Help out a flashbulb rookie!

[x-ray]

That’s what he used. I think they’re very cool! Love Weegee’s work.

 

[wlewisiii]

I used a tiny handful of real bulbs, and remember having to deal with magic cubes with my mother's Instamatic before they went on their first trip to Hawaii & the doctors my dad worked for let them borrow the Hospital's Canon AE-1. No going back to an Instamatic and Magicubes for her after that!!!

Or me for that matter. Short time later at the Army PX in Germany the first camera I bought for myself was an AE-1 🙂

Let's simply say, I don't really like electronic flash much but I'll use it where appropriate and prefer it over any bulb or cube 🙂

 

[wlewisiii]

Duplicate 🙂

 

[x-ray]

Just guessing the date but around 1970 I bought a Honeywell 660 strobe. It had an exposure sensor built in and was the best thing since sliced bread. I later had a Graflex IV also and that was a beast. It had a huge battery pack that you wore over your shoulder and had 2 large high voltage batteries in it. It recycled almost instantly, had a 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and full power switch. At full power it has a robust guide number but it must have weighed 15 pounds and batteries were really expensive.

Then came the Vivitar 283, sweet! They’re still great strobes even today.

When I got the 660 I wasn’t sad to see bulbs go away for daily use, until I got a job with the department of energy then it was like stepping back 15 years shooting with a speed Graphic and flash bulbs. 🙁

 

[CMur12]

Just guessing the date but around 1970 I bought a Honeywell 660 strobe. It had an exposure sensor built in and was the best thing since sliced bread. I later had a Graflex IV also and that was a beast. It had a huge battery pack that you wore over your shoulder and had 2 large high voltage batteries in it. It recycled almost instantly, had a 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and full power switch. At full power it has a robust guide number but it must have weighed 15 pounds and batteries were really expensive.

Then came the Vivitar 283, sweet! They’re still great strobes even today.

When I got the 660 I wasn’t sad to see bulbs go away for daily use, until I got a job with the department of energy then it was like stepping back 15 years shooting with a speed Graphic and flash bulbs. 🙁

I didn't realize that auto-flash came out as early as 1970. I thought it came out a little later.

I still have several Vivitar 283s, along with a variable power module and an extension cord to use the flash off-camera. (I have a contemporary 285, as well.)

- Murray

 

[x-ray]

I didn't realize that auto-flash came out as early as 1970. I thought it came out a little later.

I still have several Vivitar 283s, along with a variable power module and an extension cord to use the flash off-camera. (I have a contemporary 285, as well.)

- Murray

I wound up with the exact same package but don’t have them any longer. Vivitar really revolutionized the portable strobe business.

I still have 2 of the little pocket units, a 252? And a later one that’s probably 20 years old and both work great. I still use them from time to time.

I’ve had Metz with the TTL modules and Braun high voltage units and none have been any better than the Vivitar. I used both Canon and Nikon digital and especially the current Nikon units are great with huge power but they’re so complicated they’re hard to use unless you use them daily. The beauty of the 283 / 285 was they did one thing and they did it very well. No fuss using them.

 

[Coldkennels]

A little over a month on and I'm still struggling. This has left me with couple of weird results and observations:

1) The Ikoblitz 4 didn't seem to work (I couldn't get it to fire at all), so I did three shots with the PF6B bulbs on my IIIf with a little AGFA Tully flash and all the shots came out blank. I assumed I was doing something wrong or had the wrong info, so I contacted the seller of the PF6Bs and asked him if he had any extra info on the bulbs; he said he didn't, but sent me some more standard M-class PF1s to play with instead to check everything worked.

2) using an M-class bulb should be a lot simpler, but it hasn't worked that way. I tried one out with the AGFA Tully on my Yashica 24 (with the sync set to M class, obviously), and got absolutely no flash exposure on the film at all. It feels like the Tully is firing the flash too early, and I don't see how that's possible.

3) As such, I checked the wiring on the Ikoblitz and got that working before I did some testing with the FP class bulbs, electronic flash, and an M class bulb at the X-sync settings on the IIIf on Thursday night. The FP class bulb fired too early again (more on that in a mo), and resulted in a blank frame. The M class bulb worked, but produced a really thin negative, suggesting Rollei Retro 400S isn't responsive enough to tungsten light to use the 320 ASA guide number.

4) After this, I've spent this afternoon playing with the sync settings on the IIIf and an electronic flash (with the ol' business-card-behind-the-shutter trick). The adjustable sync setting is working as intended at 1/30, so that's not the problem. However, when the sync is set to 4 and the shutter is set to 1/500, it's entirely possible to fire the flash without tripping the shutter - the flash circuit is closing with a partial press of the shutter button, which makes zero sense to me. I don't know how the IIIf flash circuit is designed, but that doesn't track with how the flash circuit in focal plane shutters normally works - isn't it normally connected to the shutter mechanism, not the button itself?!

Weirdly, with the sync dial at 2 or 10, the flash fires as the shutter trips at 1/500 - it's only the in-between settings (i.e. the ones Leitz recommends for these bulbs) that allows you to fire the flash without tripping the shutter. And it turns out that all the recommended settings from my first post for PF6B or PF45 bulbs are behaving like this!

There is a non-zero part of me that wants to give up on this nonsense... and another part that makes me want to pick up a CEYOO and see if I have more luck with Leitz's own flashgun.

 

[x-ray]

I don’t know about the IIIF but my M bodies will fire my strobes if I press the release even if the shutter isn’t wound. I’m guessing your camera is acting normal. I never used flash on my IIIF so I can’t be positive but that’s the way my M bodies work.

Be certain you’re using the correct M sync for your M class bulbs and the correct sync setting for your FP bulbs.

My sync is strobe which was no pre flash and fires at the moment both curtains are open at its designated sync speed I/30 and below. FP or M class bulbs requires the ignition of the bulb to start prior to the curtain opening. It has to get up to peak before the shutter opens any to guarantee even exposure.

If you use an M class bulb at or below your sync speed of 1/30 you should be able to set your sync on 0 and get an exposure. Everything is happening slow enough for the bulb to reach peak output during the time the shutter is fully open.

I’m wondering if the sync timing is working properly. There should be data on the time required for you FP bulbs to reach peak output and that should be or should be close to your advance timing on the sync setting.

Try your sync setting that’s recommenced at a shutter speed of 1/100 and see if you get an image. The higher your shutter speed the more precise the sync setting has to be.

Are you certain your shutter is functioning properly at higher speeds?

Here’s some info I found regarding sync delay. I can’t confirm accuracy but feel it’s a good place to start.

A quote from Shutterfinger;
Years ago (5-10ish) there was a site called Dons Bulbs. It went the way of the Dodo but you may be able to find it on the Wayback archive.
In the libruary were catalogs of flashbulbs from several manufacturers.
Type M flash bulbs take 15 to 17 milliseconds to reach 2/3 of peak output and burn for 20 milliseconds before the light output drops below 2/3 of peak output, the usable light output range of the bulb.
Type FP flash bulbs take the same 15 to 17 milliseconds to reach 2/3 of peak then burn for 50 milliseconds before droping below 2/3 of peak output. The shutter travel time of 4x5 Graflrx SLR's is 42 to 48 milliseconds depending on speed selected.
Type F flash bulbs take 5 milliseconds to reach 2/3 of peak and burn for 15 milliseconds before droping below 2/3 of peak.
The Pentax Spotmatic Service manual states the curtaun travel to be adjusted to 14 ± .3 millisecond. This should be ballpark correct for other horizontal travel focal plane shutters in 35mm cameras.

Synchonising flashbulbs for FP and between the lens shutters

Different bulbs for flashlight and synchronising for Graflex cameras

lommen9.home.xs4all.nl

I’m going to PM you with my email address and if you don’t have any luck with this info just email me and I’ll dig into my archive, photo lab index and Kodak photo guide, and see what I can find. I didn’t use a lot of FP bulbs and they’re different than M class that I used.

 

[shawn]

4) After this, I've spent this afternoon playing with the sync settings on the IIIf and an electronic flash (with the ol' business-card-behind-the-shutter trick). The adjustable sync setting is working as intended at 1/30, so that's not the problem. However, when the sync is set to 4 and the shutter is set to 1/500, it's entirely possible to fire the flash without tripping the shutter - the flash circuit is closing with a partial press of the shutter button, which makes zero sense to me. I don't know how the IIIf flash circuit is designed, but that doesn't track with how the flash circuit in focal plane shutters normally works - isn't it normally connected to the shutter mechanism, not the button itself?!

Weirdly, with the sync dial at 2 or 10, the flash fires as the shutter trips at 1/500 - it's only the in-between settings (i.e. the ones Leitz recommends for these bulbs) that allows you to fire the flash without tripping the shutter. And it turns out that all the recommended settings from my first post for PF6B or PF45 bulbs are behaving like this!

There is a non-zero part of me that wants to give up on this nonsense... and another part that makes me want to pick up a CEYOO and see if I have more luck with Leitz's own flashgun.

Per the IIIf manual it shouldn't fire by just pressing the shutter button.

Have you tried shooting with lower shutter speeds? 1/1000 is so fast if the sync timing is off even a little you aren't going to be getting the flashes exposure at all. Even if you are getting the flash you will only be getting a small portion of its output.

 

[Retro-Grouch]

One important bit of advice that I don't see here: In your eagerness to take the next shot, don't forget to allow a moment or two for the expired flashbulb to cool off before removing it from the flashgun. Those bulbs get hot and can cause a nasty burn!