Strobonar Flash Handle Diameter Question

[hsandler]

[QUOTE=Bob Salomon;1437980]

Guess you have never tried the Metz 60 CT-4!

I think the OP stated he didn't want to use an L bracket. I think the 60CT-4 has a handle too fat to use the Graflex clamps. I have a 45CT-5 and the handle is definitely too fat. Actually, I've tried tarting up my Graflex with both my frankenflash handle (with a Nikon SB800 flash on top--that would fit the criteria of a flash with manually adjustable power output by the way) and a Metz as fill flash.
Crown Graphic tarted up by Howard Sandler, on Flickr

[Bob Salomon]

[QUOTE=hsandler;1437982]

I think the OP stated he didn't want to use an L bracket. I think the 60CT-4 has a handle too fat to use the Graflex clamps. I have a 45CT-5 and the handle is definitely too fat. Actually, I've tried tarting up my Graflex with both my frankenflash handle (with a Nikon SB800 flash on top--that would fit the criteria of a flash with manually adjustable power output by the way) and a Metz as fill flash.
Crown Graphic tarted up by Howard Sandler, on Flickr

With hose clamps and ingenuity the Metz can be adapted to the Graflex bracket but I would just screw a Metz type plate to the bracket on the Graflex.

[HT Finley]

I could achieve the wanted goal if there was a way to rig up venetian blind style louvers on my Honeywell Strobonar. But mounting my 611 to the Graflex with the standard bracket and tripod socket screw is out. A 3/16 tripod socket and screw to hold together 2 hunks of beef like that has worked out terribly. It slips around all the time, and if you carry the camera by the leather handle, the weight of the flash might rip out the tripod socket, and vice versa by carrying the rig by the flash handle. Plus there's a lot of hand switching to operate the cocking lever, focus, and getting set for the shot. Too bad honeywell went out of the camera business before the Strobonar was allowed to evolve to the level of the Sunpaks and Metzes and such.

[Mark Sampson]

FWIW, there was a variable-power module that plugged into the front of a Vivitar 283. So that might work. Don't know what other Vivitars might have done that, I gave away my 283s and all the accessories 6-7 years back.
And "lots of hand switching"... that's one good reason why MF roll film cameras took over. Rolleis, Hasselblads, Mamiyas, Bronicas... all got the job done easier with a big flash hanging off the side. Even Graflex's move to modernize, the XL, required separate film wind and shutter cocking. Wasn't a sales success, and gone by 1973.

[HT Finley]

[QUOTE=Bob Salomon;1437984]

With hose clamps and ingenuity the Metz can be adapted to the Graflex bracket but I would just screw a Metz type plate to the bracket on the Graflex.

Thank you for the constructive post. The only thing I have against adopting this idea is the obvious parallax of the flash beam to camera angle of view. Seems like you'd have to be at least 10 feet away from your subject to get the flash to cover the negative area.

[HT Finley]

Looks like it's back to the drawing board with my Honeywell 682S. Just no capability for fill flash artisanry. (is that a word?) I think the Strobonars must have been originally designed to replace the Graflite. They don't weigh anything, and pack a wallop, although outmatched on raw power by the Sunpak, but still pretty hot. With that Strobonar on a Super Graphic with its red button operational, and a Grafmatic holder, you could grab shots almost as fast as an F2 with an MD-2. Well, close enough. A Graflex with a Strobonar is not the least bit clumsy and unwieldly. Thanks, folks.

[Bob Salomon]

[QUOTE=HT Finley;1437993]

Thank you for the constructive post. The only thing I have against adopting this idea is the obvious parallax of the flash beam to camera angle of view. Seems like you'd have to be at least 10 feet away from your subject to get the flash to cover the negative area.

Why, it should be no different then mounting the Strobonar and the Metz head swivels as well as tilts so aiming it is no problem!

[hsandler]

Just wanted to add that just about any moderate to upscale modern flash from the digital era, like the Nikon Sb600, 800 and Canon equivalents, can be used with simple hot shoe triggering even with off brand cameras. They all have swivel and tilt heads and manually adjustable power in half stop increments. So if you can get a shoe attached to your Super Graphic, or a shoe attached to an accessory handle, you've got a flash solution. Since these flashes usually lack sync cables, I put a hot shoe adapter (about $9 from B&H IIRC) in the cold shoe I mounted on my graflite handle. It's got male and female pc connectors on it, and I then run a pc to pc cable to the shutter.

[Bob Salomon]

“... They don't weigh anything, and pack a wallop, although outmatched on raw power by the Sunpak, but still pretty hot. ”

This is a very deceiving statement as you need to know the angle of coverage of the flash to know if it is really “pretty hot” when compared to other flashes. Some manufacturers boost their stated output by specifying it over a very narrow angle of coverage.
Then you need to know how even that coverage is from edge to edge.

[pendennis]

Looks like it's back to the drawing board with my Honeywell 682S. Just no capability for fill flash artisanry. (is that a word?) I think the Strobonars must have been originally designed to replace the Graflite. They don't weigh anything, and pack a wallop, although outmatched on raw power by the Sunpak, but still pretty hot. With that Strobonar on a Super Graphic with its red button operational, and a Grafmatic holder, you could grab shots almost as fast as an F2 with an MD-2. Well, close enough. A Graflex with a Strobonar is not the least bit clumsy and unwieldly. Thanks, folks.

The Strobonars were a bit overrated when it came to pure power. They always advertised a guide number of 80 (f4@20ft), using Kodachrome 25, but you could guarantee some underexposure at that setting. I worked out my own guide numbers, as did most of the photographers I knew. Of course, part of the problem was with the ni-cads (especially with the 700 series). You could get a ready light before the capacitor was completely charged.

Don't get me wrong, for the size of the package, they provided a ton of light, and one of the main advantages was that the light was slightly warm, providing skin tones that didn't have a pasty look to them.

The sub-C cells in the head (700 series) were notorious for quickly developing a memory, if you didn't run down the batteries before recharging. In fact, my dad built a small assembly which would draw down the batteries to zero charge before I would recharge them.