Re: [Leica] Flashing

["Jem Kime" <jem.kime@cwcom.net>]

Interesting to see at photokina the revival of interest in old style flash
units.
Both as a chintzy accessory for the new / old Minox Leica IIIf and as a
serious addition to the Sunpak and other flash (strobe) ranges. These old
style guns with their dish shaped reflectors house something which looked
like a bulb but I'm not sure it wasn't a flash cell negating ongoing
purchases of those melting glass units!
Anyone look more closely than me?
Jem

- ----- Original Message -----
From: Neil Miller <plus_4@hotmail.com>

> Horst,
>
> I enjoyed your post regarding electronic flash vs flash bulbs. From a
person
> who uses a flash on an M2 with a 21mm lens all the time, it makes me want
to
> dig out that old Leica flash I have stored away. Or another option would
be
> to get the old 4x5 speed graphic out.  Just photographing the expressions
on
> the people viewing this odd equipment might make an interesting series.
>
> Neil
>
> Neil A. Miller
> 4340 E. Boulder Ridge
> Phoenix, AZ 85044
> USA
> ____________________________________________
>
> A.H.Schmidt wrote:
>
> Date: Fri, 06 Oct 2000 12:35:48 +1000
> From: "A.H.SCHMIDT" <horsts@primus.com.au>
> Subject: [Leica] Flashing
> Message-ID: <39DD3A84.121F4BBF@primus.com.au>
> References:
>
> My younger son (20 years old) was invited to attend a ballroom function
> ,organized by the university he attends.
> It was the first time for him to have to wear formal,  a Diner jacket,
> pants and bow tie.
> Of course my wife wanted some pictures of him taken. (me too, by the
> way) All dressed up and ready to go.
>
> Now, I'm not much good at portraits and people, but I decided to make a
> special effort.
> The weather forecast pointed to a fine and sunny day, so the day before
> the event, I went out in to the back garden, to find a nice spot to do
> the deed. I even cut a few branches, got my wife to cut the lawn and
> made thing nice. All in vain. The Melbourne weather didn't play ball.
> Next day, it rained. All day
>
> When I arrived home this day from work, Junior was all dressed up, with
> a foolish look.
>
> Never the less, as a proud father, (every body says, he looks like his
> father. The Lucky devil! ) I assemble my camera gear and we decided, the
> photos had to be taken inside the house. A fair amount of furniture
> shifting and moving together with removing and re hanging of pictures
> was instigated,  then it was decided,  now is the time do have junior
> put on to film, to be remembered for all time.
>
> The equipment I used: A M3, a 90 mm Elmarit (early version) and a 50 mm
> Summar (coated). also, I had a Sunpack electronic flash.
>
> The session went ahead. with the normal directions like: " Look happy,
> or you'll be in all sorts of trouble". (Lucky his older brother was not
> present, otherwise only stupid pulled faces and body contortions would
> have been presented.)
>
> After about 10 shots, things slowly started to get on to peoples nerves.
>
> What to do.  I told junior, who was really bored by now, to hang on,
> bribed  him  with 20 Bucks for some extra booze  to spend at the ball or
> after.
>
> I went to my room, rummaged through some boxes in a rush. It was my old
> Leitz flash gun ,
> bracket and a few packets of  blue flash globes. PF 1 type.
> The flash gun still had a 22.5V Varta battery in it, I made a test
> exposure with a bulb and
> it still worked.
>
> With the new (old style) setup, I went back in to the lounge room to
> resume the torture.
>
> After the first shot, and replacement of the bulb, there was a complete
> change of attitude.
>
> The look of amazement of  a bulb flashing and then melting and having to
> be replaced after each use, was astonishing. Of course he had never seen
> a flash bulb. Now the session was interesting and fun. my son wanted to
> replace the bulbs, also take pictures of me and my wife. It made all the
> difference. Peace was restored.
>
> Now to the prints. The first lot taken with the electronic flash, where
> not to bad, the exposure seemed ok, but somehow impersonal and
> unfriendly. Exactly like all  my previous flash pictures.
>
> The second lot  where completely different. They where warmer and  had a
> more gemuetlich look. Probably the happier atmosphere helped a bit, but
> I believe the slightly lower colour temperature of the blue flash bulbs
> must have helped to improve the final look.
> I also wonder if the much longer exposure time, 1/30 sec compared to
> about  1/2000 of a sec had something to do with it.  Maybe films like
> the longer  exposure better, than the extremely short amounts of high
> power light flashes.
>
> Some of you may have experience or more knowledge of this. It may be
> worth while to
> hear some comments.
>
> In the meantime, I looked for all my old flash bulbs. I found about 2000
> of the, With a mixture of  Focal plane bulbs and standard X-type bulbs.
>
> The final prints came out better than I hoped, and a couple are worth
> while for keeping.
>
> The 2 lenses I used,  performed really good. I managed to use both
> lenses as wide open as f2.8. I could not go wider, because the limit of
> the Elmarit is 2.8 and because with the Summar, the flash bulbs where a
> bit to power full.
>
> Regards, Horst Schmidt
>
>
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