FOBA Baby FOBA

A friend of mine gifted me recently this Foba lamp on an old Cambo stand... a really elegant combo!
I am not in Cambo stuff but their old column stand and light stands have a more elegant appearance than Foba stands of the same time.

Here the best of both worlds from the 60ies...
needs a bit of cleaning and replacing the electric cable and it will be my reading lamp when sitting on the armchair 😌


IMG_9711.jpg
 
This is fantastic and looks like Bron-built accessory...very professional! As long as you're using the modeling lamp for relatively brief periods, heat shouldn't be too much of an issue, likewise with your flash rate, but then that's even less likely to be a problem since the kinds of shooting conducive to fibre optic lighting tends to be pretty slow paced anyway.

By chance I happened to have my Bron fibrolite set out this past week for a little lighting test, basically just to have a play and see how it worked with some other recent additions to my studio setup, as well as see what the light levels from it were like paired with my Senso A2 pack (too bright, as it turned out, but thankfully the fibrolite has per outlet attenuation).

View attachment 4876532
This was the test subject. The LHS was lit using a snooted Picolite with the smallest grid + smallest aperture disc diffused through white acrylic, the RHS is with a fibrolite lightguide again through white acrylic, the ring at the rear is a microscope-derived fibre optic ring light with Volpi connector (which is what the fibrolite uses), and front (originally intended to illuminate the branding) is a very unrefined, second lightguide that I gave up on finessing as by that point it was getting late and I was tired!

I need to track down some better, more specific pieces of acrylic, and also work out the source of the difference in colour temperatures between the two opposing gradients on the pliers' head. And I need to find some more small-sized articulated arms for positioning purposes...the light guides themselves are small, but the hardware to position and support them quickly eats up space on the shooting surface once you're trying to place multiple sources on each side.

I am sorry what does the abbreviations LHS and RHS stands for?

The Fibrolite is great! Having four outputs and each can be regulated...
 
I am sorry what does the abbreviations LHS and RHS stands for?

The Fibrolite is great! Having four outputs and each can be regulated...

Left-hand side and right-hand side.

The reflector on that Foba lamp you shared above looks unblemished! Every time I see one advertised they've got at least one decent dent or are no longer round but instead oval shaped.
 
FISSO is a quality brand for articulated arms also from Switzerland... I suspect the Graf Strato system was build by them.
Expensive but if you find them sometimes used at good prices... here in Switzerland there are at moment two at 50.- Swiss Francs each... I think it is a fair price...

otherwise there are for sure Chinese made one at better price... Smallrig has something ...

Yes I keep an eye out for the Fisso and Graf Strato arms (I have a couple of GS ones already). Where are you seeing those CHF 50 options? That is a fair price.

I assembled this motley crew for a family photo earlier this year...as you can see I'm using a bit of everything. I don't particularly like the Smallrig arms that I've bought but at least they are cheap.

Art-Arms-01.jpg
 
The market seems to be saturated with pro stuff!

There are so many Broncolor Pulso lamps on sale... so many Foba stands on sale. I saved 5 stands from the Foba closure, some almost new. I sold just my first Foba stand which was replaced with a newer one... but since then...nothing...
In Switzerland at moment on sale two Broncolor Mini-Cumulite with stand... one for 350.- incl. stand and grid and the other incl. Pulso generator, lamp and stand is open for offers until October otherwise it ends in disposal...😣

I already have the Mini Hazylite (60x60cm) with the Flamingo-stand but I have both eyes on the Mini Cumulite... but it is so bulky...
If you don't mind a little drive over the border there's a Mini-Cumulite that's just been listed on Kleinanzeigen this weekend, and that's located about 100km north of Zurich. The seller is only asking for it 150€ including the stand. They've got a few other Broncolor items offered, but unfortunately I was too slow in contacting them and missed out of the couple of reflectors I was interested in.

They've also got a Foba studio stand I'd love to grab, but it's 10cm too tall for my celings 😒

I also wouldn't mind one of those Mini-Cumulites, but again with my low cellings it'd be a pain to use (and I'd need to cut down the stand). Do you know the internal configuration of the Mini-Cumulite, as in how the light is diffused before reaching the front surface?
 
I saw this also! Prices are interesting! He/she have also a rare Broncolor Rondo with intact diffuser and Varistand! Mine diffuser is missing and the silver coating is chipping...
Very tempting but what I do then with two? This stuff has become hard to sell... usually too far away to pickup or too bulky/expensive to ship so many potential buyers get missed...

If I get a Mini Cumulite there is one incl. the grid and stand just 30min away from my place...
the other Mini Cumulite is located in Lausanne (near Geneva) and price is to negotiate... I have options...😁


I found this photo of the interior... since the Mini-Cumulite (as the Mini-Hazylight) have the standard Pulso bajonet I assume the intended lamp to use is a normal Pulso lamp... The Mini Versions seems that they don't have the counter-reflector in front of the tube (similar as a beauty dish) as the larger ones. I will recommend to use it with a frosted dome for further diffusion.

On the old 100x100cm Hazylight there is a special Hazylight-lamp using the old UL-bajonet and there are versions of this lamp are using aluminium- or glass- counter-reflector and were produced also in different power ranges (1600/3200 maybe also 6400). The glass counter-reflector resembles a square center ND filter... probably the weak link since it can broken easly...
The Hazylight 2 use a special Pulso lamp with a UL-bajonet also with the aluminium counter-reflector (maybe also with glass??)

I don't know if the different generations of Hazylight lamps are inter changeable but I assume that yes.
Youtuber Scott Choucino of Tin House studio use a Hazylight 2 with UL-Pulso adapter and a standard Pulso lamp... not how Broncolor planed to be used but I don't think he get bad results...


Interior of the Mini-Cumulite
broncolor-mini-comulite-120cm-x-80cm-box.jpeg


special Hazylight-lamp with UL bajonet for Hazylite 2
1949085774_Y8N4ZHq5_hazylight.jpg


old Hazylight-lamp and the shorter Rondo-lamp
Bildschirmfoto 2025-09-15 um 07.28.32.png
 
I also wouldn't mind one of those Mini-Cumulites, but again with my low cellings it'd be a pain to use (and I'd need to cut down the stand). Do you know the internal configuration of the Mini-Cumulite, as in how the light is diffused before reaching the front surface?

I have the Flamingo stand. It is better suited for this problem. The column of mine is "just" 210cm high but the modifier can be lifted higher (>250cm)!
My cellings are also very low at 250cm... 😖

Usually Hazylights and Mini Cumulites come with a different column style stand called "Hazylight stand" and there are also different versions.
The highest possible height is limited by the height of the column. That is probably the cause they are so high... some models have the column in two parts and can be build at two different heights...

Don't be fooled by the Flamingo- and Mini-Flamingo stand! They are different!
The discontinued Flamingo stand was developed for large modifiers as Hazylight and Cumulite in mind!
The Mini-Flamingo stand is a bit smaller and accepts lamps with a Junior pin as for example used on a Satellite Staro.

I am pretty sure the Flamingo Stand can fitted with Mini-Flamingo Junior pin receiver...
Bacht of Germany builds also Mini-Flamingo stand that looks as a twin of Broncolor ones..
Pretty sure that Bacht build all these stands for Broncolor. I have also Broncolor pillar stand 215 and it looks like the Bacht ones...


All of these Broncolor stands are well build, very comfortably to operate, bulky and expensive when new. Used market is your friend.
Manfrotto Boom arms do more or less the same but can't hold too much weight (so no Hazylight), are cheaper, less bulky but a bit messy to operate since the photographer have to keep in mind the counter weight for safety reason.




FLAMINGO stand
broncolor-flamingo-stand-stands-and-susp-3521000_1-2.jpg


MINI FLAMINGO stand
BCB3517000.jpg
 

Attachments

  • broncolor-flamingo-wheeled-boom-galgen-stativ.jpeg
    broncolor-flamingo-wheeled-boom-galgen-stativ.jpeg
    57.2 KB · Views: 0
Last edited:
On the 8x10 Sinar Norma above, what is the intermediate standard? It looks like 5x7... I assume you had the bellows made? Thank you
Hi! For decades I looked for the "Special Bellows" listed in the Norma catalog. I saw one in all that time and it was trashed. Keith at Custom Bellows figured it out for me; I sent him an original picture of it from the archives. It's a 5x7 on one end, 8x10 on the other. 5x7 Intermediate Standard, extra solidity. BTW he still makes Norma Bellows, has the original production drawings around somewhere.
 
360mm f5.6 Schneider Componons matched pair 4x5 by Nokton48, on Flickr

After months of waiting finally finished! 360mm barrel Schneider Componon 360mm f5.6 matched pair. I also have a pair of Sinar 360mm Symmar lenses, you can not tell these two apart from a distance. Certainly does perform favorably against the Symmar, Schneider did recommend it for taking photography (not just enlarging 8x10 negatives). Lengendary Repair Guru Ken Ruth (he always had the inside back cover of Shutterbug for decades) suggested to me to get the entire set of Componons, YES they are great and cheap as dirt. I paid $150 for each of these which I think is quite good for what these are. Getting a matched pair of rear mounts was the difficulty. SK Grimes came through 100% even better than the original. For 8x10 Head Shots these lenses are about as good as you can get. A bonus is that they perform quite well wipe-open. Back in the 60's people were shooting 8x10 Handheld so wide-open is a help!

SK Grimes CNCed Rear Mount 360mm Barrel Componon by Nokton48, on Flickr

Shown lower right, SK Grimes CNC'ed this duplicate of my Rear Mount (Is it Schneider or Durst??). The original is lower left). It's been in the que for a few months but worth the wait and worth every Penny. These items will go on a couple of flat Norma boards, still have a few with big holes to use for these projects. Drill press some mounting holes and it is ready to use.

I had an extra one of these lenses which had bad interior fog. I traded it out with Jason Lane, he has an optical polishing machine and can de-fog milky cells. So he will end up a killer lens, too.
 
Last edited:
The Bail Springs on the Norma 4x5 FIlm Back are not as strong and "springy" as modern Sinar Bail Backs. The Elastic Band came with the snap on Viewing Hood, I simply "snapped" it onto Norma's small knobs, and looped the elastic tightly, to hold the Reflex Viewfinder tightly against the back of the camera.

It keeps the Reflex Viewfinder from "sagging" and in proper focus, against the back of the camera. Actually, I prefer the Norma Monocular Viewer and Bag Bellows, in preference to the Modern Reflex Viewfinder.
 
Last edited:
I was today picking up some stuff and the seller have on sale a Broncolor Mini-Cumulite.

That thing with the ring and bracket is HUGE and is too oversize for my place.... so I continue to dream of a larger studio place to fit the Mini Cumulite...🥺

By checking the modifier I noticed something that I need to share with you guys.
The Mini-Cumulite DOES HAVE a counter-reflector!

In a previous post I mentioned that I hasn't... The posted picture of the interior let me to assume that there was not a counter-reflector but this was an very probable an incomplete Mini-Cumulite...

here what I found out today looking inside from bayonett:
there is again this square ND-style glass inside (as in the Hazylight)... and the reflection of me taking the picture... 😂

IMG_0388.JPG
 
  • Like
Reactions: dxp
in contact with a member from this forum we were discussing the handle of the CESRA plate...


Bildschirmfoto 2025-09-21 um 01.12.43.png

I want to share with you the source of it. I can confirm that is are the used ones by FOBA.
I got once a whole bag of them in one of my factory visits and the article number corresponds.
This handle can hold at least 23kg (CESRA is only 10kg), that is the weight of one of special FOBA counter weights used in a special ASABA stand made for Zeiss...
and the good thing is they are not so pricey, less than 3 Swiss francs each...

Hope it helps

 
  • Like
Reactions: dxp
I want also share with you the company, which made for FOBA the painting work...
They have two colors used for FOBA stuff:

  • "FOBA schwarz", matt black finish for medium and small parts
  • "FOBA grob", translate in "FOBA raw", matt black finish with light texture for the heavy parts like stand caster, counter weights....
During the closing of the FOBA factory I got 8 raw counter weights (used in a special ASABA) ... I let Colortech made the color job they become wonderful...


 
  • Like
Reactions: dxp
Back
Top Bottom