So enlighten me, how do you use an electronic flash with a shutter that has no X setting? The synchronization for M typically fires the bulb 1/50th of a second or 20ms before triggering the shutter. IOW, the electronic flash would occur too early, No? TIA.
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i've used both a small sunpack auto thyroister ( 411? )
and a lumedyne 244
as long as you have an xsync shutter you are OK
i don't bother with bulbs .. i don't have the pockets
Originally Posted by BrianShaw
Brian: ISO 100 GN at 1/2 power is 120. FWIW, I was always a big fan of the Honeywell Strobonars and had several over the years, but the batteries eventually went kaput. Not sure if anyone is refurbishing those these days or not..........Bob
Jac, I once bought a Miniature Speed Graphic with a 107/3.7 Ektar in an unsynched Supermatic. A previous owner had attached a little spring to, IIRC, the cocking lever, had soldered one wire to the cocking lever and another to the cable release socked. The two wires went to a PC connector. When the camera was more or less level, the spring made contact with the shutter body when the shutter body and the flash fired. And it worked in the sense that it fired the flash. Not only that, it fired the flash when the shutter was fully open. Not at all what I expected when I first saw the, um, modification.
I think Rube Goldberg could have done it more tidily.
Moral: where there's a will, there's a way that looks like it shouldn't work but does.
The only modern alternative for a Crown flashhandle would be a number 5 / Press 25 bulb, they were made into the 80's. And are still available with a little searching. You could try the "M" series bulbs but they need a 3-4" reflector to get good coverage and maximum light output. I'm assuming you have a 5" or 7" reflector? Other than those two options I don't know of anything "modern" you could use on your Crown.
Signature deleted as to not offend certain people
This oscilloscope trace is of the Graflex Graftar f/4.5 103mm.
This shutter has no sync selector.
The cable was connected to fire the modified Graflite with the electronic flash in the reflector (shown in my post #10 above).
The photodiode was in the Graflex camera, a tungsten lamp provided the base illumination (hence the ripple) with the shutter set to 1/200th.
The flash fires about 1 millisecond after the shutter is fully open, as shown by the spike in light intensity.
I did about 20 repeats and the delay was consistent .
I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this, but a search through the forums didn't come up with anything else. This topic seems related. I am completely new to LF and just got a Graphic View II with an Optar 135mm f/4.7 on a Graphex (Wollensak) shutter with bi-post sync terminal. I have managed to get the shutter to trigger my studio strobes, using a modified PC cable (installed clips on one end for the bi-post). I haven't actually tested the sync with film, however. My question is this: Is there typically a shutter speed limitation on these LF shutters for syncing properly with a flash, like on a modern camera? For example, my Pentax 645N has a max sync speed of 1/60s. I suspect not due to it being a different shutter. I could just test this out and see what happens, but thought I'd ask the question on here rather than risk wasting precious film.
Thanks,
Richard
I will remember that one, Dan, just as I still remember your reminder long ago that “Good is the enemy of great".
What works, works!
Wombat, There shouldn't be a shutter speed limitation with strobe, but if the shutter's not functioning, there might be. The way to check is look through the shutter with the lens set wide open, while using it to fire the flash. If you get a big blinding white circle through the lens, then you're good to go. If you don't, something is wrong. If there's a slider mounted on the side of the lens with points on a scale reading Off, X, F, M or similar letters, it needs to be set to X for electronic flash. A scale looking like this one: http://static.photo.net/attachments/...r-47305584.jpg
If there's no switch and scale, it's probably X by default, good for your strobes at any speed, again, assuming things are working as they should. And again, you can check visually without film. Look for the blinding flash in the hole
Thanks, but I'd rather just watch:
Large format: http://flickr.com/michaeldarnton
Mostly 35mm: http://flickr.com/mdarnton
You want digital, color, etc?: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stradofear
Brilliant! (pun intended) Thank you very much mdarnton! I used the process you described, with the shutter set to 1/400s. I saw the blinding flash. I also tried at f/32 and was able to see a much less intense (and smaller) flash. I am sure I am seeing the flash, because I tried it with the flash off and the ambient light was of very low intensity, even wide open.
I'm excited about this capability. I can see applications for overcoming and underexposing ambient light on a sunny day with plenty of strobe power! I don't have a chance of doing that with the 1/60s xsync on the Pentax 645.
Thanks again!
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