Digital Bolex announced at SXSW 2012

[Brian Brown]

Thanks for the film run-down, Glen. And I shouldn't be so dismissive. Let's hope the $100k gets a real product out there. It'll be good for the industry.

[Glen Vandermolen]

No, Brian, it's good to have a healthy bit of scepticism. Especially when someone asks you for money!
It's an interesting concept. Let's see if it comes to fruition.

[Andrew Dean]

You cannot discount the eternal quest for "different and interesting". I've watched feature films shot on fisher price pxlvision cameras, just because it was an interesting challenge for the filmmaker.

Narrow DoF is sexy, but with every low budget short now oozing thin focus, there is bound to be a backlash to deeper focus - at least from the cutting edge crowd.

If the response to light is really organic and their raw implementation gives you latitude like a red/arri, then I reckon this could be an attractive shooting option for music videos, docos trying to have a style and alternate narratives. Many times I've lusted for latitude and would have given up DoF to get it.

Anybody know what the rules of kickstarter are? Is there any kind of guarantee of delivery?

Time to dig out that box of bolex primes in the shed.

[Ken Diewert]

It's not April 1st is it?... That looks pretty damn cool. Not much ISO range, but still...RAW... 2K...
Great stuff! And if the Kodak sensor works, then good for them.

[Emmanuel Plakiotis]

A camera with almost exactly the same specs exists and is called ikonoscop:
A-Cam dII The camera loves you | A-Cam dII | Products | Ikonoskop

I'm quite sceptic if they could deliver the same product at almost 1/3rd of the price...

[Brian Drysdale]

They could be being rather optimistic in the price quoted on the Digital Bolex site. Once they get into development for a production version, there's good chance the selling price will drift up. I suspect they still need to do a lot of development work to convert the current prototype into a reliable production camera. It doesn't seem to be a process that should be underestimated.

[Glen Vandermolen]

Originally Posted by Emmanuel Plakiotis

A camera with almost exactly the same specs exists and is called ikonoscop:
A-Cam dII The camera loves you | A-Cam dII | Products | Ikonoskop

I'm quite sceptic if they could deliver the same product at almost 1/3rd of the price...

The A Cam has HD/SDI, timecode, better viewfinder.

[Nick Hiltgen]

So after a bottle of wine I went on kickstarter and ordered one last night. I woke up this morning extremely worried about that decision. It looks like a cool concept and if it does come to fruition I can think of many uses for it (16mm glass is a lot cheaper the 35mm glass these days) but I think I may have just had a very costly night of drinking...

Though the ikonscop does give me hope that it's possible to do.

[Peer Landa]

Originally Posted by Nick Hiltgen

So after a bottle of wine I went on kickstarter and ordered one last night. I woke up this morning extremely worried about that decision. [...] I may have just had a very costly night of drinking...

I did the same thing, on a smaller scale though -- I donated $40 after a bottle of beer.

-- peer

[Chris Hurd]

In barely one day, they've managed to raise a quarter of a million dollars and pre-sell 88 cameras. Impressive.

[Bill Pryor]

Impressive marketing. Sounds like what the original Scarlet was to be: 2/3" single chip. But Red gave up on that and went for a bigger chip. Maybe the smaller chip market still exists.

[Dylan Couper]

I usualy love this type of thing... but I kind of hate it. The concept is good, but if you are making a serious tool, put it in a professional package. Yeah, nostalgia factor is fun... up to about $999... but there's a reason they don't make cameras in this form factor anymore.

Anyway, I'll pay more to buy when when they are actually out and battle tested. Not going to be first in on this one.

[Ken Hull]

Originally Posted by Andrew Dean

Time to dig out that box of bolex primes in the shed.

That's what I was thinking, until I remembered that they were RX mount (C mount with optical correction for the beam-splitter prism in the Bolex).

The attractive thing about the Bolex H16 was its versatility: Variable shutter, behind-the-lens filter slot, 3-lens turret, spring motor or electric motor or hand crank, single frame capability, footage and frame counters that allowed accurate rewinding for double exposures, 12 to 64 fps (8 to 64 fps in older models).

Some of that versatility was specific to film, although some would also apply to video. Wouldn't it be great to have a 3 lens turret on a video camcorder? (Maybe the Digital Bolex people can be persuaded to include a turret!)

Ah, such fond memories. Anyhow, I'm skeptical for now, but I'll be watching.
IMHO I think the Panasonic AG-AF100 is the best current example of the versatile but thrifty "spirit" of the old Bolex. So that AF100 is likely to be my next camcorder.

- Ken

[Brian Drysdale]

Here's a sceptical viewpoint.

Prolost - Blog - DigitalBolex

From one of the comments at the bottom, it seems that Iensco is the manufacturing partner for the camera.

Ienso Electronic, manufacturing services, electronic and electrical - Ienso Electronic - Digital Camera Design

[Jim Michael]

I don't see how you can get such a small data size from 4:4:4 12 bit.