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 😌


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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).

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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.

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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
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special Hazylight-lamp with UL bajonet for Hazylite 2
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old Hazylight-lamp and the shorter Rondo-lamp
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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
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MINI FLAMINGO stand
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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.
 

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