Steve B.
Member
Recently, I somehow convinced myself that I could not live without acquiring a IIIc version BUNOO baseplate and BLITZ flash for my pet early IIIc. 
From the way it appears to me, this works by using the downward travel of the shutter release shaft to contact and close a small switch in the baseplate, to complete the electrical circuit to the flashbulb.
Does anyone have an idea of what sort of shutter speeds might be useable with this with perhaps a 100 ISO film and #6 or #26 focal plane bulbs, or even (maybe??) a speedlight? Does anyone think some M5 or M25 bulbs might work? Were there ever any published guide numbers for the BLITZ / BUNOO?
This should be fun to use, I think.
Thanks!
Steve Busch
South Carolina, USA
From the way it appears to me, this works by using the downward travel of the shutter release shaft to contact and close a small switch in the baseplate, to complete the electrical circuit to the flashbulb.
Does anyone have an idea of what sort of shutter speeds might be useable with this with perhaps a 100 ISO film and #6 or #26 focal plane bulbs, or even (maybe??) a speedlight? Does anyone think some M5 or M25 bulbs might work? Were there ever any published guide numbers for the BLITZ / BUNOO?
This should be fun to use, I think.
Thanks!
Steve Busch
South Carolina, USA
Attachments
Luddite Frank
Well-known
I've actually USED one, but can't claim to know much about it...
Two years ago, I was going to a Christmas party, and wanted to "show-off" one of my black Leica III's, both of which had sync added (standard 3mm PC socket)... which now that I'm thinking about it, doesn't make much sense: with the PC, I wouldn't have needed the BUNOO, I could have used one of my CEYOO Synchroblitzers or CHICOs...
Maybe I had the BUNOO on my black II...
At any rate, I had the doggone thing on the camera, was using the BUNOO baseplate for sync, and mounted the battery holder in the vertical, using the nickel-plated bracket that clamps around the wind-knob end of the body.
I was using a bayonet-to-M-2/3 adapter and using M-class bulbs (as that's what I have the greatest supply of, and don't mind "wasting").
Believe I was shooting Fujicolor 400...
Think I had the shutter set at either 1/40 or 1/60, and tried using the guide #'s from the box of M-bulbs (Sylvania or GE)... they were blue-coated bulbs.
When I got the pics back, I was a little surprised at the tendency to "burn-out" faces of people close to the camera, while folks 10 ft away or farther looked more "normal"... I think I was expecting under-exposure, if anything.
If you go by the old books and flash guides, the ONLY bulbs you're supposed to use with focal plane shutters are FP, 6 or 26 bulbs.... these have a longer "burn" , giving consistent lighting as the shutter opening "sweeps" across the frame. Using shorter duration bulbs may result in one side of the frame being darker than the other, due to fall-off of the flash before the shutter has completed its cycle.
I did not notice this issue with my BUNOO / M-3 blue bulbs, but my pics seemed over-exposed, so that may have negated the shorter burn time.
Might have been more of an issue back in the old days, with film speeds of ASA 100 or less.
That was one of the supposed advantages of the Synchro-Compur shutter: it "synced" at all shutter speeds...
I can say one thing, shooting with flash-bulbs definitely gets folks' attention...
the flash itself, the muffled pop, the aroma of the hot plastic bulb-coating...
The little devils are pretty hot too !
Will check my Morgan & Lester Leica manuals to see if they mention anything about sync speed for the BUNOO... one of the editions from the 1948 or earlier probably has that info.
The flash gizmo I'm after is a complete VACUU, which clips over the top of the shutter speed dial and syncs off that...
Luddite Frank
PS: I think the BUNOO is the "coolest" of the Leica flashes! Certainly the most imposing !
Two years ago, I was going to a Christmas party, and wanted to "show-off" one of my black Leica III's, both of which had sync added (standard 3mm PC socket)... which now that I'm thinking about it, doesn't make much sense: with the PC, I wouldn't have needed the BUNOO, I could have used one of my CEYOO Synchroblitzers or CHICOs...
Maybe I had the BUNOO on my black II...
At any rate, I had the doggone thing on the camera, was using the BUNOO baseplate for sync, and mounted the battery holder in the vertical, using the nickel-plated bracket that clamps around the wind-knob end of the body.
I was using a bayonet-to-M-2/3 adapter and using M-class bulbs (as that's what I have the greatest supply of, and don't mind "wasting").
Believe I was shooting Fujicolor 400...
Think I had the shutter set at either 1/40 or 1/60, and tried using the guide #'s from the box of M-bulbs (Sylvania or GE)... they were blue-coated bulbs.
When I got the pics back, I was a little surprised at the tendency to "burn-out" faces of people close to the camera, while folks 10 ft away or farther looked more "normal"... I think I was expecting under-exposure, if anything.
If you go by the old books and flash guides, the ONLY bulbs you're supposed to use with focal plane shutters are FP, 6 or 26 bulbs.... these have a longer "burn" , giving consistent lighting as the shutter opening "sweeps" across the frame. Using shorter duration bulbs may result in one side of the frame being darker than the other, due to fall-off of the flash before the shutter has completed its cycle.
I did not notice this issue with my BUNOO / M-3 blue bulbs, but my pics seemed over-exposed, so that may have negated the shorter burn time.
Might have been more of an issue back in the old days, with film speeds of ASA 100 or less.
That was one of the supposed advantages of the Synchro-Compur shutter: it "synced" at all shutter speeds...
I can say one thing, shooting with flash-bulbs definitely gets folks' attention...
the flash itself, the muffled pop, the aroma of the hot plastic bulb-coating...
The little devils are pretty hot too !
Will check my Morgan & Lester Leica manuals to see if they mention anything about sync speed for the BUNOO... one of the editions from the 1948 or earlier probably has that info.
The flash gizmo I'm after is a complete VACUU, which clips over the top of the shutter speed dial and syncs off that...
Luddite Frank
PS: I think the BUNOO is the "coolest" of the Leica flashes! Certainly the most imposing !
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historicist
Well-known
Looks pretty cool!
On the box of bulbs there will be an exposure table (GN is dependent on the bulb).
On the box of bulbs there will be an exposure table (GN is dependent on the bulb).
payasam
a.k.a. Mukul Dube
Seems to me that shutter speed is more likely to be 1/30 or 1/20. Morgan and Lester should have it.
raydm6
Yay! Cameras! 🙈🙉🙊┌( ಠ_ಠ)┘ [◉"]
Does that slide on my case?
Does that slide on my case?
Oh! Now I know what my case is for!! lol... I bought this off eBay a few years back thinking it was a slot for the mechanical Leica winder - anticipating maybe I'll but one in the future. If anyone is interested - let me know. I don't see a BUNOO in my future. I paid $39.00 for it.
- Ray
Does that slide on my case?
Oh! Now I know what my case is for!! lol... I bought this off eBay a few years back thinking it was a slot for the mechanical Leica winder - anticipating maybe I'll but one in the future. If anyone is interested - let me know. I don't see a BUNOO in my future. I paid $39.00 for it.
- Ray
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VictorM.
Well-known
VictorM.
Well-known
Luddite Frank
Well-known
Recently, I somehow convinced myself that I could not live without acquiring a IIIc version BUNOO baseplate and BLITZ flash for my pet early IIIc.
From the way it appears to me, this works by using the downward travel of the shutter release shaft to contact and close a small switch in the baseplate, to complete the electrical circuit to the flashbulb.
Does anyone have an idea of what sort of shutter speeds might be useable with this with perhaps a 100 ISO film and #6 or #26 focal plane bulbs, or even (maybe??) a speedlight? Does anyone think some M5 or M25 bulbs might work? Were there ever any published guide numbers for the BLITZ / BUNOO?
This should be fun to use, I think.
Thanks!
Steve Busch
South Carolina, USA
Hey Steve,
Luddite Frank back with a few more bits & pieces of info....
Victor M. kindly provided some scans from a Leica instruction book, which are very helpful. And suggests that there were several variations to the Leica "baseplate flash sync" ....
The flash set-up I described in my first reply was mostly one of Leica's first "flashlamps", the box is marked "Blitzlicht-Ausloser"... this is listed in the 1936 Leica catalogue as "BTLOO", clamped to the end of the body (battery tube is in the vertical), shutter sync is achieved by a gizmo affixed to the top of the camera, using the shuter-speed dial to trip the flash (similar to the VACU).
The connection between the sync and the flashgun is via a cord with the Leica two-pronged plug. My BTLOO is missing the syncro attachment.
The black III that I was using this on had been updated with a standard PC socket, so I used a "PC to Leica two-prong" sync cord to connect the flash gun to the camera, and it seemed to work.
After digging around in my camera closet, I found my Leica baseplate sync & flashgun, as pictured in your post. Looks identical. My baseplate fits the first-generation Barnack bodies (Standard, I,II,III, and the a, b variants).
It is too short to fit my IIIf, and I presume too short to fit any of the -c Leicas (cast bodies).
As you suggested, the flash contact is made by the action of the shutter plunger activating a button contact in the baseplate, which has an adjusting screw. The base plate has to be calibrated to a specific camera body by Leica (or an approved service station), so that the flash fires at the appropriate time. ( This really functions on how far the shutter button is pressed before activating the baseplate contact; how that relates to the shutter mechanism is
"coincidence"... not be actual coordination of the shutter dial as is the case with the VACU or the internally-synced -f and -g Leicas.)
Now, back to Victor M and his info... the baseplate flash pictured in his booklet is thicker than the one Steve B and I have, and has an adjustable synchro slider on the back edge, AND, a two-prong sync cord socket on the baseplate itself, the earlier version placed the socket on the battery tube only.
The thicker baseplate jives with the picture of the eveready case with the "window" in the end and the flash clip on the bottom.
Apparently Victor's unit was indeed made for the -c and later cameras, still had to be calibrated to a specific camera body, but offered the ability to adjust the sync setting to use with any of the "instantaneous" shutter speeds - 1/20 thru 1/1000. (Just like setting the Black or Red sync dial on the -f or g- Leicas).
Still with me ? Now on to flash-bulbs and guide numbers...
For years, the "only" bulbs recommended for use with Focal plane shutters were "Long-Peak" bulbs, such as the #6, #26 and #31 or any bulb with the pre-fix "FP" - these bulbs have a long "burn-time", as much as 1/20 to 1/30 second, ensuring that the light endures long enough for complete exposure of the frame, often allowing the user to stop-down further, for greater DOF.
As flash bulbs developed, the burn-times and peak durations became shorter, as short as 1/200 second with the SM and SF bulbs, and midget bulbs like the M-2 and M-3.
In low-light conditions, exposure is not only a factor of the shutter speed, but also the duration of the instantaneous light source... so, even if your camera and BUNOO is properly synced for 1/30, if you are using a short-peak bulb like an SM or SF, the effect would be similar to a shutter speed of 1/200... because the burst of light is so brief, the frame may be unevenly exposed....
SO... if you want to use your BUNOO, the first step is getting it calibrated to the body you will be using it on... I'll bet somebody out there still has the equipment to do this. Once you get your baseplate synced, write the serial number of the camera body on the inside, in pencil, so you don't get mixed-up with other gear, if you're a multiple-Barnack family...
THEN, once "synced", you can see what bulbs are available... I have found that # 5 , #25, M-2, and M-3 and their blue-coated variants for color film seem to be the most plentiful (and cheapest). Try using the guide-numbers from the flash-bulb box...
I'm looking at a box of Sylvania 25 B bulbs, circa 1970, that recommends the following guide numbers for "Adjustable cameras X or M sync up to 1/30 ":
ASA: Guide #
10 to 12: 65
16 to 20: 80
25 to 32: 100
40 to 64: 150
80 - 125: 190
160 - 200: 260
320 - 500: 380
The difficulty I find with a lot of the period flash guides published by Leica, is they give guide numbers for specific films that are either long-vanished, and/or extremely slow-speed, by modern standards. AND recommend Focal-
Plane bulbs.
For what it's worth, the booklet for my Leica III-f recommends using 1/30 at sync setting 0 when using "strobe" (electronic flash)... so it would seem that 1/30 second is a good base-line for expirimentation with using modern short-peak bulbs with fixed-sync Leicas.
Modern high-speed fims (ASA 100 and faster) will probably tolerate use of short-peak bulbs better than the "regular" films of 50 - 75 years ago.
I believe Victor M. was planning a project for shooting school portraits using a screw-mount Leica with bulb-flash, so he may have a wealth of useful info for trying to use flashbulbs with modern films, etc, in the 21st Century.
Sorry this is so long... if you can track down a copy, "The Leica Manual", by Willard Morgan and Henry Lester, 10th ed. (1944) through 12th ed. (1953) have excellent info on flash photography with the Leica.... these turn-up on e-Bay ,and probably through Amazon...
If I can scan some of my print material, I will post it, and perhaps it can got to a reference area here at RFF...
Good luck with your BUNOO... now you 've got me wanting to get mine working !!!!
Luddite Frank
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VictorM.
Well-known
"I believe Victor M. was planning a project for shooting school portraits using a screw-mount Leica with bulb-flash, so he may have a wealth of useful info for trying to use flashbulbs with modern films, etc, in the 21st Century."
Yikes! That wasn't me!
Yikes!
That wasn't me!
Luddite Frank
Well-known
"I believe Victor M. was planning a project for shooting school portraits using a screw-mount Leica with bulb-flash, so he may have a wealth of useful info for trying to use flashbulbs with modern films, etc, in the 21st Century."
Yikes!
Whoops ! "My bad" !
Sorry Victor - I guess I have you confused with another RFF member who was talking bulb-flash / LTM about a year ago.
Still working on scanning some info...
Luddite Frank
Steve B.
Member
Thanks so very much to everyone who has replied to my post!
Thanks for mentioning the adjusting screw on the bottom of the BUNOO; I had not given that any though, but now see that it looks to be designed to raise or lower the position of the ball contact switch, so as to change the the flash timing.
I had not thought to try getting a Morgan and Lester manual, and that does sound like what I should do next.
The unit mentioned in the 1951 Leica manual is a New York Leitz SELIS (model VIII) or SELSY (Model VIIIa) depending on whether its sized for the -a / -b cameras, or the -c camera. These required that the camera be sent off to Leitz to be internally modified. The special baseplate was then stamped with its own serial number, which matched the one on the camera. Reason I mention this, is I have gotten hold of a properly number matching IIIc and SELSY complete with its matching flash, slightly different than the one for the BUNOO, as well. All that needs now is some rebuilding; it at least seems more in keeping with what I'm used to since one of my other pets is a IIIf red dial.
I'll see what happens next - -
- Steve Busch
Thanks for mentioning the adjusting screw on the bottom of the BUNOO; I had not given that any though, but now see that it looks to be designed to raise or lower the position of the ball contact switch, so as to change the the flash timing.
I had not thought to try getting a Morgan and Lester manual, and that does sound like what I should do next.
The unit mentioned in the 1951 Leica manual is a New York Leitz SELIS (model VIII) or SELSY (Model VIIIa) depending on whether its sized for the -a / -b cameras, or the -c camera. These required that the camera be sent off to Leitz to be internally modified. The special baseplate was then stamped with its own serial number, which matched the one on the camera. Reason I mention this, is I have gotten hold of a properly number matching IIIc and SELSY complete with its matching flash, slightly different than the one for the BUNOO, as well. All that needs now is some rebuilding; it at least seems more in keeping with what I'm used to since one of my other pets is a IIIf red dial.
I'll see what happens next - -
- Steve Busch