Need Advice

I have won a bid on ebay, and its a Bolex 16mm cameras. One of those old fashioned ones. The guy told me to reconsider paying him. I want to know if i should buy it. Its 345. If i bought this i also wanted to know how i would be able to put audio into the movie and edit it. And if i would be better than getting a digital camera. If any one thinks its better to buy a digital camera, please tell me some names brand or a camera that i should buy.

-thanks

Can you post a link to the actual auction?

You get sound by recording on an external recorder.

Since the sound has to match the camera's speed exactly (or the audio & video will drift apart like a bad kungfu movie), the camera needs a special motor to "sync" the speed. You mention it's an "old fashioned" camera, so I'm assuming you mean it is a wind-up?

Are you better off getting a digital camera? If you are somewhat new to making films, I would think that would be a better idea. The cost of film can rocket up fast, with paying for one-use film, processing that film, having the film converted to video so you can start editing...

...while you can spend $10 on a single digital tape and be good to go.

Can't really recommend a camera without having a ballpark figure of your budget.

Yeah if you could post a link to the auction then I could see what you have gotten.

I think it does come down to all budget and what you want to do with the project. If you want to shoot film, Shoot film! It just gets alittle more costly in the end.

The audio can be synced up in post production, or you can shoot it all silent and ADR.
Hope that helps ya out some...would like to see the auction then maybe I can help you alittle more.

Old fashioned cameras are excellent for making old fashioned films. Maybe you could do a silent film so you don't have to worry about recording sound. Making a silent film could also be a good exercise your directing skills. I agree with what Zensteve said though. Film can become very expensive, and it is quite hard to work with if you don't have that much experience. As for digital cameras: I would get a Canon GL2. Thats a pretty nice camera for the price.

I’ve got two Bolex 16mm cameras. They’re great. Shooting on film and double system sound is much more time consuming and expensive than digital - but it’s a great learning experience.

And the end result can be much better.

You don’t mention your price range for a digital cameras but I assume you’ll want to shoot miniDV. You should look for a camera with three chips (3CCD). Some name brands are:
JVC (my personal fav)
Canon
Panasonic
Sony

Type those names and “miniDV” into Google and up will pop thousands of cameras.