Beaulieu R16

$950
Item #C14532

Beaulieu R16 mirror reflex 16mm motion picture film camera with 12.5mm lens and modified rechargeable on-board battery. Introduced in the 1960s with its unique on-board battery design, the Beaulieu was an instant success due to its size, weight, ease of use, and convenient on-board battery. This camera features a 200' magazine as well as a 100' internal daylight load. One empty daylight spool is included. Also is included is a four-port battery charging station, four rechargeable batteries, USB charging cable, and wall transformer. The camera uses two batteries at a time.

One of the many wonderful cameras that I showed some time ago in the horde of 16mm cameras was a Beaulieu R16. The problems with this camera were few; the magazine motor needed repair, the camera needed cleaning and lubrication, and the battery had long since ceased functioning. I fixed the magazine motor, lubricated the camera, and got everything running with my bench power supply. The last thing was to figure out a new battery. Beaulieu was very proud of their self-contained, rechargeable battery that mounted to the hand grip of the R16, eliminating the need for battery belts or block batteries.

The original 60’s era NiCd battery was missing its charger, which I didn’t want to remake. I also ruled out NiCd batteries because of their inherent problems. If I bought individual cells and built a new battery pack, I still didn’t have a charger. According to my research, this camera requires only 7.2V at 1000mA. As I was hunting for replacement cells, I saw standard, rechargeable 9V NiMH batteries that, according to their documentation, only put out 7.9V at full charge. The batteries I chose are 600 mA each at 7.9V, so 2 of these NiMH batteries, wired in parallel would give me 7.9V at 1200 mA. Despite my doubts this would work, I thought I would give it a try.

Sure enough, these two batteries powered up the camera just fine and I was able to run the equivalent of 440’ of film both through the 200’ magazine and the 100’ internal load. At the end of that, the batteries still read 7.45V, so this seems to be a success. What’s more, I could get 4 rechargeable batteries, and a charger at a reasonable price. Lastly, I needed to solve how to get the batteries in and out of the Beaulieu battery housing. Originally, the stock battery was held in the housing with a threaded aluminum retaining ring. I repurposed this ring so it would work as a cover. I also added two handles so it was easy to thread on and off to replace the new 9V batteries. I don’t have the original zoom lens with the automatic f-stop feature, so I fitted it with a 12.5mm f1.3 C mount lens. This is now a good starter camera for someone who wants to experiment with film.

The camera has automatic metering, but this system requires an Angenieux zoom lens with gearing for the meter to couple to. I don't have any of those lenses and wasn't able to source one, so the wiring is inside the battery compartment, but it isn't connected so as not to waste battery. The meter sensor seems to work as observed through the viewfinder, but again, its isn't connected to the motor for the lens.