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The
Cadillac of Cameras One word describes this camera: FINALLY! If you have been in this hobby for any length of time, you know that there are certain cameras you wished you owned. For me, there are essentially 4 cameras that fit this ranking. In order from 4th to 1st are: 4th: The Eumig Nautica - the underwater camera that captures scenes no other camera can capture. 3rd: The Bauer A512 - the ultimate silent camera that provides professional results. 2nd: The Canon 814XLS or 1014XLS - ok, two cameras but, the 814 offers a wider view while the 1014 offers more telephoto. 1st: The Bauer 715XLS - the ultimate in technology in its day. Quickly replaced by crude yet expensive videotape in the early 1980's. There you have it. |
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And the rest... Other honorable mentions go to the Canon 814XL and 1014XL - both silent models and excellent ergonmics. Substantially different in construction and operation compared to their sound siblings. Nizo's S801 and S800 are also excellent but tend to be in the repair shop more than other high high end cameras. And lastly, purely for name alone, the Leicina Special deserves to be mentioned though it is rather old-school and generally takes your attention away from the subject at hand and instead focuses on the operation of the camera. Nikon, Sankyo, Bolex, Chinon/GAF and many other makes also made good cameras but ended their development in the early 1970's and, if they did last longer, did not produce anything truly remarkable.
Now, back to the "Cadillac" of cameras: the Bauer 715XLS Microcomputer. Yes, it contains a small (enormous by today's standards) chip that controls most of the operations of the camera. Fitted with a beautiful Angenieux lens, the colors produced are very accurate and give no clue as to their origin (some cameras lend a certain color cast to films like early GAF's). The images were sharp and the frame lines were excellent. Operation was whisper quiet and positive. An early gripe was found when the hand grip "run-lock" switch was inadvertently pushed up and prevent my depressing the shutter. Something easily avoided with familiarity over time.
The
camera is heavy and rather bulky to cart
around. The
soft, fitted case protects the camera well but I am thinking
of swtiching to a Pelican-style case. Size would be similar but
safety would be
increased immensely. Speaking of size, this camera seriously
requires dedication
to take it out on a shooting event. The Canon 814XLS is a little
less bulky and will tend to get more use than this one
for general purpose
filming while on the go. Speaking
of the Canon 814XLS, I do know there is a feature
missing on the Bauer that I would have liked to see - a button
to LOCK the exposure. The Bauer 715XLS uses it's patented
style of a rotating
dial on the top of the camera to adjust the f-stop. However,
it is
easiest to set this in manual mode only when the aperture
reads something OTHER
than the correct light measurement. The Canon 814XLS offers
a simple push-button that locks the exposure where it's at. I
missed that
setting in this camera. Also, Canon offers the sliding
arrow
indicator in the
viewfinder displaying how much film is left. The Bauer just
has the oscillating or bouncing indicator telling you that film
is rolling
(or not). When
it stops, the film is done. Don't get me wrong, the Bauer
is an incredible camera offering excellent optics and performance.
But so too does
the Canon 814XLS. Price comparisons are interesting (and
scary
when adjusted
for inflation). The Bauer sold for $2399 in 1981 while the Canon 814XLS sold for $1699. The 1014XLS sold for an additional $200 over the 814 but still paled in price compared to the Bauer 715XLS. I don't even want to adjust those prices up to today's dollars. Let's look at it another way. Today, auction sites regularly show the 814 fetching $300+ dollars and the 1014 fetching up into the 500's on a good week. The Bauer 715XLS has consistently shown an immediate ending-auction price of $400-$450. Compared to what they sold for originally, the Bauer offers excellent value. Good
luck in your purchases! |
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The
15 times zoom lens is incredible. Aerial focusing with a split
image is easy but the image is
so bright and
nice, I felt I would forget to focus (being used to my mini-dv
and Nikon AF
35mm cameras). You quickly get over this too. I found I tended
to zoom up to 90mm, focus, then pull back to begin filming.
The
only lasting
complaint with this camera, and it is significant and only to
my personal camera, is that the film counter doesn't work. I never
realized how
important this was until this camera came along. One work
around
I found was to
set the program mode to 6 or 8 seconds and count how many scenes
I used. At 24fps, I get about 18 scenes of 8 seconds each.
You get
the idea.
For animation, this would not be a problem because you would
be recording each scene length on paper already. Don't worry,
I have no plans
to trade the camera in! 
However,
if there are areas where I know
I will be using a tripod or requiring a long, sharp shot,
this camera
wins hands
down. The heft of this camera lends itself to steady shooting
at long focal lengths. 
