Flash for LF

[jnantz]

it depends ...
inside studio setting i use a pair of monoblocks ..
one with a medium chimera and the other with a 40" larson soffbox ...
outside on location i will use a lumedyne 244 ..
i have a long sync cord and can set the camera on a tripod
and use the flash off camera if need be, or use a bachrach bracket
and mount it right onto the camera's side (threaded) tripod mount ...
with the bracket i have a universal mount head so i can tilt or swing
the flash head any way i need to ... and the flash has a reflector, snoot,
soffbox, globe or tupperware diffuser ( and 2nd head ) if needed ...
it works pretty well for what it is ...

[Daniel_Buck]

bluenote: if you are wanting to go for a vintage strobe-flash like mine, I would highly suggest contacting Al from stroboflash.com, http://www.stroboflash.com/strobofla...lash_Main.html He helped me get into the flash setup. Al outfited the flash case with the new/modern battery and serviced the flash head itself. His friend Karl Schefft helped me find an old unit on ebay as a base flash to get the unit up and running with. Apparently Karl collects these old strobo-flashes, so I'm not entirely sure how willing he is to help out everyone looking for one, but for me he was quite nice enough to help me find my flash & battery pack, as well as a few extra parts that I needed to get things finished up. If you want a bulb-flash that was probably more typical of the press shooters, then there isn't really much you need to get setup, just find a flash and flash handle, and a few packs of old bulbs and a flash guide chart :-)

My next thing to try is shooting a set of regular hot-shoe flashes from a 4x5/8x10 via a pocketwizard setup like I do with my 35mm DSLR. I've tested the flash sync on some of my large format shutters, and it does indeed fire the flashes, but I've not yet run a sheet of film through to see if the flashes are actually 100% synced to the shutter. I don't really have any doubt that they will be synced (since they are firing just fine), but I've not actually tested them on film, so I can't be 100% sure they work together flawlessly.

Best of luck to you! It's fun! :-)

Old flash if it's for display. New flash if you actually want to shoot with it.

The strobo-flash system (1950's?) that I've been using on my speedgraphic is great, it somewhat keeps the look and feel of an old bulb flash "press camera", but doesn't require changing bulbs. However, it does require a battery pack on your shoulder! And witht he modified battery pack from Al at stroboflash.com, it's completely rechargeable. And actually, I've only charged mine once, I've not needed to re-charge it again! It seems to hold quite alot of full-power flash hits in one charge!

[bluenote]

bluenote:

The strobo-flash system (1950's?) that I've been using on my speedgraphic is great, it somewhat keeps the look and feel of an old bulb flash "press camera", but doesn't require changing bulbs. However, it does require a battery pack on your shoulder! And witht he modified battery pack from Al at stroboflash.com, it's completely rechargeable. And actually, I've only charged mine once, I've not needed to re-charge it again! It seems to hold quite alot of full-power flash hits in one charge!

..yes, that is what I am scared of.... to add more weight to my shoulder.... :-(

Do you have additional smaller tripod to place the flash when working alone ( for portrait work in field, for example ) ? When shooting 5x7 portrait alone with model, it is almost impossible to attach the flash to camera.

[Daniel_Buck]

no, I just leave the flash handle attached to the camera the entire time, and shoot with the flash mounted to that. I've not tried using it off-camera yet. For that, I will be using the regular flash guns and doing it wireless with pocket wizards.