Let There Be Light or Forward! Into The Past -- a rant

Gordon Coale

Gordon Coale

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When I bought my FED I did so because I couldn't afford to rebuild my Leica IIIc but I needed a Leica like camera. I took what I felt to be the bottom feeder route. What using the FED and hanging out here has taught me is that these bottom feeders, and I include all the other "obsolete" rangefinders and cameras of all sizes, are no slouches. Progress has marched on but progress has not always been an improvement. The latest whiz-bang film or digital camera can do all sorts of things but all you really need to do is to focus the camera, adjust the aperture and shutter speed (but not always), and fire the shutter. So much of what is called progress has gone to automate these functions. I'm not sure that is really moving forward. Looking at the Classic Camera contest and the pictures taken with "obsolete" cameras (i first saw mentioned her at the RFF) should dispel any doubts that old cameras can still take fine pictures.

Recently greyhoundman took a Brownie Hawkeye Flash and converted (at great physical danger to himself) it to electronic flash. Progress. An improvement over the old fashioned and primitive flashbulb. Or maybe not. I just received my own Brownie Hawkeye Flash Model with 10 #5 flashbulbs. I've been searching the web for information on these archaic devices. What I found is that progress in electronic flash has simplifed the use of flash for the user. It has made it convient. It has also made it a lot more expensive for a lot less light. J and C photo sells Press 25 bulbs for $1. Shop around on eBay and you can get them a lot cheaper than that. You can get a Kodak B-C flashholder, with a 5 inch reflector, for a couple of bucks on eBay. These look similar to the Hawkeye flash but it has a bracket and synch cord. The guide number for a Press 25 bulb in one of these flasholders, at ASA 100, is 280 feet. Looking at B&H I see that the Metz 70 MZ-5 goes for $789 and has a guide number of 164 feet at ISO 100. Hmmmm. Where is the progress?

Check out some of these links:

Flashbulbs

Dark Light Imagery

Underground Photographer Flashbulb Resource

Cress Photo

And then look at what a real Flashman could do with bulbs -- the late and great O. Winston Link.

I've got some Press 25s coming for the Brownie and there are some Kodak B-C flasholders in my future. I'm looking at all my lenses to see if they are M synched. The 100mm on my Mamiya Universal has an M synch, although you can X synch them under 1/30 sec. You can gang these these flasholders together and get some *real* light.

Let there be light!

Forward! Into the past!
 
And then look at what a real Flashman could do with bulbs -- the late and great O. Winston Link.
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Thanks for the link... it pays to be reminded how things were done before digital was considered.

One of the things that brought me back to film cameras and the desire to photograph was how much frustration I had working with my Canon G2. Shure, one can do cool things with it (the G2). But, try syncing it up to any flash other than one of the very expensive Canon Speedlights. It can be done but the results are cause for endless retries. Or shooting outdoors at night . It can be done, only with a lot of fussing and tweaking dials. Oh, and focusing in the dark... What a pain.

I got a FED, a simple lens, a cable realease -- I attach it to my sturdy Mafrotto tripod and wail away. I can even paint subjects with light while the shutter hangs open by waving a powerful flashlight at the subject.

All for a whole lot less than I would have to pay for a digicam that can take a good long exposure. So much fun to be had, so little money to spend on it.

Now, this O. Link Fellow... I'll bet the HSA wonks would have a field day seeing him come around today with that massive flash settup;). I love his photos. I was introduced to his photos years ago by a woman I was dating. I thought it was an ultimately cool thing to capture trains passing in the night. Then, on second glance I noticed how perfectly frozen the trains seemed. The stillness in the image was almost surreal. (It was this image -- Hot Shot Eastbound, at the Iaeger Drive-In 1955.)

I wonder if he used a sunblock? SP100 maybe?;)
 
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LOTs of planning and setup went into this shot! I suppose the locomotive crew were participating on the plans and were able to shield their eyes from the blast of light...
 
GN of 280 @ iso100... where's the progress, ask the _people_ who want to have eyesight after being flashed :). You'd have to stop down to f22 for a subject at 10 ft, which is good if you're using a 4x5 Graflex, but not so good if you're in 35mm.

The shot of Winston and his assistant with the nighttime flash equipment is wild.
 
Ya gotta be careful with flashbulbs. Back in the 1960s an acquaintence of mine was an Army information officer covering night maneuvers on a Virginia beach. He had a Speed Graphic and had his pockets stuffed with flashbilbs. He was standing with a bunch of the military brass in frot of a radar unit that wasn't operating at the time. When the practice landings on the beach began, somebody fired up the radar. The radar reflector rotated around and made a sweep of the area where the photographer was standing. Every bulb in his pockets cooked off. He said it was quite spectacular. Peeled off his pants right in front of the generals. Got some pretty nasty burns on his legs, too.
 
Thank you for including the link to the Winston shot -- incredible!
I saw a little of his work a few years ago, but later forgot to pursue it any further. Next stop -- Amazon!!!

There is also a difference in light pattern when using a single flash bulb versus a single electronic unit (I imagine this effect diminishes with multible flash set-ups); it is impossible to accurately reproduce the look of old flash pictures with a modern electronic unit -- there is information on the web that explains this in detail (Denis may find this interesting for his retro project). I have cases of bulbs squirreled away; bulbs are all I use with my older cameras.
 
Gordon Coale said:
Another bulbhead! I didn't realize there were others.
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I'm with you, Gordon! I'm not too involved in multible setups, etc. -- I use a couple of Zeiss Ikoblitz (can't help it -- I'm a Contax guy:D) and a Honeywell "Tilt-A-Mite." I also make good use of an old 45mm Nikkor GN lens on an Alpa/Nikon adapter -- good old low technology that works.
 
As I recall, flashbulbs did also occasionally explode upon being used - with a sharp report like a rifle, complete with a mini-shower of hot glass. One must use caution.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks
 
I store my unused flashbulbs in a metal file drawer. Maybe a safe would be a better place. The newer bulbs have a plastic coating which hopefully contains the glass shards. It does nothing to contain the aroma of a freshly fired flashbulb.
 
spent bulbs

spent bulbs

I've been running a roll of 120 color through the Brownie. I finally got some Press 25Bs (blue, color corrected for daylight) and a couple of C batteries and fired my first flash bulbs in probably 45 years. They do smoke.
 
kiev4a said:
Ya gotta be careful with flashbulbs. Back in the 1960s an acquaintence of mine was an Army information officer covering night maneuvers on a Virginia beach. He had a Speed Graphic and had his pockets stuffed with flashbilbs. He was standing with a bunch of the military brass in frot of a radar unit that wasn't operating at the time. When the practice landings on the beach began, somebody fired up the radar. The radar reflector rotated around and made a sweep of the area where the photographer was standing. Every bulb in his pockets cooked off. He said it was quite spectacular. Peeled off his pants right in front of the generals. Got some pretty nasty burns on his legs, too.
Click to expand...

Got to admit that gave me a laugh. Of course, I can afford to, I wasn't the one with the flash bulbs in my pocket! They were all too close if it cooked off the bulbs. Many years ago, I was back in the States from Vietnam and went to my favorite camera store back home. I decided I wanted to get with the modern program and get one of them new fandangled electronic flashes. He talked me out of it and sold me a Tilt-a-mite. You have no idea how many times I have thanked him in my mind for that. BTW, anyone had to replace the condenser, and know a source?

Does anyone think like I do that the photo of the train at the drive-in used multiple flashes? Look at the difference between the light near the camera and the burned out grass on the fill. That doesn't take anything away from the photo by any means. And yes, bulbs do provide more and imho better light. I once had to photograph the inside of a burned out chapel. I could have used a couple of "powerful" electronic flashes, but chose instead to use flash bulbs. Better light and less flashes needed to "paint" inside the building at night.
 
Cool links, Gordon, thanks! A friend of mine at work who's very into railroading turned me on to Link, neat stuff.

If all goes well with the US Postal Service, I'll be joining you as a bulbhead shortly... my Land Camera with flashgun (M3 bulbs) should arrive shortly. Still love the idea of the Brownie with the big ol' flash though.
 
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I belong to a 3D photo club here in Cleveland and folks bring in all sorts of slides from the 40's, 50's, 60's. Favorite shot from "back in the day" was of a carriage probalbly 20 feet from the camera, in color. The houses, perhaps 90 feet away were lit.

In the day of 8 ASA Kodachrome (and this was the old Kodachrome!) that musta been one MOTHER of a flash.
 
An addendum to my post above...

MY POLAROID IS HERE!!!!!! Now I gotta find some M3 bulbs so I can terrorize the east side of Cleveland, or at least my co-workers. :)
 
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