We recently acquired a bulk lot of vintage photography and cinematography equipment from the family of a retired teacher. Movie and slide projectors, editing equipment, signage, lens' and enlargers were all brought back to the workshop - much of which is still in beautiful operating condition.

One of the items that really caught our eye was an immaculate condition 1955 Swiss-made Bolex Paillard Super 8 Movie Titler, complete with an accessory kit and original boxes. The Bolex allowed the user to shoot accurately framed title and credit sequences on an 8mm pocket-sized camera for movie projects, long before the world had ever heard of Premier or even Windows Movie Maker... The text would be painstakingly laid out with felt letters on a black velvet background, with scrolling credit sequences even being able to be achieved using ingenious accessories. 

Whilst we've been concentrating on scratch-built projects recently, rather than upcycled lighting - we couldn’t help but rewire this item for use as a desk lamp as it's far too nice to be sitting around unused in a box. Some of the functionality has been lost as we have introduced a small junction box, but certain titling jobs could still be achieved with this beautiful piece of machinery.

You can find a link to our desk lamp here, and if photography lighting is something that interests you, maybe you'll like our feature pendant constructed out of a Leitz Wetzlar Focomat.

In the meantime, sit back and watch a kooky arty movie on how to use the Bolex as a titler below!