using strobe

[lightfootwillwalkinthecat]

Haven't bought any gear yet but I want to use strobe. I figure I will need around 4000 watts. I'm looking at old Norman P2000 packs with 2400 heads... my question is, what's the deal with
UV coated strobe heads? Some listed as UV corrected... UV coated. I'm assuming I need to find heads that are NOT UV corrected or coated ... is that correct? Looking at these Norman packs because
they are now cheap on Ebay and I've used them way back when :) Is there a way to un-coat the head ?

[nerologic]

UV coating doesn’t matter. Several folks have done extensive testing. You won’t notice a difference that’s any greater than other plate-to-plate variables.


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[Ulophot]

The UV coating was added, as far as I understand -- Bob Salomon may want to chime in here -- for photographers photographing such products as synthetic fabrics that were more affected by UV, i.e., causing color shifts. Sometimes photographers using strobe for museum paintings and artifacts used UV filters as well. I don't know that it was much of a concern for portraitists or architectural photographers.

[lightfootwillwalkinthecat]

That's great news... one less thing to deal with :) Thanks

[Bob Salomon]

That's great news... one less thing to deal with :) Thanks

UV coated flash tubes are a must if you don’t want things like cloths, underware, etc to change colors. Or glow.

[Bernice Loui]

Recreating 1850s Vintage Photography..
http://www.philwarrenphotography.com/recreating-1850s-vintage-photography-and-ir/

Spectral power distribution of studio flash light:
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Spectral-power-distribution-of-studio-flash-light_fig1_274676214

UV coated xeon flash tubes happend when shifty and odd colors were rendered on color films became a very real problem. The photo strobe industry responded by offering UV coated flash tubes to reduce the UV content of strobe light improving color rendition of color films from that era.

The answer to this question will not be a simple yes/no as there are SO many other factors involved with wet plate image making..

There are many vintage kilowatt/second studio strobe units on the market today at very low cost. This happened due to the strobe powere needs of current digital being nothing like what it once was for film, specially in studio image making. Be aware the majority of these vintage studio strobe power packs have hidden problems and should not be put back into service before the specific power pack has been checked out very carefully, their capacitors re-formed and verified for proper operation. Risk of catastrophic power pack failure is significant if these percautions are not taken and done properly.
https://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?165196-Elinchrom-404-Rebuild


Bernice

[Daniel Unkefer]

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52448373301_500060466f_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2nUFC7i)My New Broncolor C200 1500WS Pulso Monolight 2 (https://flic.kr/p/2nUFC7i) by Nokton48 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/18134483@N04/), on Flickr

This thing is a powerhouse. My new to me Broncolor C200 Monolight. I cobbled together an adapter, to put my olde blue Universal reflectors and attachments, onto this much more modern unit. After another enjoyable conversation with Kevin at KHB (he's the Omega Guy in Canada), I slowly and carefully reformed the caps, and it's fully back to life at this point. WOW this thing moves some air when it fires at 1500 watt seconds. And it's about a stop brighter than my 1500 ws Broncolor packs, due to lack of long connection cords. My main use for this will be with my modern Broncolor Strip Lights, which eat up a lot of light with my other smaller monolights. This will fit the bill very nicely and a welcome addition to my studio. Makes quite a POP when it fires. Hello F64. Additionally, it integrates with my kinda modern Broncolor TTL strobe meters.

A $2200 strobe new for $229 used. I love it.

[paulbarden]

Since the OP has posted this to the Wet Plate forum, its safe to assume he's looking for a strobe kit to make Wet Plate photographs. So its in his best interest to know about the UV filtering coatings that may or may not be present on the equipment he's buying.

Now, I don't know for sure how you determine which heads are UV coated or not. Its possible that for your needs, it may not be very important. Someone here may be doing the same thing you're considering and can give you a definitive answer. But I do know several Wet Plate photographers who use Speedotron packs delivering 4000 watts of light, and they seem to find that works well. Most old Norman kits go cheap because they are REALLY old and may not be reliable. I'd go with Speedotron or Broncolor myself.

[paulbarden]

UV coated flash tubes are a must if you don’t want things like cloths, underware, etc to change colors. Or glow.

The OP is looking for equipment to make Wet Plate photographs, so getting as much UV from his lighting is important, color shifts are not.

[Daniel Unkefer]

Geoff Berliner told me he uses a 4000 watt second Speedotron in his tintype studio at Penumbra. You might want to talk to Geoff about this

[drarmament]

I use a Norman 40/40 for dry plate. I really don’t know how much wet plate is different from dry plate is. But my emulsion is around ISO 1 ish and I have to use 4000w at f4.5 to expose properly. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20240229/6c8425c184585d021ed77be462fa0ba2.jpg


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[Mal Paso]

Wow! Thanks for sharing! I just picked up another 4KWS Norman, the price was too good to pass up.

The UV coating was an option on the LH2000 heads and was to prevent fluorescing of wedding dresses in particular. As far as I know UV coating was standard on the LH2400 heads. Both are capable of 2400WS.

[drarmament]

Wow! Thanks for sharing! I just picked up another 4KWS Norman, the price was too good to pass up.

The UV coating was an option on the LH2000 heads and was to prevent fluorescing of wedding dresses in particular. As far as I know UV coating was standard on the LH2400 heads. Both are capable of 2400WS.

I need to get another Norman 40/40 pack for the 4000w head. I need a hair light. My 500w let doesn’t do anything. But I do want find a higher power strobe so I can use a softbox.


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[Mal Paso]

I need to get another Norman 40/40 pack for the 4000w head. I need a hair light. My 500w let doesn’t do anything. But I do want find a higher power strobe so I can use a softbox.


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There are deals from time to time on ebay. The 4000PS I bought was $135 delivered. Nice condition, it just sat there until I could stand it no more.LOL

[drarmament]

There are deals from time to time on ebay. The 4000PS I bought was $135 delivered. Nice condition, it just sat there until I could stand it no more.LOL

Nice. I see one for 375 right


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[Mal Paso]

Nice. I see one for 375 right


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Be patient, all the high price stuff will sit there for years. If you scan the listings a couple times a week you'll find a motivated seller.

It's not a horrible price as new 2400WS units are $3800. I paid $300 for my first 4000PS

[drarmament]

Be patient, all the high price stuff will sit there for years. If you scan the listings a couple times a week you'll find a motivated seller.

It's not a horrible price as new 2400WS units are $3800. I paid $300 for my first 4000PS

Yeah. I need to get a few things before I get a new pack.


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[AgNO3]

Chiming in just to drop an alternative to professional studio gear:

My wet plates are done on a budget and sometimes out doors, so I´ve searched for cheap and mobile akku flash. I ended up with 2 sets of "Jinbei DC 1200 (https://fripers.ie/p/zestaw-oswietlenia-blyskowego-jinbei-discovery-2-1200-a-6934/)", which were sourced for 350€ combined*. Each pack serves two heads and delivers 1200ws to a single head or splits them into 800/400ws for two heads.
248523
248522
248521

2400ws from two DC 1200 packs with all four heads at ca 1-1.5m distance, no diffusor, shot on 8x10" tin & glass (sorry for the reflection) with the 20"f6.3 Wray aerial lens, old Packard shutter is opened for ca 1sec under the the Jinbei´s LED-setting light (to assure synchronization of that unreliable shutter) before flash.

*The battery packs of the DC1200 are known to lose durability over time, which makes them pretty useless for modern digital shootings, where vulgar amounts of exposures are expected. Many pros drop them for cheap. For the few wet plates I do on a day, a worn out battery is still sufficient and much cheaper replaced/reconditioned, than the often faulty and hard to source capacitors in older studio gear, like the Speedotrons and such, which then suffer from non-consistant amount of light thrown out.

[drarmament]

Chiming in just to drop an alternative to professional studio gear:

My wet plates are done on a budget and sometimes out doors, so I´ve searched for cheap and mobile akku flash. I ended up with 2 sets of "Jinbei DC 1200 (https://fripers.ie/p/zestaw-oswietlenia-blyskowego-jinbei-discovery-2-1200-a-6934/)", which were sourced for 350€ combined*. Each pack serves two heads and delivers 1200ws to a single head or splits them into 800/400ws for two heads.
248523
248522
248521

2400ws from two DC 1200 packs with all four heads at ca 1-1.5m distance, no diffusor, shot on 8x10" tin & glass (sorry for the reflection) with the 20"f6.3 Wray aerial lens, old Packard shutter is opened for ca 1sec under the the Jinbei´s LED-setting light (to assure synchronization of that unreliable shutter) before flash.

*The battery packs of the DC1200 are known to lose durability over time, which makes them pretty useless for modern digital shootings, where vulgar amounts of exposures are expected. Many pros drop them for cheap. For the few wet plates I do on a day, a worn out battery is still sufficient and much cheaper replaced/reconditioned, than the often faulty and hard to source capacitors in older studio gear, like the Speedotrons and such, which then suffer from non-consistant amount of light thrown out.

Nice. I got my Norman 40/40 with 2 4000w heads for 200. I hope I can find another 40/40 so I can run both heads. Next week I’m going make some collodion and see if I can get it sensitive to run 2000w on each head. Then I can us a main and hair light.


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[neil poulsen]

Wow! Thanks for sharing! I just picked up another 4KWS Norman, the price was too good to pass up.

The UV coating was an option on the LH2000 heads and was to prevent fluorescing of wedding dresses in particular. As far as I know UV coating was standard on the LH2400 heads. Both are capable of 2400WS.

Be careful of the Normans; old power packs like these can be lethal. That was advice given to us by architectural photographer Norman McGrath in a 2002 workshop I took from him.

Earlier that year, I was interested in a pair of 4000 watt-second Normans being sold by our local Pro Photo Supply. The sales person made a comment or two and diverted to another customer. So experimenting, I turned the main power switch to off and pressed a button to discharge the pack.

KerPow!!! That power pack lit up like a Christmas tree. Absolutely scared the hell out of me. Of course, the power pack was gone. Needless to say, I withdrew from the purchase. I later called the Norman company and was told that the power pack must have been defective. Thank goodness I didn't discover the defect plugging a strobe into that pack. As Norman McGrath was later to say, old power packs can be lethal.

So at the end of the workshop, I asked Norman, were he beginning fresh, what would he purchase? He responded that he would purchase Dynalite. They have special safety features that prevent shocks, when connecting Dynalite strobes to their power packs. Norman routinely carried five strobes and power packs providing up to 5000 watt-seconds. So, I purchased, and still have, the equivalent in Dynalites. And, I'm still around to use them.

[Tin Can]

Be careful of the Normans; old power packs like these can be lethal. That was advice given to us by architectural photographer Norman McGrath in a 2002 workshop I took from him.

Earlier that year, I was interested in a pair of 4000 watt-second Normans being sold by our local Pro Photo Supply. The sales person made a comment or two and diverted to another customer. So experimenting, I turned the main power switch to off and pressed a button to discharge the pack.

KerPow!!! That power pack lit up like a Christmas tree. Absolutely scared the hell out of me. Of course, the power pack was gone. Needless to say, I withdrew from the purchase. I later called the Norman company and was told that the power pack must have been defective. Thank goodness I didn't discover the defect plugging a strobe into that pack. As Norman McGrath was later to say, old power packs can be lethal.

So at the end of the workshop, I asked Norman, were he beginning fresh, what would he purchase? He responded that he would purchase Dynalite. They have special safety features that prevent shocks, when connecting Dynalite strobes to their power packs. Norman routinely carried five strobes and power packs providing up to 5000 watt-seconds. So, I purchased, and still have, the equivalent in Dynalites. And, I'm still around to use them.

Very good advice Neil

Old packs ARE dangerous

I had one pack Reformed in Canada

I no longer use it, I forget the brand

I was given a lot of 'Heat' for using Flash Bulbs

I use them with safety covers

[Mal Paso]

I've never heard of a fatal Norman experience. Dynalite is no longer in business but you can buy a new Norman power packs that meets today's standards or recent ones that are close. All the 900 series lamp heads fit all the 900 series packs.

On the old P2000Ds if you switched a capacitor bank hot you could expect a pistol shot sound. It doesn't usually break anything. I've had 1 pin failure and 1 capacitor failure and neither injured me. You should be careful with any high power strobe it's dangerous like a table saw. There's something like 600 Amps going through those cables for 1/250 of a second at very serious voltage.