Bolex
Bolex H16 Reflex
The Bolex H16 is a spring-wound 16mm film camera first produced in the 1930s and manufactured in Sainte-Croix, Switzerland for decades. Its mechanical simplicity, reliability, and optical quality made it the instrument of choice for avant-garde and experimental filmmakers. Jonas Mekas used one for decades of diary films; Stan Brakhage made most of his works with one.
Artists who use this(3)
“Cassavetes shot Shadows (1959) on 16mm film with a Bolex camera, a choice driven by budget and the freedom of handheld operation; documented in Ray Carney's study Cassavetes on Cassavetes (2001) and in retrospective accounts of the production.”
“Mekas used a Bolex H16 camera throughout his diary film practice from the 1950s onward; his use of the camera is documented in his own writings, in the catalog for his MoMA retrospective, and in multiple interviews about his working method.”
“Brakhage shot the majority of his films on a Bolex H16 camera; its spring-wound mechanism — which limited takes to 28 seconds — shaped the rhythmic structure of many of his works. Documented in P. Adams Sitney's Visionary Film (1974) and in Brakhage's own published letters.”