon located in Canton of Vaud, the most notable products of which are in the 16 mm and Super 16 mm formats. Originally Bol, the company was founded in 1925 by Charles Haccius and Jacques Bogopolsky (aka Bolsey or Boolsky), the company's name having been derived from Bogopolsky's name.[1] In 1923 he presented the Cinégraphe Bol at the Geneva fair, a reversible apparatus for taking, printing, and projecting pictures on 35 mm film. He later designed a camera for Alpa of Ballaigues in the late 1930s.

Paillard-Bolex cameras were much used by adventurers, artists, as well as nature films, documentaries, and are still favoured by many animators. Over the years, notable Bolex users and owners include: Steven Spielberg, Ridley Scott, Andy Warhol, Peter Jackson, Jonas Mekas, Jean-Luc Godard, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, James Dean, David Lynch, Marilyn Monroe, Edmund Hillary, and Mahatma Gandhi[2]

While some later models are electrically powered, the majority of those manufactured since the 1930s use a spring-wound clockwork power system. The 16 mm spring-wound Bolex is a popular introductory camera in film schools.

History

Early history

In 1927, Ukrainian-born Jacques Bogopolsky, who specialised in building cameras in Geneva, imagined a camera for the 16 mm format (Bolex Auto-Cine A,B,C), and created the Bolex S.A. with the help of Charles Haccius, a businessman from Geneva. Charles Haccius invested 250,000 Swiss francs in the company. The society did not produce any cameras. However, the Auto Ciné A and B were produced by Longines in Saint-Imier and the projector by Stoppani in Bern. As of 1929, the Longines company no longer wished to produce the cameras.

Bolex was bought by Paillard & Cie [de] for 350,000 Swiss francs and Jacques Bogopolsky was hired as consulting engineer for five years. Soon Paillard realized that the cameras and projectors were not in fact the exceptional products promised by their partners, and after two years Jacque Bogopolsky was no longer welcome in Sainte-Croix.

The traditional version of the story tended to present the situation rather simply: Bolex is the name of a brand produced by the Paillard company, a brand represented mainly by a camera that was invented by Jacques Boolsky (another of Jacques Bogopolsky's names). In fact, the alleged inventor of the Bolex did not invent anything about the camera, which as early as 1935 would become known under this name. With the patents sold by Boolsky proving unusable and the machines defective, Paillard had to start from scratch to invent a Bolex which had only kept the name of Boolsky's "invention". The Bolex as we know it is the invention of the engineers at Paillard.[3]

In 1932, Marc Renaud, a young engineer, inspired by the products of Paillard and assisted by Professor Ernest Juillard,[who?] began development of the Paillard H 16 camera.

In 1935, the H 16 camera was put on the market, the 9.5 mm version followed in 1936 and the Double-8mm version in 1938. The H 16 was highly successful. Paillard-Bolex introduced the L 8 for the market of pocket 8 mm film cameras. With the postwar boom in home movie making, Paillard-Bolex continued to develop its 8 mm and 16 mm ranges with the H16 increasingly adopted by professional film makers. The company also made a successful range of high-end movie projectors for all amateur film making gauges.

In 1952, during the golden era of 3D film, Bolex offered the Bolex Stereo: a 3D stereo kit for their H16 camera and model G projectors. Several technical changes were made to the H cameras in 1954, above all an entirely different claw drive together with a laterally inverted film gate and a 170 degrees opening angle shutter. In 1956, the first H16 reflex viewfinder model was brought out. In reaction to the upcoming use of heavier varifocal or zoom lenses and the bigger synchronous electric motors attached to the body Paillard gave it a big rectangular base, with three tapped bushings replacing the original single-tap “button” base in 1963 and soon afterward a protruding 1-to-1 shaft for the ESM motor. A saddle for a 400-ft. film magazine finally allowed the H 16 to be used like professional synch-sound cameras.

Following rapid expansion, Bolex employed circa 6000 people in the 1960s.[4] In 1965, Kodak introduced the Super 8 mm format.[5] Paillard Bolex was slow to introduce a Super 8 camera although they quickly modified the 18-5 Auto 8 mm projector for Super 8 as the 18-5 L. At about this time(1966), the Bolex 16 Pro Camera was introduced to compete with the Arriflex 16 BL camera, as a technically advanced professional camera more suited for television use than the H16. Nevertheless, the H 16 Standard camera was made until the last days of 1969. The H 16 and H 8 standard models afford the rackover critical focusing feature that had been first introduced with the Bell & Howell Standard camera in 1912. In 1971, Bolex released an even more affordable option: the Bolex 280 Macrozoom Super 8. The new model featured wide-range manual zoom and the ability to focus at close distances. It shot at 2 filming speeds, 18 and 24 fps, and was able to expose single frames. Unlike the classic mechanical Bolex Cameras, the 280 Macrozoom needed 5 1.5 volt batteries to operate.[6]

Company restructuring

Effective January 1, 1970 Paillard sold the Bolex division to Eumig of Vienna.[7] In 1971, Eumig rationalized the Super 8 range, and Super 8 equipment production in Switzerland was discontinued. The Bolex product brand was retained while being manufactured in Eumig or Chinon factories. The H16 cameras were still made in Switzerland.

Since 1981

In 1981, Eumig went into liquidation and Bolex was bought by René Ueter who set up Bolex International in 1982.[7] Bolex International no longer serially manufactures its cameras, but does repair 16 mm and Super 16 cameras for customers on special order to this day.[4]

Legacy

A Bolex H16 REX-5 spring-wound clockwork 16 mm camera

Many directors began their careers shooting on Paillard-Bolex Cameras, including Ridley Scott, David Lynch, Jonas Mekas, Peter Jackson,[8][9] Terry Gilliam, Will Vinton, Maya Deren, Steven Spielberg and Spike Lee. It results as a development of a cult of using Paillard-Bolex for decades for beginner's camera in film schools worldwide.[10]

Jules Schulback, a furrier and maker of home movies, filmed, with his 16-millimeter Bolex camera, Marilyn Monroe's white skirt billowing from a "gust" up through a subway grate, in a publicity stunt for The Seven Year Itch, around the corner from his apartment, in New York.[11][12]

The Bolex cameras remain a strong status as an icon into cinema and intemporal beautiful objects as itself. Its production helps to give Swiss Made its reputation of quality,[13] additionally of watchmaking.

It has been used in various advertising as a symbol. In 2015, it appeared in an Omega ad with George Clooney.[14] Another time in 2015 various Bolex models, including P2/8 mm and Super Zoom/8 mm, appeared in a famous campaign for Chanel eyewear with Kristen Stewart[15][16]

H 16

"The Bolex H 16 camera played a central role in the work of many avant-garde filmmakers from the 1940s through to the 1970s because of its precision and lightweight, robustness and range of facilities, and the high quality of its optics, especially the zoom lenses, and its simple operation, which made possible an infinite combination of creative cinematographic choices."[17]

"The Bolex H 16 is probably the camera which most influenced a generation of experimental and documentary/ethnographic filmmakers."[17]

Technical aspects of the Bolex

The camera's capacity is 100 ft. A 400-ft magazine (on the Rex 5 – or converted Rex 3 or 4) can be attached to the top of the camera. From the beginning, it offered automatic film threading, a clutch for disengaging the drive spring in order to crank the film by hand forward and backwards unlimited, and a cut-off turret disc that is not wider than the camera body in center position. Stepless speed control was available between 8 and 64 frames per second. Early cameras have a 190 degrees opening angle shutter. A few years after their introduction the H cameras could be equipped with an accurate single-frame counter. That accessory was incorporated into all H camera models since 1946.

As with a still reflex camera, the Bolex RX has a viewfinder, which allows the filmmaker to view what they are filming. This specific viewfinder is made up of a double prism that deflects 20 percent of the light going through the lens into the viewfinder.

The Paillard-Bolex H 16 usually has a turret for three C-mount lenses. Often, the camera was provided with a 16mm Switar or Yvar, a 25mm Switar or Yvar and the third lens was often a 75mm Yvar or 50mm Switar. Only lenses with the designation "RX" in 50 mm or less can be used on the RX models. RX corrected lenses were also manufactured by Schneider, Berthiot, Angénieux, and Rodenstock. The single lens port H 16 M(arine) was made in conjunction with the first underwater housing. A second, later marine housing was made for the electric drive models.

Some people had their H 16 camera converted to Super 16. This format is highly suited to telecine conversion, as Super 16 is close to the 16:9 electronic image format. Some conversions were more successful than others. Bolex (latterly) did offer a factory Super 16mm camera. This has the appropriate markings in the viewfinder and the film gate is machined and polished to professional standards.

Bolex did have a foray into purely professional cameras with the Bolex Pro 16. Again, they decided against a registration pin for mechanical simplicity, to keep the camera as quiet as possible for sync-sound filming. This camera was only offered with 400 ft magazine capacity.

Notable models: cameras and projectors

Swiss made with the year of introduction except for the Italian Silma made SM8

Jacques Bogopolsky and Charles Haccius

Models produced by Longines

  • Auto Cine (1925)
  • Auto Cine B (1926)
  • Auto Cine C (not released)

Paillard Bolex

  • H 16 (1935)
  • H 9 (1936)
  • Model G Projectors (1936)
  • H 8S (1936)
  • L 8 (1942)
  • M8 and M8R Projectors (1949)
  • B 8 (1952)
  • C 8 (1958)
  • B 8L (1952)
  • H 16 Reflex (1956)
  • D 8L (1958)
  • S221 Projector (1960)
  • P1 (1961)
  • 18-5 Projector (1961)
  • C 8SL (1961)
  • D 8LA (1961)
  • P2 (1961)
  • K1 (1962)
  • H 8RX (1963)
  • P3 (1963)
  • S1 (1964)
  • K2 (1964)
  • P4 (1965)
  • H 16 RX-5 (1966)
  • Bolex 16 Pro (1966)
  • 150 Super (1966)
  • SM8 Projector (made by Silma) (1967)
  • S321 Projector (1968)
  • 7.5 Macrozoom (1969)
  • H 16 SB, SBM (1970)
  • 155 Macro-zoom (1970)
  • 160 Macro-zoom (1970)
  • H 16 EBM (1971)
  • H 16 EL (1975)

Bolex Eumig

  • 660 Macro-zoom (1976)
  • 680 Macro-zoom (1978)

Notable users

Artists

  • Andy Warhol, American artist, film director, and producer[2][18]
  • Fernand Léger, French painter, sculptor, and filmmaker[19]
  • Hans Richter (artist), German painter, graphic artist, avant-gardist, film-experimenter and producer.[17]
  • Jean Cocteau, French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic[20]
  • Paul Sharits, visual artist, best known for his work in experimental, or avant-garde filmmaking, particularly what became known as the structural film movement[21]
  • Robert Breer, American experimental filmmaker, painter, and sculptor[22][23]

Filmmakers

Actors

Intellectuals

  • Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, French writer, poet, aristocrat, journalist and pioneering aviator. He became a laureate of several of France's highest literary awards and also won the United States National Book Award.[4]
  • Mahatma Gandhi, Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist[4]

Explorers

  • Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist. On May 29, 1953, Hillary and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers confirmed to have reached the summit of Mount Everest.[53]
  • Haroun Tazieff, Polish, Belgian and French volcanologist and geologist. He was a famous cinematographer of volcanic eruptions and lava flows, and the author of several books on volcanoes.[54]
  • Jacques Piccard, Swiss oceanographer and engineer, known for having developed underwater submarines for studying ocean currents.[53]
  • Thor Heyerdahl, Norwegian adventurer and ethnographer with a background in zoology, botany and geography. Heyerdahl is notable for his Kon-Tiki expedition in 1947, in which he sailed 8,000 km across the Pacific Ocean in a hand-built raft from South America to the Tuamotu Islands.[55]

Documentaries

There are two documentaries about the history of the Bolex camera. Beyond The Bolex, a biographical film about Bolex founder Jacques Bogopolsky (later anglicized to Bolsey), is directed by his great-grand daughter Alyssa Bolsey, and features an in-depth look at the original notes, schematics, prototypes of Bolex A and B cameras[56] A second product that is currently in production, is being undertaken by Swiss director Alexandre Favre.[57] Bolex was used exclusively to film Teeny Little Super Guy for Sesame Street in 1982.[58]

Digital Bolex D16

Main article: Digital Bolex

In 2012, Cinemeridian, Inc. licensed the named Bolex from Bolex International to create a digital Super 16mm cinema camera called the Digital Bolex D16.[59][60] Digital Bolex announced their collaboration with Bolex via the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform on March 12, 2012 at the SXSW Film Festival where they had a trade show booth.[61]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Paillard-Bolex | Science Museum Group Collection". collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Andy Warhol Made Hundreds of Movies During His Career. Here Are the 9 That Changed Film History". 7 November 2018.
  3. ^ Turquety, Benoit. "Compte rendu Thomas Perret, Roland Cosandey, Paillard Bolex Boolsky, Yverdon-les-Bains, La Thièle, 2013" (PDF). Decadrages.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Camera exhibition focuses on Bolex". 27 March 2004.
  5. ^ "Super 8 mm Film History". Kodak. Archived from the original on 13 February 2017. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  6. ^ New on the market: New Bolex Super-8 Camera. (1971). The British Journal of Photography (Archive : 1860-2005), 118(5796), 740.
  7. ^ a b R. James Breiding (10 January 2013). Swiss Made: The Untold Story Behind Switzerland's Success. Profile Books. pp. 385–. ISBN 978-1-84765-809-8.
  8. ^ Leotta, Alfio (17 December 2015). Peter Jackson. ISBN 9781623560966.
  9. ^ Eyes On Cinema. "Peter Jackson Demonstrates Handmade Steadicam & Camera Gear Used For 'Bad Taste' (1987)". YouTube.
  10. ^ "APS Bolex 16mm Reflex Operating Guide - Help Wiki".
  11. ^ Swiss International Air Lines (1 March 2016). "A Legend Lives on Jules Schulback, a furrier and maker of home movies, filmed". SWISS Magazine. No. HONG KONG. issuu.com. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  12. ^
  13. ^ James Breiding, R. (10 January 2013). Swiss Made: The Untold Story Behind Switzerland's Success. ISBN 978-1847658098.
  14. ^ "Amateur Cinema (Media) Studies Network » Bolex 8mm camera, George Clooney and Einstein".
  15. ^ "KRISTEN STEWART for CHANEL EYEWEAR Spring Summer 2015 ADV Campaign". YouTube.
  16. ^ "Kristen Stewart Models Chanel Eyewear Spring 2015". 8 April 2015.
  17. ^ a b c d Fullerton, John; Widding, Astrid Söderbergh (22 June 2000). Moving Images: From Edison to the Webcam. ISBN 9780861969173.
  18. ^ a b c d "Paillard - Bolex: Il ne reste que le mythe". 12 February 2004.
  19. ^ Eagan, Daniel (January 2010). America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry. ISBN 9780826429773.
  20. ^ MacKenzie, Scott (26 March 2014). Film Manifestos and Global Cinema Cultures: A Critical Anthology. ISBN 9780520957411.
  21. ^ Fullerton, John; Widding, Astrid Söderbergh (22 June 2000). Moving Images: From Edison to the Webcam. ISBN 9780861969173.
  22. ^ "CC50 | Canyon Cinema".
  23. ^ "Robert Breer, films". www.galeriethomasbernard.com. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  24. ^ Schlemowitz, Joel (10 May 2019). Experimental Filmmaking and the Motion Picture Camera: An Introductory Guide for Artists and Filmmakers. ISBN 9780429997037.
  25. ^ Smith, Ian Haydn (3 September 2019). Cult Filmmakers: 50 Movie Mavericks You Need to Know. ISBN 9780711240278.
  26. ^ "Interview: Bruce Baillie". Film Comment. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  27. ^ Fullerton, John; Widding, Astrid Söderbergh (22 June 2000). Moving Images: From Edison to the Webcam. ISBN 9780861969173.
  28. ^ "Sir David Attenborough explores our collection for new BBC programme". 29 October 2012.
  29. ^ Schlemowitz, Joel (10 May 2019). Experimental Filmmaking and the Motion Picture Camera: An Introductory Guide for Artists and Filmmakers. ISBN 9780429997037.
  30. ^ a b "Towards the Temenos: The experimental cinema of Gregory Markopoulos and Robert Beavers at the 60th TIFF". 10 September 2019.
  31. ^ "GALAXIE | Metrograph".
  32. ^ "Big Joy: The Legacy of James Broughton". 26 May 2013.
  33. ^ Mirvish, Dan (12 August 2016). The Cheerful Subversive's Guide to Independent Filmmaking: From Preproduction to Festivals and Distribution. ISBN 9781317289876.
  34. ^ "'I was very angry' – the last interview with Jonas Mekas, godfather of avant garde film". TheGuardian.com. 24 January 2019.
  35. ^ "Jonas Mekas – My trusty Bolex cameras (82/135)". YouTube.
  36. ^ Fullerton, John; Widding, Astrid Söderbergh (22 June 2000). Moving Images: From Edison to the Webcam. ISBN 9780861969173.
  37. ^ "Marie Menken - The Film-Makers' Cooperative". 1964.
  38. ^ "Maya Deren: Seven films that guarantee her legend".
  39. ^ Schlemowitz, Joel (10 May 2019). Experimental Filmmaking and the Motion Picture Camera: An Introductory Guide for Artists and Filmmakers. ISBN 9780429997037.
  40. ^ "What Can We Learn from Peter Jackson's DIY Approach to 'Bad Taste'? $20 Steadicams Totally Work!". 15 December 2013.
  41. ^ a b "Bolex, la caméra qui a changé le cinéma". Le Temps. 28 January 2018.
  42. ^ "Retro active: Why film-makers are getting stuck in the past". TheGuardian.com. 26 August 2019.
  43. ^ "BFI Screenonline: Boy and Bicycle (1965)".
  44. ^ Lee, Spike (2002). Spike Lee: Interviews. ISBN 9781578064700.
  45. ^ "INTERVIEW: True Independents; Brakhage and Dorsky Hash Out the Realities of Poetic Cinema". 30 April 2001.
  46. ^ Fullerton, John; Widding, Astrid Söderbergh (22 June 2000). Moving Images: From Edison to the Webcam. Indiana University Press. ISBN 9780861969173.
  47. ^ "Watch Steven Spielberg's Debut: Two Films He Directed as a Teenager | Open Culture". Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  48. ^ Isenberg, Noah (9 January 2017). "The Making of Steven Spielberg". The New Republic.
  49. ^ "Terry Gilliam - "I Would Go Out With My Bolex Camera Every Weekend" | BAFTA Guru". guru.bafta.org. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  50. ^ "How the Father of Claymation Lost His Company". 9 May 2014.
  51. ^ "Why the Bolex is the World's Most Beloved Camera". 10 December 2018.
  52. ^ "James Dean with His Bolex Camera on the Set of "Giant" in Marfa, Texas in 1955". October 2018.
  53. ^ a b La machine Bolex unil.ch
  54. ^ "Paillard-Bolex - nur der Mythos ist geblieben - SWI swissinfo.ch". 18 January 2004.
  55. ^ Grant, Barry Keith; Hillier, Jim (7 October 2017). 100 Documentary Films. Bloomsbury. ISBN 9781844575510.
  56. ^ Jones, Mark. "The BOLEX Goes Digital & Becomes A Documentary". Kickstartermovies.com. Archived from the original on 14 August 2014. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  57. ^ "July Meeting". LA 3D Club. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
  58. ^
  59. ^ Kif. "Old-School 16mm Moviemaking Goes Digital". Wired. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  60. ^ Sonja Schenk; Ben Long (1 January 2014). The Digital Filmmaking Handbook. Course Technology. pp. 157–. ISBN 978-1-305-25906-5.
  61. ^ Hardy, Robert (20 March 2013). "First Impressions of the Digital Bolex from SXSW, and a Short Documentary About the Camera". No Film School. Retrieved 29 December 2015.

Sources

  • Perret, Thomas; Cosandey, Roland (2013). Paillard, Bolex, Boolsky: la caméra de Paillard & Cie SA, le cinéma de Jacques Boolsky (in French). Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland: Editions de la Thièle. ISBN 978-2-8283-0044-9.
  • Alden, Andrew Vivian (1998). A Bolex History: Cameras, Projectors and Accessories. A2 Time Based Graphics. ISBN 978-0-9533075-0-0.
  • Alden, Andrew Vivian (1998). Bolex Bible: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know But Were Afraid to Ask : an Essential Guide to Buying and Using Bolex H16 Cameras. A2 Time Based Graphics. ISBN 978-0-9533075-1-7.
  • Alden, Andrew Vivian (2001). Time-lapse and Stop-motion Using the Bolex H16: (or Click-wait and Click-fiddle). A2 Time Based Graphics. ISBN 978-0-9533075-2-4.
  • Paillard présente ses caméras, ses projecteurs. Flugblatt 223 × 276 mm, März 1938
  • Paillard-Bolex Cine Cameras, the Cine Cameras for the ‘Professional Amateur’. CINEX Ltd, London; 24 S., 6" × 9"
  • Movie Makers, Amateur Cinema League ed. 1926–1953
  • Heinrich Freytag: Schmalfilmen mit Bolex 8. Neuaufl. "Die Schönen Bücher Strache", Stuttgart 1962 (deutsch)
  • Gerald Reynolds Sharp: Bolex 8mm. Guide. 5. Aufl. Focal Press, London 1962, ISBN 0-240-44722-0
  • Laurent Tissot: E. Paillard & Cie SA. Une entreprise vaudoise de petite mécanique (1920–1945). Entreprise familiale, diversification industrielle et innovation technologique. Delval, Cousset (Fribourg) 1987, ISBN 2-88147-036-X.
  • "Bolex et le cinéma amateur en Suisse". Collaboration UNIL + Cinémathèque suisse (in French). University of Lausanne. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  • "Paillard - Bolex: il ne reste que le mythe". SWI swissinfo.ch (in French). 12 February 2004. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  • "Paillard, Bolex, history, shutter, prism;". small movies. Pittsburgh, PA: Citynet, Inc. Archived from the original on 6 June 1997. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  • TECHNÈS: The International Research Partnership on Cinema Techniques and Technology (17 May 2019). "Communication Vincent Sorrel (U. de Grenoble-Alpes, U. de Lausanne) - Collection Lemai". youtube. Retrieved 30 May 2023. XI - BOLEX ET LA « MÉCANIQUE SUISSE» Présidente de séance : Viva Paci (Université du Québec à Montréal) Communication de Vincent Sorrel, « Filmer avec doigté. Corps, appareils, expressivité » technes.org
  • "La machine Bolex, les horizons amateurs du cinéma". Cinémathèque des Pays de Savoie et de l'Ain (in French). 2020. PDF
Manuals
Serial Numbers
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bolex&oldid=1187070441"