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Digital Bolex raw camera, no longer made
  • peterosinskipeterosinski

    http://www.digitalbolex.com/

    This looks like a great camera that would really do what the ikonoskop tried to. It is s16mm at 2k or 16mm at 1920x1080. It records to compact flash cards ( cheaper than 100$ memory cards) has usb 3.0 out (better than a $1000 express card reader from ikonoskop) and has XLR inputs.

    I am sad to say I have found this just days after selling my 16mm lens. That's the way it goes though I guess

    oh did I mention it is $3300? If you preorder you can get it for $2500

  • 1130 Replies sorted by
  • kingmixerkingmixer

    And I see this thread literally seconds after coming across their kickstarter link,

    http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/joedp/the-digital-bolex-the-1st-affordable-digital-cinem

    Warning!

    Read topic carefully before investing anything!

  • eatstoomuchjameatstoomuchjam

    Remove the period. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/joedp/the-digital-bolex-the-1st-affordable-digital-cinem

    Looks neat, but video out could be a lot better, viewfinder could be better, and to ISO of 400 could be a lot better. If you're going to brag about 5.5 micron pixel size, why not take advantage of it?

  • kingmixerkingmixer

    Ah thanks Kihlian, it put the period in the link, works now.

  • DouglasHornDouglasHorn

    This all seemed really exciting until I saw the footage they showed. I was underwhelmed. They could potentially have a winner on their hands but they ought to make their footage look better than the behind-the-scenes.

    Is their firmware Open Source? That would be a nice touch and make a lot of sense.

  • OedipaxOedipax

    Could be good, but that footage looks awful.

  • danyyyeldanyyyel

    I really hope it succeeds but I don't like the image. The main problem is the DR, the highlight roll-off is terrible. They went CCD I think for no rolling shutter. But the compromise in term of low light and DR is too much for me.

  • vladnikvladnik

    CCD is better than cmos in DR and SNR area .that kodak sensor gives 11 stops .

  • paglezpaglez

    And the workflow will be compIex, also.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    I strongly suggest to think and make research first.
    As such project can slip it's data by year or two, with no one to blame but you.

  • vladnikvladnik

    @paglez dng to cineform raw ... that's all... same as ikonoskop

  • MimirsanMimirsan

    The footage (from their short film) looks great. Not sure how it looks "awful" at all. FYI The behind the scenes was probably not shot with the Bolex. So much hate towards a couple of guys trying to make a film-makers camera that's affordable.

    You guys make prejudgement too easily...of course.

  • StrayStray

    The choice of a CCD over CMOS could be a stroke of genius, or the opposite, its impossible to say at the moment. Would love to actually see some (preferably outdoor) stills at full res without any CC from the prototype. Or are there some there somewhere, I couldn't find any.

  • stipstip

    Blown out highlights look bad. Hope for more footage.

  • OedipaxOedipax

    @Mimirsan, maybe I missed it... is it in the Kickstarter video? What timecode? All I see are nasty flat shots against a wall with terrible lighting and washed out color.

  • MimirsanMimirsan

    Looks pretty nice to me and the above video isn't even in HD

    Will wait to see what comes of it..been waiting for something like the bolex for the digital age for a very long time!

  • OedipaxOedipax

    Ah, that's better. I still don't really dig the look, but it's a step up.

  • johnnymjohnnym

    yeah, if they post something not "vintage", i might be interested. I like vintage though. Just not this vintage.

    I think the GH2 produces footage a lot more like 16mm than this.

  • fstopandgofstopandgo

    I wouldn't judge this footage as it was probably already graded.

  • MacalincagMacalincag

    Why would anyone judge anything on VIMEO?

  • DouglasHornDouglasHorn

    @Mimirsan - No hate, I just thought the footage looked weird. Especially the little girl with the storybook, but the rest of the kickstarter video as well. I just assumed if you're trying to raise over $100K, that you would make the image look amazing, right?

    They said they chose a vintage subject matter for the short because the camera had a "vintage" look. I'm not sure I'd really call it vintage. It seems like the film curve is slanted toward the dark end with a very steep slope and shoulder. You could say it's a bit like cross-processed Ektachrome in that way. But I don't see the rich colors I associate with reversal film.

    Anyway, wishing them the best, but I'll sit on the sidelines. I find it very easy to get several great vintage looks with my GH2 and FD lenses plus a bit of color correction.

    They might be smart to put some raw footage on their Kickstarter page for camera geeks like us to mess around grading. You know we wouldn't be able to help ourselves, and pretty soon there would be a ton of looks and talk about the footage floating around the Interwebs.

  • vladnikvladnik

    @Vitaliy_Kiselev your right about research .... their BTS ... thanks man ..

    they use prosilica gx2300 machine vision camera... there is no dbolex prototype... http://www.alliedvisiontec.com/emea/products/cameras/gigabit-ethernet/prosilica-gx/gx2300.html http://www.alliedvisiontec.com/uploads/pics/Prosilica-GX.jpg

    vlcsnap-2012-03-14-12h25m54s108.png
    522 x 226 - 134K
  • robmneilsonrobmneilson

    The motion in the video looked strange to me, its also terrible that they say they shot their film with the prototype and then you see the GX2300 in the BTS.

    If these folks can't deliver their cameras, is there any legal recourse to the people who ponied up $2500 on kickstarter?

  • MimirsanMimirsan

    I was thinking also. I wouldnt fork out if theres no guarantee

  • onlocationonlocation 
      ->its also terrible that they say they shot their film with the prototype and then you see the GX2300 in the BTS.

    Well technically if they are simply re-branding the GX in a more user friendly package, then the Prosilica IS the prototype. ;)

  • MacalincagMacalincag

    There was a Q&A on Kickstarter that answers the GX2300 question:

    Q: In the behind the scenes pics, it looks like the camera used is an Allied Vision Technologies Prosilica GX2300. Where's the Bolex??

    A: Hi Gen,

    You are right we did an initial sensor test to make sure that the Kodak chip was the right choice. For this sensor test we modified a GX to have our sensor and processing unit. We loved the images from the sensor so much that we decided to make a short film using it while waiting for the next prototype to come. The current Prototype looks like this...

    D16 Prototype.jpg
    960 x 717 - 112K
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