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Digital Bolex raw camera, no longer made
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  • AlbertZAlbertZ

    here is a "spaghetti-western" Digital bolex commercial, natural light and Bolex Series 1 Prime lenses.

  • lunalobo75lunalobo75

    Promo for a band using the D16

    Short version:

    Longer version for Miss Sacramento pageant:

    Lowlight 400 ISO (just broken practicals in the studio, and an Ipad light). Not the best grade (crushed the blacks too much, oversaturated it a bit much) , but it was a quick turnaround. All in all, for run n' gun... D16 did it's thing. I can't wait to use it on a more professional shoot.

  • AlbertZAlbertZ

    @lunalobo75 nice look :) maybe a bit oversaturated, however the "milky look" is not a dogma ;)

    I have noticed that D16 ungraded footage has a more vivid color profile than s-log2 or prores from blackmagic..is it only my opinion? Slog2 and BMPCC flatter profile are no doubt an ideal solution for colorist with good grading skills, however the truth is that many one-man-band videomakers have to focus on other aspects...Maybe a less flat profile like D16's one can be helpful for the videomakers not having remarkable grading skills since it offers a starting point closer to the final result but at the same time flexible...Sincerely I am satisfied with my gh2 and blackmagic pocket cam combo, but what's your experience in grading D16 footage?

  • lunalobo75lunalobo75

    @AlbertZ Thanks, man. Yeah, a tad over-saturated, blacks a little crushed. Since I was shooting so wide open (1.2 to 2.0) in lowlight conditions, I was worried about the noise in post. I could go back and get it perfect, but sometimes you gotta let things go into the ether.

    As for Colorgrading D16 footage: there isn't any real "tried and true" method to grading since every program debayers the D16 DNG footage differently (hence all the "magenta" complaints in the beginning), and, supposedly, the D16 color gamut is closer to rec.2020 instead of rec.709, which is why all the oversaturation from earlier footage.

    Personally, I use Resolve 11 and it's BDfilm presets and use the Camera RAW controls: no issues with magenta and skin tones are SPOT on, especially since the D16 has only Daylight, Tungsten and Flourescent white balance setting; and since it's RAW you can change it easily in post... such an easier workflow for me. Everyday peeps on the D16 forums are coming up with new LUTS and workflows that compliment and explain it's colorspace. In the beginning, it was a bit frustratinf colorgrading/correcting the D16, but my Resolve workflow has tightened my confidence when shooting with the D16.

    Here's a few good forum topic if you are interested: http://www.digitalbolex.com/forum/post-on-the-d16/davinci-resolve/#p12501 http://www.digitalbolex.com/forum/post-on-the-d16/sample-grades-workflow

    After effects Camera Raw does a pretty good job too, but, until I'm shown differently, Resolve 11 is my choice. Hope that helps?

  • AlbertZAlbertZ

    @lunalobo75 thank you very much for your satisfactory answer :)

  • lunalobo75lunalobo75

    @AlbertZ No prob, I really hope that helped? Those 2 forum links really helped me a ton. But, yeah, in some way it is a easier starting point to grade/correct since it only has 3 white balance settings and it's raw. I'll have more to post in the following months (as well as other D16 users). I'm a GH4 owner also, so have both cams for different filming situations (events vs. films vs commercial work) has really opened my horizon of shooting possibilities;) Salud

  • matt_gh2matt_gh2

    @lunalobo75 Skintones are indeed spot on. (Noticed an audio sync issue around :29.)

  • lunalobo75lunalobo75

    @matt_gh2 Yeah, there's a few audio sync issues; not because of the camera, but because the actors kept flubbing lines, I had to use audio from other takes and match as best I can.... aye, that's what happens when everything comes together in a few hours. I'll take the blame for it;) Thanks for check it out.

  • AlbertZAlbertZ

    Here is the new c-mount Kish lens kit developed for digital Bolex. I haven't tested it, but they seem to have an interesting aspect: these lenses have a fixed aperture (f4), in this way the producers seems to had more chance to realize high-quality lens concentrating their effort only to the "sweet spot". Fixed aperture sounds strange to my ears, however, the image quality seems to be very good for this price ( you can get a lens kit for under $1000) http://www.redsharknews.com/production/item/2081-digital-bolex-kish-lenses-smash-through-the-price-performance-barrier Hope to get some more "clinical" test soon ;)

  • eatstoomuchjameatstoomuchjam

    Barrel distortion on the 10mm looks really bad.

  • CFreakCFreak

    @AlbertZ I questioned Joe's logic on the f4 lenses on their FB page. It was all price driven. In reality Super16 needs lenses like Zeiss SuperSpeeds shooting at f1.3 to achieve something close to the 35mm cinema (18mmx24mm) shallow DoF look.

    The only place you'll want to use those lenses is in a controlled lighting situation, and how many low budget films have that? I know I wouldn't want to be stuck at f4 for interiors or night exterior (situations where you can control the light) so I think they are pretty useless lenses. The logic for developing them is failed. The last time I saw a fixed aperture on a motion picture camera was an amateur 8mm camera from the 1950s, and it might have had an a 3 holed, selectable iris type disc (like the cheap lens baby once had) in the camera body (can't remember for sure).

  • AlbertZAlbertZ

    @CFreak f4 aperture can be used mainly in controlled lighting situations, indeed, in all other case it would be a nightmare for sure (D16 has very poor ISO performance too)...the fact is this camera has been initially conceived as a flexible tool however the more time passes the more it reveals to be a good choice only at very limited condition...

  • lunalobo75lunalobo75

    Great article on the D16 colorspace: http://www.digitalbolex.com/normalizing-d16-color-space/

  • lunalobo75lunalobo75

  • AlbertZAlbertZ

    @lunalobo75 Great article! Hope to see more D16 footage with proper color grading in the next future..

  • lunalobo75lunalobo75

    @AlbertZ Thanks, man. Here's a post I wrote on their website: http://www.digitalbolex.com/light-run-n-gun-fun/

    Between the D16 and Gh4 ( I own both), I'm a pretty happy camper. GH4 already gets enough love, so there really isn't anything I can add to the those posts; however, I'm fine being the lone wolf on the D16 post and I'll try and keep this topic alive until it's deleted or I'm dead;)

  • lunalobo75lunalobo75

    Except for Underwater and drone shots, this was mostly shot with D16:

  • AlbertZAlbertZ

    @lunalobo75 very interesting, thanks for your post. finally I am watching correct colorspace footage with this cam..

  • tosvustosvus

    Thanks for Your posts Albert. It is an intriguing camera, though I suspect I'm mostly drawn to the sensor type and raw recording capability. How do you like the form factor? I don't think those ergonomics would be my first choice, but maybe I'm wrong.

  • AlbertZAlbertZ

    @tosvus I have to clear that I have used only 3 times the Digital Bolex camera for test shots, since I haven't much color grading experience (my worhorses for years have been the GH1 & 2). My impression about the form factor are positive, and it is sufficiently heavy to get steady shots when you have not a tripod with you...however I think the crucial point for this cam is the color grading process. Up until the last months I did not see so much properly graded footage: red skin, plastic pink sky...there was a lack of information about the color space of this cam...only in mid-october this article has helped a lot of folks http://www.digitalbolex.com/normalizing-d16-color-space/

  • matt_gh2matt_gh2

    @lunalobo75 This looks quite nice - well done. Interesting to see this camera's potential. Thanks for posting.

  • lunalobo75lunalobo75

    No Problem, guys. The newest firmware also has Timelapse and and single frame shooting (shot with d16):

  • lunalobo75lunalobo75

    Article on D16 dynamic range: http://iaremrsir.wordpress.com/2014/12/14/digital-bolex-d16-preliminary-dynamic-range-tests/

  • lunalobo75lunalobo75

    Frame Grabs from my short shot with the D16 - Sorry for the small jpeg compression:

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  • matt_gh2matt_gh2

    @lunalobo75 Those frame grabs looks amazing! Stunning quality of image. Composition great too. Would love to see the short once it's available. Best Bolex stuff yet IMO. Definitely send to the Bolex people - they'll be thankful - shows the real potential of this cam.

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