Richard:
A history lesson about flash practical photography. Very
interesting!
Carlos
El dom., 11 ago. 2019 a las 17:47, `Richard Knoppow (<dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>)
escribió:
It seems to me (delving into very old memories) that
flashbulbs were improved over the years so late ones were less
sensitive to RF. An old press photographer's trick was to wedge a
second flashbulb into the reflector next to the first. Both would
go off although the second one did not put out as much light as
the first. Not sure this worked on later bulbs.
I have heard tales of photographers carrying a bag of
flashbulbs which all went off at once.
The bulbs I used all had a lacquer coating to prevent
shattering, you could hear it fry when flashing a bulb. Back in
the bad old days press guys would just drop used bulbs on the
ground leaving a mess of crunched glass after photo ops. Around
the 1950s portable strobe units became available but a large
flashbulb would still put out more light than any of them. Plus
they were heavy.
You will sometimes see pictures of press photographers with
triple head flashguns or sometimes one on each side of the camera.
A problem with all of them was being able to put out enough
current to flash the bulb and work the synchronizer. Some
shutters, particularly Kodak and older Compur shutters use a
booster spring for the hightest speed. This results in greater
force being necessary to trip the shutter. Sometimes a three
battery case would not be able to trip the shutter at the highest
speed or might trip it but not have enough voltage to flash the
bulb. There was an extension for Graflex flashguns (and I think
others too) to take an extra battery. Wollensak shutters had
constant tripping force, an advantage. One occasionally sees
Zeiss or Kodak lenses in Wollensak shutters. The Wollensak lenses
were not very good despite the excellent shutters they came in.
Many press photographers used the solenoid as a remote
tripper even when not using flash or using the built-in
synchronizer in later shutters. It was convenient to have that
push button on the back of the battery case. Graflex began to
equip Speed and Crown Graphics with a body release but the
battery case tripper was still more convenient for the front
shutter (didn't work on the focal plane shutter).
I am glad to hear that the Irish company is still in
business. Flashbulbs are still useful where a very large amount
of light is required and the equipment is very light weight.
I think flash powder is still very occasionally used for
illuminating very large areas, it puts out more light even than
flashbulbs.
Done forget flash sheets. These were paper sheets
impregnated with flash powder. Used on a fixture and tripped with
either a battery or a spark like cigarette lighter. Kodak used to
make them but they were discontinued after bulbs became
available. Flash powder and sheets are quite hazardous and are
dirty (smoke). BANG!!!
On 8/11/2019 1:11 PM, Don Williams wrote:
I guess I am lucky. I probably did every one of those thingsdickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
during my flash bulb days. I used to have a rubber strap with 12
holes in it that I attached to my Rolleimarin. I had 100%
success with flash bulbs in the ocean and at depths up to 150’
which was my personal limit. I always used blue-coated bulbs,
even underwater.
DAW
WB6KBL
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