Mysterious Bolex-style camera appears from Japanese camera manufacturer - Bellami HD-1

[Quirky]

 

Here's another pic from their website~

 

 

OK so it looks like a Toshiba Camileo + design cues taken from an old Bell&Howell 8mm cine camera + marketing campaign aimed at hipsters and voilá;  the Bellami, the new hipster camcorder. It does look sort of fun and somewhat interesting, though. Without the poser.

 

With the usual luck, it turns out to be as bad and limited as the cheap Camileos, and with some incredibly good luck it might turn out to be as good as the Nikon 1, or better. If it even gets released on the global market. Could be aimed at the Asian hipsters alone. Hence the lack of specs and teasers in Eigo.

[fuzzynormal]

yes please!! looks like fun , great for stealing shots as its so small ! just hope the footage looks good!!

 

There's always the GM1 when trying to be innocuous.  It's been working for me.  Certainly no one assumes you're doing anything professional when carrying that camera around, which is great when need be.

[andy lee]

Ive been getting away with alot with the G6 especially in Los Angeles , 10 days filming and no one said a word !

[Bruno]

I doubt the kids that might use this in Shimokitazawa, Görlitzer Park, Shoreditch, or Silver Lake have the capability of looking threatening...

 

Some guy was recently killed because the police thought he was carrying a gun. It was a wii remote.

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/georgia-teen-holding-wii-remote-shot-cops-front-door-family-lawyer-article-1.1619842

[Guest Ebrahim Saadawi]

Is that a standard sized hot shoe on top? is it as wide as a hotshoe? I love how ridiculous the design is!

[TC]

It is by Chinon.  

 

http://chinon.co.jp/?p=1067

 

It says "Full HD interchangeable lens digital camera Bellami HD-1 on sale soon".  There is a link to this page:

 

http://www.chinon.co.jp/bellami

[preproduction77]

Probably style over substance, Superheadz, who endorse the camera also produce the Harinezumi, a digital and SD Super8 camera, which also came in a limited Chinon edition, very lo-fi, charming and not cheap at all:

http://www.acgears.com/home-office/digital-cameras/superheadz-digital-harinezumi-4

Most people these days use a Super8 smartphone app for the same effect, which works rather fine, considering that most reversal film only has about 7 stops of dynamic range.

As for the look, there is a also a certain resemblance with the Fujica Single 8 cameras, the popular an better quality 8mm format in Japan and only Japan:

https://www.google.de/search?q=fujica+single+8&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=VzO&rls=org.mozilla:de:official&channel=sb&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=NlYPU-a5Ncjoswb1rIHoCA&ved=0CC8QsAQ&biw=1271&bih=764

In terms of the sensor, the size maybe closer to 8mm that Super8 / Single 8, since most of these cameras came with  non-interchangeable zoomlenses, where as many 8mm cameras had small interchangeable prime lenses, that will in many cases not cover Super8. Pricing as I have read on various websites, probably all based on the one (wrong) source, is around 830$:

http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/9714/chinon-bellami-hd-1-another-retro-style-cinema-camera

So not cheap at all. I would hardly expect any fancy codecs or even raw, but rather an implemantation of a popular consumer codec. This is more of a toy than a pro-tool I guess.

[pilotbayfilms]

Probably style over substance, Superheadz, who endorse the camera also produce the Harinezumi, a digital and SD Super8 camera, which also came in a limited Chinon edition, very lo-fi, charming and not cheap at all:

http://www.acgears.com/home-office/digital-cameras/superheadz-digital-harinezumi-4

Most people these days use a Super8 smartphone app for the same effect, which works rather fine, considering that most reversal film only has about 7 stops of dynamic range.

As for the look, there is a also a certain resemblance with the Fujica Single 8 cameras, the popular an better quality 8mm format in Japan and only Japan:

https://www.google.de/search?q=fujica+single+8&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=VzO&rls=org.mozilla:de:official&channel=sb&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=NlYPU-a5Ncjoswb1rIHoCA&ved=0CC8QsAQ&biw=1271&bih=764

In terms of the sensor, the size maybe closer to 8mm that Super8 / Single 8, since most of these cameras came with  non-interchangeable zoomlenses, where as many 8mm cameras had small interchangeable prime lenses, that will in many cases not cover Super8. Pricing as I have read on various websites, probably all based on the one (wrong) source, is around 830$:

http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/9714/chinon-bellami-hd-1-another-retro-style-cinema-camera

So not cheap at all. I would hardly expect any fancy codecs or even raw, but rather an implemantation of a popular consumer codec. This is more of a toy than a pro-tool I guess.

 

$160 isn't too bad for something imported and kitchy. I'm kind of questioning the $800 range ... starting to get into DSLR territory... hopefully that price is wrong... or maybe it does RAW ... we'll see. I want to see footage. The Superheadz Facebook page is starting to post about it  

[fuzzynormal]

Some guy was recently killed because the police thought he was carrying a gun. It was a wii remote.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/georgia-teen-holding-wii-remote-shot-cops-front-door-family-lawyer-article-1.1619842

Better just walk around in public with your hands held high in the air, to be safe. Better yet, just don't go outside. Too dangerous.

[Brian Williams]

$160 isn't too bad for something imported and kitchy. I'm kind of questioning the $800 range ... starting to get into DSLR territory... hopefully that price is wrong... or maybe it does RAW ... we'll see. I want to see footage. The Superheadz Facebook page is starting to post about it  

Exactly, this thing could end up just recording iPhone quality video- unless its something more than avchd or mp4, not too exciting.

Looks cool, but it needs some pretty impressive specs to justify that price.

[pilotbayfilms]

Some more info has come out:

 

http://www.superheadz.com/bellami/detail.php

 

.... hope it gets translated soon

[skiphunt]

I can't deny... that little guy is sorta cool. 

[Julian]

Some more info has come out:

 

http://www.superheadz.com/bellami/detail.php

 

.... hope it gets translated soon

 

You can scan the text with: http://www.newocr.com/ and then put it in google translate. I tried with the spec sheet:

 

 

Format interchangeable lens Fu丿Reno丶~I vision video and still image capture support
Kon丿Kuto~kamera

One sensor Boliviano type 3 2 - 00 000 pixel M. S type sensor Tze Gammage
Renzuma~unto D mount ( mount option Golfo use Nawani~yo '丿C'CS'M42 mountable )
Grain open standard lens F = 4mm '丿over .2 D F mount lens Bok
For 44 million pixels ~Kara over active matrix '丿` Nkusu LCD Nono Ne丿viewfinder one 0.47 " over
Nyu~ka audio-video output terminal HDM over

Dc in 5V

USB USB2'0 (HighSpeed ​​correspondence)

3.5mm line input Sutere~ominija ' link

F `y Dofon output 3.5mm Sutere~ominija ` link
Sa~undosutere~o built-in condenser Ma~i network

Inner Kura Supi~ka
Database Bok Robofura `y ` Nshuho Toshu Nawani External robbed Nasutorobofura ` ` Nshu~yuni client can be connected
Note memory '丿one SD'SDHC, SDXC ~Kado (~ over 28GB)
Kura internal memo丿ｰ87MB

' Two three -inch丿one single (N over MH'è®æºä¸¿Isuzu Nte A丿Les months '丿)

AC adapter one 5V
0 · C ~ operating environment recommended use temperature 40 · C
35% allowable relative humidity to 80 percent
26og only Tadashi-ryou body + lens
Only body size (no lens ) 9.6 cmx9 · 5cmx3 · 3cm (WxHxD)
Price ( excluding tax ) 85'000 yen
One year warranty period禮守hear

 

In other words:

 

D-mount (C/CS/M42 with adapters?)

1/3" sensor (??) 2 Megapixels (??)

4mm f/1.2 lens

0.47" viewfinder - 1,44 megapixels (?)

USB 2

3.5mm jack input and output

SD card

 

1080p, 720p @ 10 / 15 / 30 fps (wtf, no 25/24?)
DNG raw (1080p) - just for stills!
iso 160-12800

 

85.000 yen = ~$820 / €590

Release mid march.

 

/edit: mount adapters are on the order page: http://www.superheadz.com/bellami/order.php

There is a sample video too:

 

 

Looks like crap...