Camera Collection – Jon Behrens

Here is another one of my cameras that I used early in my career. This is the Bolex K2 double 8mm camera. What made this camera special to me was that it was my first reflex movie camera. I traded an MXR Distortion plus guitar pedal for this camera in the fall of 1977 at the beginning of my 7th grade year.

The K2 Zoom Reflex Automatic was a slightly improved version of the previous Bolex K1. The lens was the same Kern 8-36mm, but offered a powered zoom function with control buttons located on the top of the camera body.

Other improvements to the K2 included a through-the-lens exposure system (only sensitive to 10-200 ASA film) and an additional speed of 24 frames per second.

Made 1964-1966

This was one of the very first movie cameras I used at the very beginning of my film career. I started out on regular 8 mm and not Super 8, completely different formats , I liked it better – I felt like I had more control over the image. Bolex B8L (1958) purchased used at Omega Photo in Bellevue in 1977 for $39.95 which was a lot money for a 15 year old kid to come up with.

Paillard-Bolex B8L cine camera. For 8mm film, 25 foot reels. Fitted with a Kern-Paillard Yvar lens F: 13mm f/1.8-22 No.816026 in two lens turret. Filming speeds 12, 16, 18, 24, 32, 48, 64, single frame. ‘Zoom’ viewfinder for 12.5-36mm lenses with swing up extra lens for wide angle. Variable shutter – adjusting lever can be locked. Rewind handle for dissolves etc. Built in exposure meter. Needles matched in viewfinder directly coupled to lens aperture ring. Rotary footage counter. Claw intermittent. No. 905971. Paillard.

Paillard-Bolex B8L 8mm cine camera made in the United States, 1958.

Fitted with a Kern-Paillard Yvar lens F: 13mm f/1.8-22 No.816026 in two lens turret. Filming speeds 12, 16, 18, 24, 32, 48, 64, single frame. ‘Zoom’ viewfinder for 12.5-36mm lenses with swing up extra lens for wide angle. Variable shutter – adjusting lever can be locked. Rewind handle for dissolves etc. Built in exposure meter. Needles matched in viewfinder directly coupled to lens aperture ring. Rotary footage counter. Claw intermittent.

The B8L was the first Bolex camera with through-the-lens metering. Clockwork-driven, the camera ran at 12, 16, 18, 24, 32, 48 and 64 frames per second: it could also be run a frame at a time. It was the first 8mm Bolex with a variable shutter (for in-camera fades and mixes). The camera used double-run 8mm film

Camera Collection: Bolex K-2 8mm Camera (1966)

Camera Collection : Bolex B8L (1958)