Scrambler
Well-known
There's a Geiss Kontakt in the markets (hidden under an M2-R ad) at the moment (I've no connection to the seller). If you have a Barnack Leica and want to add flash, $25 is cheaper than adding a IIIf or later to your camera bag. Just check if its marked "3a" or "3c" - the first for everything BEFORE the IIIc (Including II etc).
Takkun
Ian M.
I have some old 60s and 70s era PopPhoto issues, and wow, Spiratone would have been a dream for someone like me.
But to answer the original question, yes, the flash is what gives a sharp image, at least for whatever is lit by flash. Everything else will be blurry according to the shutter speed, including the subject, if it's also lit by ambient. David Hobby's Strobist 101 series is a good crash course on flash.
But to answer the original question, yes, the flash is what gives a sharp image, at least for whatever is lit by flash. Everything else will be blurry according to the shutter speed, including the subject, if it's also lit by ambient. David Hobby's Strobist 101 series is a good crash course on flash.
charjohncarter
Veteran
Yes, flash is just as easy (indoors) with a LTM and any other camera. I've used flash with auto settings, flash bulbs (AG-1), and manual flash. The problem today is nobody knows how to figure guide numbers, fill flash, or bounce flash. So everybody depends on program flash. Here is one with my IIIf (which I still use) and AG-1 bulbs, 1965;
summar
Well-known
A IIIf is my favorite camera to use with flash because the necessary 1/30-sec. shutter speed (or slower) captures ambient light, which I like. I use 400 ISO film and put a Vivitar 283 equipped with a bounce/diffusing unit on a bracket and get results that look almost as if the picture was taken by just the light from the lamps in the room. (I don't like the obvious flash look.) Synch is set at 2 as specified by the original instruction sheet.
Another advantage is the magnified rangefinder image of the Barnack Leicas, makes it easier to focus in dim light.
Another advantage is the magnified rangefinder image of the Barnack Leicas, makes it easier to focus in dim light.
David Hughes
David Hughes
Hi,
In the 50's my old electronic flash used two 90v batteries, they felt like a brick in a bag and hung from your shoulder with a big plug and long lead. And they were expensive...
As for the Vivitar 2500, one of the best and mine is still going strong though I mostly take it out to test flash contacts as I don't much like flash.
The gizmo for flash synch was like the Leitz VACU- which was fired by the shutter speed dial but the dial had to be changed for a special one with a cam: or so they say I've never found one. It seems that each one Leica needed a different dial fitted but, again, that's just what I've heard. Anyway, there was a VACU-A and B and so on, they say.
Look around and you'll find some old Leica's with flash sockets, often 3mm but there have been others.
Regards, David
In the 50's my old electronic flash used two 90v batteries, they felt like a brick in a bag and hung from your shoulder with a big plug and long lead. And they were expensive...
As for the Vivitar 2500, one of the best and mine is still going strong though I mostly take it out to test flash contacts as I don't much like flash.
The gizmo for flash synch was like the Leitz VACU- which was fired by the shutter speed dial but the dial had to be changed for a special one with a cam: or so they say I've never found one. It seems that each one Leica needed a different dial fitted but, again, that's just what I've heard. Anyway, there was a VACU-A and B and so on, they say.
Look around and you'll find some old Leica's with flash sockets, often 3mm but there have been others.
Regards, David
M Currie
Member
There have been a couple of synchronizers built into a cable release or a button extension. I can't seem to find some of my boxed stuff tonight, but somewhere I have a Kalart cable release that includes contacts and a couple of big connectors for what must once have been a mighty big Kalart cord. In addition, somewhere else I have a gadget that attached to the button of a Leica, with synch contact in it, and a PC style connector on the side. This was, as far as I know, made specifically for old Leicas. Both these devices use threaded adjustments to time the firing just right, and mush have been a bear to synchronize especially on a camera you can't look through from behind. I would guess, though, that a modern electronic flash could be made to work pretty well with one of these at a slow enough shutter speed.
If I manage to remember where I put the stuff, I'll try to find it and post back, but I think it went out of the house to an outbuilding.
Edit to add, I found the button adapter, though I seem temporarily to have lost the Kalart cable.
If I manage to remember where I put the stuff, I'll try to find it and post back, but I think it went out of the house to an outbuilding.
Edit to add, I found the button adapter, though I seem temporarily to have lost the Kalart cable.
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M Currie
Member
By the way, that last image shows the adapter, and it's clear that it has a Leica adapter on it, so it was made for any number of non-flash shutters.
While finding that one, I suddenly remembered that the synchro gadget on the Kalart was at the top end not the bottom, and looked again and found it. This one has selectable synch settings, M, F and unlabeled, and my example is missing the nut with which one would permanently set it with the long threaded shank. Unlike the other one, which seems only to have contacts, this one seems to have a spring-loaded contacter like a shutter, which must be reset on return, and which makes a very positive snap when it releases. The synchronizer is built into the cable attachment, and does not appear to be useable simply as a button.
While finding that one, I suddenly remembered that the synchro gadget on the Kalart was at the top end not the bottom, and looked again and found it. This one has selectable synch settings, M, F and unlabeled, and my example is missing the nut with which one would permanently set it with the long threaded shank. Unlike the other one, which seems only to have contacts, this one seems to have a spring-loaded contacter like a shutter, which must be reset on return, and which makes a very positive snap when it releases. The synchronizer is built into the cable attachment, and does not appear to be useable simply as a button.
Luddite Frank
Well-known
I have one of these that is bodged-onto a pre-War Zeiss 9x12 cm folder ( Maximar or similar). I am not sure the sync settings are adjustable though...
A past owner had it "hot-rodded" to be like a Speed Graphic, by adding a Kalart Rangefinder on the side, as well as a Kalart Flash-Handle, reminiscent of the Graflite flashes, only a bit smaller in scale, and a "scope" type Gallilean finder on the top of the camera body.
The whole conversion was done pretty neatly, so I wanted it for the curiosity aspect. The dial-set Compur shutter is gummy, so that needs a CLA.
The whole principle of these early "bolt-on" syncs takes advantage of the long, long burn-time of the old Focal Plane flash bulbs, as well as other "long-peak" bulbs.
With those bulbs, the flash timing did not need to be spot-on, just early enough so that the burst was at full-peak while the shutter was fully open.
The results with short-peak bulbs (M-2, M-3, AG-1) or electronic flash may not be good: the flash may have peaked before the shutter is fully open.
Neat gadgets though...
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M Currie
Member
There dpes appear to be some adjustment on the Kalart to determine when the over-center mechanism lets go, relative to shutter button position. As far as I can see, on both the gadgets I have, it would be pretty hard to get an X sync, in which the flash fires slightly after the shutter opens, because once the button stops motion, the plunger cannot continue. So although further investigation is warranted, I'm guessing that most if not all the adjustment is to allow the flash to lead the shutter.
I opened up the Kalart, by the way, and it is a pretty elegant device, with a spring-loaded flywheel, which is released when the set point is reached, then whops down and completes the circuit. It's remotely possible that the slight delay here would be enough to get an X sync. Not sure. The odd cable makes it hard to experiment with, as I don't have a lot of spare flash cords to cut up.
I opened up the Kalart, by the way, and it is a pretty elegant device, with a spring-loaded flywheel, which is released when the set point is reached, then whops down and completes the circuit. It's remotely possible that the slight delay here would be enough to get an X sync. Not sure. The odd cable makes it hard to experiment with, as I don't have a lot of spare flash cords to cut up.
M Currie
Member
I did some further experimenting with the button-only synchronizer shown in the earlier picture. As I had feared, it seems there's no way to get an X sync out of this one.
First, it must be used with Leica or Nikon, or another camera whose cable anchor does not move with the button, as most SLR buttons do. I tried it with a Miranda, which has a cable entry quite separate from the button. As I expected, the flash fires before the shutter trips, all the way to the extreme of adjustment. I have yet to try the Kalart, which may allow more options. But anyway, that very elegant looking little button, nice as it is, would require flash bulbs with some duration.
e.t.a. Tried it on a Nikon F too, which has a button similar to the Leica. No go. There is only a narrow range at which the contact fires, and it is always at least a little early. It's close, but I think it would require some intermediate piece, perhaps a spring, to open the shutter before the flash fires. Quite an undertaking, I suspect.
First, it must be used with Leica or Nikon, or another camera whose cable anchor does not move with the button, as most SLR buttons do. I tried it with a Miranda, which has a cable entry quite separate from the button. As I expected, the flash fires before the shutter trips, all the way to the extreme of adjustment. I have yet to try the Kalart, which may allow more options. But anyway, that very elegant looking little button, nice as it is, would require flash bulbs with some duration.
e.t.a. Tried it on a Nikon F too, which has a button similar to the Leica. No go. There is only a narrow range at which the contact fires, and it is always at least a little early. It's close, but I think it would require some intermediate piece, perhaps a spring, to open the shutter before the flash fires. Quite an undertaking, I suspect.
M Currie
Member
I will add one final comment here. I bodged up a connector for the Kalart, along with finding a piece of some other device with which I was able, alternately, to set it up as a button only device without the cable. In both cases, using a Nikon F, I was unable to get it to fire in X sync. I had thought perhaps the delay built into the flywheel would do it, but it still lights off the flash too early. About the only way I can think that one of these devices would work would be if the cable plunger were extended with a spring, so that it would fire the shutter earlier and still allow further travel before the contacts close. For now, it's not happening.