FOBA Baby FOBA

[Nokton48]

Studio Renovation well equipt by Nokton48, on Flickr


Picked up two Broncolor Striplight Grids, have wanted a pair for a while. Also a Grid for the Octobox 150 is on it's way too. Studio is coming well together and well equipped. Getting more organized as I get everything boxed up and labeled. Plenty of shelf space available. There is a steel rolling shelf with my new Olde Macbook Pro, and cameras I use all the time. Below boxed up is all my Hasselblad stuff well organized. The 2009 Broncolor cool calendar was an internal only thing I was told, found this copy on Etsy.

 

[dxp]

Ok...so this took some getting.

Foba's CESTU...fresh outta the box (though I'm pretty sure someone's at least screwed something onto the threads at some point).

This was sitting in a warehouse in Denmark for a photographic retailer there. Asking price was a painful 75€, but worse was the 70€ shipping fee it would cost to send it over the border into Germany where I am.

I hatched a cunning plan to ship it to a friend holidaying on a Danish island over the summer ('cause free shipping within Denmark, yay!) and then we had to borrow his friends Danish mobile phone number just to be able to place the order with the store.

Eventually got the order to go through, it arrived a few days before he was leaving the island, and earlier this week he arrived home and I was able to collect it.

Did I desperately need it? No. Might it come in handy one day? Quite possibly so. Was it the only one I could see for sale anywhere in the world. Yes, so worth grabbing just in case!
—

 

[Nokton48]

Nice Photo there dxp. You can really see the texture of the materials.

I got one of those pieces on a shorty Broncolor Light Stand. It works well with my FOBA Spot Strobes as a base.

 

[dxp]

Nice Photo there dxp. You can really see the texture of the materials.

I got one of those pieces on a shorty Broncolor Light Stand. It works well with my FOBA Spot Strobes as a base.

Thanks, but it was lazy lighting when I couldn't be bothered setting up to take a better shot!

My studio is a mess as I'm (slowly) setting in up in a new space at home, but lost some momentum with the project over the summer. I need to tidy up a bit more this week.

 

[Nokton48]

FOBA Mini SuperBall Needs a Knob by Nokton48, on Flickr

This FOBA Mini Superball came to me via Adorama for $51. It needs a knob up top, it is Kinda Road Beaten. Still solid as a Rock though. I put a New Old Stock 3/8" FOBA Mounting Plate on it, from MAC who is USA Broncolor. FOBA made a Hasselblad Mounting Plate for this, I'd like to find one. Really smooth action like it.

 

[Nokton48]

Highest Speed 4x5 Norma 2 by Nokton48, on Flickr

Here's my Cool FOBA Baby Tripod, which has infintely extendable legs via Combitubes. Manfrotto Head, 4x5 TLR Norma (Yes it has a Mirror Rare Norma 45 Degree Monocle Viewer). Twin 180mm f56.6 Chrome Barrel Schneider Xenar Lens Pair. Heavy but works very well in the field. Texas Twin Lens. You view from the bottom lens, fire from the top lens.

 

[Nokton48]

SONY DSC by Nokton48, on Flickr

Hated to throw away these Olde Universal Strobe Outer Cans, so I recycled them into Overhead Can lights. Shown with Olde Broncolor Calendar I kinda like.

 

[FOBELIO]

SONY DSC by Nokton48, on Flickr

Hated to throw away these Olde Universal Strobe Outer Cans, so I recycled them into Overhead Can lights. Shown with Olde Broncolor Calendar I kinda like.

I like it very much!

You still can change the reflector and modify how the light falls...

 

[FOBELIO]

I finally bought a Broncolor Picolite Pulso adapter on a clearance of a closing shop here in Zurich... a lot of incredible Broncolor deals...almost 80%... impossible to resist!

I don't intend to use Pulso softboxes or reflectors on the Picolite since I already have Pulso F and G lamps.
I want it for using fibre optics on the Picolite.

I have laying around since a couple of years a Impact fibre optics adapter with the small Broncolor bayonett...




So with the help of a buddy of mine and a spare Pulso bayonett from a well beaten P70 I made finally the modification...

First the rivets need to be drilled out



here the Impact bayonett... I don't have any of Impact lamps but I don't get rid of it because there are sure somebody who can use it...
perhaps it can be married with the P70 to large Impact reflector... the holes match! 😉



here the Pulso bayonett, unfortunately this bayonet have a ridge that must be removed...



my buddy can operate a lathe so it can be done properly


black color for reducing internal reflections... probably not necessary...


time for final assembly


the new kid on the studio... the Picolite fibre optic adapter
a problem that I see is that heat can't escape very well... perhaps a little gap using some kind of spacers will be better... but I need to test it and I will see...



say hello to my new baby... it still have a dummy in his mouth... 🤣😉😍

 

[FOBELIO]

I found this on a Dutch marketplace for 55€... new ones were priced around 2500-3000 Swiss Francs in 2020ies...

It seems to be one of the first version of the DASRO system for hanging paper backdrops...
I saw this in my old FOBA catalogs but never in person or on sale... never thought I will ever found one. It is around 50 to 60 years old...

Interesting is that it is build using two CESRO (old silver three legged version) and two special 35mm tubes with special holders. For getting both CESRO connected there is
an U-profile bar on the bottom

My intuition says me it will end in the metal recycling... 😔😣🥺

 

[FOBELIO]

Highest Speed 4x5 Norma 2 by Nokton48, on Flickr

Here's my Cool FOBA Baby Tripod, which has infintely extendable legs via Combitubes. Manfrotto Head, 4x5 TLR Norma (Yes it has a Mirror Rare Norma 45 Degree Monocle Viewer). Twin 180mm f56.6 Chrome Barrel Schneider Xenar Lens Pair. Heavy but works very well in the field. Texas Twin Lens. You view from the bottom lens, fire from the top lens.

I love FOBAs baby tripod! I have two of them: silver one and a black one (boxed never opened)

This photo proves that is incredible stable! This Sinar TLR Norma is terrific and sure not a light weight! What is the sense of this? Increasing the handling speed?

 

[Nokton48]

I like it very much!

You still can change the reflector and modify how the light falls...

Yes! I got the idea from a German Studio, who was building these and selling them for big money. These cost me -nothing- to build, and Yes! I have all the Olde Universal Reflectors I can switch out in these whenever I want.

 

[Nokton48]

I love FOBAs baby tripod! I have two of them: silver one and a black one (boxed never opened)

This photo proves that is incredible stable! This Sinar TLR Norma is terrific and sure not a light weight! What is the sense of this? Increasing the handling speed?

Yes it is a super speedy setup. Love it. Have about twenty lens pairs to fit it. See Here:

Thread 'Fastest Speed of All 4x5/9x12 TLR Sinar Norma'

Mar 6, 2021

Norma Instant Operation by Nokton48, on Flickr

I'm like a kid playing with my box of incredibly expensive tinker toys, building all kinds of interesting rigs. Why not? From "Sinar- the perfect tool for the professional photographer" Karl Heitz 1964. I have built the camera on the bottom left. They would configure the camera for you at the factory; Wonder how they embellished it?

Sinar Norma 4x5 TLR Matching 210 Xenar...

• Nokton48
• Replies: 72
• Forum: Medium Format and Larger Film RF's

 

[Nokton48]

5x7 and 4x5 Sinar Norma TLR's by Nokton48, on Flickr

 

[dxp]

I found this on a Dutch marketplace for 55€... new ones were priced around 2500-3000 Swiss Francs in 2020ies...

It seems to be one of the first version of the DASRO system for hanging paper backdrops...
I saw this in my old FOBA catalogs but never in person or on sale... never thought I will ever found one. It is around 50 to 60 years old...

Interesting is that it is build using two CESRO (old silver three legged version) and two special 35mm tubes with special holders. For getting both CESRO connected there is
an U-profile bar on the bottom

My intuition says me it will end in the metal recycling... 😔😣🥺

I saw that same ad, though didn't really appreciate what it was. I just thought it was a pity it'd been neglected for so long, and agree it'll probably just end up scrapped.

 

[FOBELIO]

Yes! I got the idea from a German Studio, who was building these and selling them for big money. These cost me -nothing- to build, and Yes! I have all the Olde Universal Reflectors I can switch out in these whenever I want.

5x7 and 4x5 Sinar Norma TLR's by Nokton48, on Flickr

Probably the fastest large format camera ever? 😆😍😉

Twenty lens pairs means forty lenses... wow!

It is incredible how prices have dropped... having such a large collection twenty - thirty years ago was probably not imaginable.
I see a lot Sinar, Broncolor and Foba getting cheaper and cheaper. Must reflects that the photo business is changing drastically!
What was pro twenty to thirty years ago become more and more obsolete... I have an used Sinarback 86H, new was around 25000.-, still available new. Comparing the specs I will never again it buy again but it fits nice in the Sinar p3 system.

 

[dxp]

I finally bought a Broncolor Picolite Pulso adapter on a clearance of a closing shop here in Zurich... a lot of incredible Broncolor deals...almost 80%... impossible to resist!

I don't intend to use Pulso softboxes or reflectors on the Picolite since I already have Pulso F and G lamps.
I want it for using fibre optics on the Picolite.

I have laying around since a couple of years a Impact fibre optics adapter with the small Broncolor bayonett...
...
the new kid on the studio... the Picolite fibre optic adapter
a problem that I see is that heat can't escape very well... perhaps a little gap using some kind of spacers will be better... but I need to test it and I will see...

say hello to my new baby... it still have a dummy in his mouth... 🤣😉😍
View attachment 4876465

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).


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.

 

[dxp]

I love FOBAs baby tripod! I have two of them: silver one and a black one (boxed never opened)

I'm looking for a black version so if you ever decide to part with yours, let me know...

 

[FOBELIO]

I saw that same ad, though didn't really appreciate what it was. I just thought it was a pity it'd been neglected for so long, and agree it'll probably just end up scrapped.

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...

 

[FOBELIO]

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...

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 ...