Paillard Bolex H16 Reflex (16mm Film Camera)

The Bolex is the camera that exists for one reason: when the project wants film, nothing else will do. It's a clockwork-driven 16mm film camera, a Paillard Bolex H16 Reflex, built in Switzerland to a build standard that has not been duplicated since. Three-lens turret, optical reflex viewing through the taking lens (the H16 Reflex is the version that solved the parallax problem), variable shutter, 12-64 fps spring-driven frame rates, and the kind of mechanical precision that makes the camera worth winding by hand. We rent it with the Kern Paillard Switar 16mm f/1.8, Kern Paillard Switar 25mm f/1.4, and Kern Paillard Yvar 75mm f/2.8, a matched three-prime set in original C-mount glass that pre-dates everything most rental houses can offer for 16mm. What's actually involved: 100ft daylight loading spools (about 2:45 of run time at 24fps), single-perf 16mm film stock you source separately (we don't supply stock), and a real understanding of what a clockwork camera does and doesn't do. This is a specialty rental. We talk through the project on the phone before saying yes.