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News
Konvas Movie Cameras
Konvas Accessories
Konvas Lenses
Useful Information
Konvas Manuals
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Welcome to our web-site devoted exclusively to Konvas
cameras and accessories!
We opened
New RafCamera Shop
If you want to buy something, please check if this items available in
the new shop first.
This web-site will be devoted to Konvas-related information primarily.
This site is supplementary project of RafCamera. We'll
have all Konvas related info and parts here. Our goal is to be your
choice #1 when you think about Konvas ;-) If your
interests are not limited to Konvas, please visit our section of
Russian Movie Cameras. |
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Konvas cameras are very reliable and quality 35mm Russian movie cameras.
There is strong on-line user's discussion group.
It was moved form Konvas Topica group to Smartgroups
now:
http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/Konvas
Basic information
Movie camera "Konvas" is intended for shooting from hands or from tripod. It can be used for filming a documentary, sport and other
silent regular and wide-screen movies on 35mm film. It has number of advantages,
namely:
- Compact (27x28x22 cm)
- Light (about 6.5 kg with loaded film)
- Simple (it is clear how to use this camera even without manual)
- Reliable (just no parts that may be easily broken)
- Quality (comparable to Arriflex IIIc)
It has rotating mirror shutter. Film transport is accomplished
by a single pull down claw with an extended dwell time to assure steady accurate
film positioning during exposure. The camera accepts 60 or 120m gear driven
displacement type mags with built-in footage counters. Mags are pre-threaded and
are rapidly removed from the camera by means of a spring loaded latch. The
camera is light, and well balanced for steadicam usage.
Some frequently asked questions about
Konvas cameras
| Will it work with B&H Negative film? |
The concern here is that The USSR/Russia adopted
Kodak Standard Perforations (KS) in 1939 for ALL production elements,
while the rest of the World pretty much stayed with B&H perforations for
original negative materials and KS perforations for intermediate and
release prints. The B&H perforations are more barrel
shaped than the squarish KS perforations and are not as tall.
AFAIK, the problem arises only if your camera has a registration pin(s).
Most Russian cameras have such pins. Luckily, Konvas doesn't. So, you
may run any film trough Konvas, but almost any other camera will require reg pin(s) modification. We can do this for about $250-400 per reg pin
(depending on how complex is the mechanism). |
| Does Konvas can be modified to shoot single frames? |
You could shoot single frames quite easily with the correct stepper
motor but the Konvas' design is not good as far as light leaking around
the mirror shutter. Animation cameras usually have focal plane shutters
for this reason. A frame counter is nice for animation too. Mitchells
are great for animation and cost a similar amount as a nice Konvas, it
would be a better choice in all respects. |
What people say about Konvas cameras?
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I am TV commercial director based out of sunny Miami.
I purchased an 8M Konvas from Rafael.
The camera is a great buy for the money. Today I projected a print of a test I
did shooting the same scenes, under the same lighting conditions, with all the
different primes it came with. The lenses match wonderfully, I didn't see any
difference in color between them, and great contrast by the way. The image is
pretty steady, the quality
exceeded my expectations.
The camera is not as well finished as an Arri, but the end result is the same as
far as I'm concerned. W.V., USA As far
as the Quality, nothing comes near for the price, especially with the
newer style anamorphic primes. If your Konvas is in good shape, I would
not worry about the registration issues, unless you are doing some kind
of effects shots that demanded perfect registration. (And if you were
doing these electronically you have another chance to stabilize ).
Do test your lenses, the gear can be uneven and in need of adjustment,
even when brand new.
Usability: Without the blimp the konvas is quite portable and nice to
shoot with. The crystal motor does not need any sync box, as long as you
slate and record to a dat or
some other sync system.
Reliable? that depends on you and the camera, the only serious trouble I
have had is with the motors, so now I have two. Carry lots of fuses.
No way to tell you how the blimp will work...Probably be at least a bit
of a pain, probably not quiet enough if you have lots of dialogue in
small rooms.
The Magazines are a bit confusing for AC's who mostly have never seen
them, but that only lasts a few days. M.U., USA |
Few stages of Konvas history:
Konvas-1 - 1939
Konvas-Zvuk (sound) - 1941
Konvas-Automat - 1954
to be explored further:
Konvas-1M
Konvas-2M
Konvas-7M - from about 1992
Konvas-8M - from about 1992
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