Adventures with flash bulbs

[JKW284]

Adventures with Flashbulbs

​

After 20 years of avid black and white photography, I decided to venture into using flashbulbs. I’ve long admired the quality of light from the old flash photographs, especially the portraits. Impressed with the less harsh light from flashbulbs and the more powerful output than form hand held strobes, I decided to give it a try. It was a trial and error process and I’ve decided to tell what I earned so others can enjoy this wonderful aspect of photography.

The flash holder

I ended up with three: the Honeywell TILT-A-MITE, The Kodak flash holder, and the Kodak BC flashholder. Each had advantages.

The TILT-A-MITE

This is relatively small, has a tilting flash head, and accepts AG-1 miniature, M3, M5, and P25 bulbs. It requires a 22.5 V A221 505A Alkaline battery available from Amazon or B&H. I read where a 123 battery will work, but I could not make this happen. It also has a small old style paper capacitor which may not work. I tell how to fix this later. The 3 inch reflector expands to the open position, has a satin finish, and the flash will attach to a hot shoe (non-powered) or tripod.

The Kodak Standard Flasholder

This is the simple press style flash holder which requires 2 C batteries. Mine was dirt cheap and came with the Kodak bayonet end to the cord, and a PC adapter. If you have one with the Kodak ASA bayonet end and need to adapt it to PC cords, you will need the adapter. These are a little hard to find on eBay. You may be able to get Paramount to make you one or you can strip the Kodak cord and attach a PC cord to it. Mine has a shiny 5 inch reflector.

The good thing about this flash holder is that it is simple and has no capacitor to go bad. I guess it exhausted batteries in press service and that is why Kodak went to the battery-capacitor (BC) flash units. It takes #5 and P25 bulbs, and you can get an adapter for M2, M3 and M5 bulbs on eBay or Etsy.

The Kodak BC Flasholder

This was the third Flasholder I bought. It is essentially the same as the Kodak Standard Flasholder, except that it takes one battery (C or 22.5 V) and has an old-style capacitor. As with the Honeywell flash, the capacitor in this one was bad, and I had to replace it. The battery should last longer with the capacitor (if it’s working), especially if you use the Exell Battery 412A 22.5V Alkaline Battery.

The capacitor

The old-style capacitors were made of rolled paper and an electrolyte solution. As they dried out or the chemistry changed with age, they ceased to work. The good news is that you can replace them with a modern capacitor. You will need a 220uF 35V 220MFD 35 Volt capacitor, and I bought 10 for $5.99 on Amazon. You will have to remove the old capacitor from the Flasholder. This pops out in the Honeywell, and required removing one screw holding a contact in the Kodak. Be sure you put the screw and contact back though. Then solder the new capacitor in place, taking care you put the positive (+) end of the contact wire on the positive terminal of the capacitor holder and the negative on the negative end. I didn’t have a soldering iron anymore, but I found this really great small one with all the accessories I could possibly need for & 14.39 on Amazon. That’s it, and now all my flasholders work great. I’ve included some pictures of my soldering work and the old and new capacitors:

Flashbulbs

I bought M3, M3B, M5, M5B, P25 and P25B bulbs off the internet. I looked for bargains, especially where I could buy a bulb for $1 or less if possible. Many of the bulbs had corroded bases and I had to lightly rub them on sandpaper so they would fire. All my bulbs worked so far except for one batch of M3 bulbs where about 1/3 were bad. The nice thing about the Honeywell TILT-A-MITE flash is that it has a test button which will light up when pressed if the bulb is good. I also found that the manufacturer’s guide numbers were pretty accurate.

Conclusion

I’m very pleased with the project. Now I have the wonderful quality of flashbulb lighting with guide numbers up to 320. That’s probably impossible with hand held strobes. My cost for the flashes and capacitors was about $19-$27, and the bulbs are about $1 to $1.50 apiece. It will take me about 175 flashes to approach the price of a $300 strobe and I’ll still have a more powerful flash with better quality. I hope you will try this on your own. Maybe if enough of us use bulbs, someone will start making them again. Best of luck!

James

 

[Paul Howell]

When I was a working PJ with my Nikon F and F2 I carried the Honeywell tilt flash bulb, and one or two M 5 and 25 bulbs, the guide number was much higher than my flash, did not take up space in my bag. I seldom had to use it.

 

[BrianShaw]

Hi James; welcome to Photrio. I'm a fellow flashbulb user and employ Graflite and a Speed Graphic. A fantastic source of light... and lots of it.

Regarding your suggestion to get cords from Paramount, is this advise current? They seem to have gone out of business quite a while ago and the website that is active has ridiculous pricing. A recent email enquiry to them went unanswered. Do you have knowledge of their current status?

 

[JKW284]

I just received a cord from Paramount last week - so they are back in business!

 

[JKW284]

When I was a working PJ with my Nikon F and F2 I carried the Honeywell tilt flash bulb, and one or two M 5 and 25 bulbs, the guide number was much higher than my flash, did not take up space in my bag. I seldom had to use it.

Awesome! That's why I like bulbs. By the way, I spent several years working with PJs in the 720 STG. I always appreciated what they did. Thanks for your service!

 

[JKW284]

Hi James; welcome to Photrio. I'm a fellow flashbulb user and employ Graflite and a Speed Graphic. A fantastic source of light... and lots of it.

Regarding your suggestion to get cords from Paramount, is this advise current? They seem to have gone out of business quite a while ago and the website that is active has ridiculous pricing. A recent email enquiry to them went unanswered. Do you have knowledge of their current status?

PS Probably best to call them at 718-401-0288. I think they answered my email, but the website and phone worked better.

 

[qqphot]

I am curious how you are managing exposure, flash timing, etc. I spent some time trying to adjust a flash synchronizer with a graflex and found it challenging, but I guess with more modern cameras with M sync there is less to worry about. Are you relying on the old GN tables that were provided with flashbulbs, or are you sacrificing a bulb to measure GN directly - and at what shutter speed, etc.

 

[BrianShaw]

These are the two time-honored ways I use for flashbulb exposure. GN works best.

 

[JKW284]

I am using the M synchronizer setting on my Graflex Schneider 135 mm lens. Since the flash distributes light for about 20 milliseconds, the guide number is greater with slower shutter speeds. The higher speeds like 1/250 and 1/500 sec only capture part of the peak light output, hence the guide number is lower for these speeds. I found the published speeds on the box to be pretty accurate. I tried to measure output with my Seconic light meter on the flash setting, but that didn't work. Maybe if I set the shuuter speed on the Sekonic slower than 1/250 it would work, but since the printed guide numbers on the package work for me I didn't do that, nor did I want to waste the bulbs. The flashrule looks interesting - probably would have saved me some calculating.

 

[wiltw]

The quality of light should not be unique to flashbulbs...any source with same size characteristics (reflector, not emitter itself) should be indistiguishable in character!
Flashbulb simply has longer persistence output (as well as timing, of course), and higher intensity of output than strobe output.

 

[JKW284]

You are right I think, and the difference might be in the bulb size, reflextor, etc. The difference in quality (softer than my strobes with less harsh shadows) must be in how those strobes were constructed. The difference in output is a different matter.

 

[albada]

Hi James,

I just sent you a PM (private message) offering you free flashbulbs. At the upper right corner of the Photrio page, you'll see "Inbox". Click on that, and you'll see the message.

Mark

 

[BrianShaw]

I use the Graphic solenoid synchronizer and Graflite flash. Best combination (cost/image trade) is 5/25 bulbs in the 7-inch reflector. GN goes down and that’s rarely a concern. Unfortunately I had to stop that combo because I lost my bayonet-to-screwbase adapter. (It’s out there somewhere!) The polished 5-inch reflector can be a bit harsh in terms of shadows.

 

[benveniste]

When I purchased my Nikon Z8, one of the first things I did was to shoot a shot with it using a Nikon BC-7.

 

[Paul Howell]

A mirror less will sycn with a flash bulb?

 

[BrianShaw]

@benveniste
I’m impressed; that’s novel. I assume that was done a shutter speed of 1/30 sec or slower.

 

[wiltw]

You are right I think, and the difference might be in the bulb size, reflextor, etc. The difference in quality (softer than my strobes with less harsh shadows) must be in how those strobes were constructed. The difference in output is a different matter.

Most 'strobes' used with SLRs and dSLRs and mirrorless have reflectors that effectively no larger than the lens that faces the subject; with flashbulbs, the effectve size of the flash is effectively the diameter of the reflector that backs the bulb. So with a Tilt-a-Mite you have about 28 sq. in. of area that is your effective emitter size (I assume 6" diameter reflector..I cannot find my Tilt-a-Mite at the moment) whereas my Metz electronic flash is effetively just about 3.2 sq. in. OTOH, my Dynalite studio flash has refectors which are either about 16 sq.in. or 33 sq.in. depending upon which reflector is mounted. SIZE MATTERS in the quality of light. My big Dynalite reflectors would make light similar to the Tilt-a-Mite, a bit softer.

 

[JKW284]

Adventures with Flashbulbs

​

After 20 years of avid black and white photography, I decided to venture into using flashbulbs. I’ve long admired the quality of light from the old flash photographs, especially the portraits. Impressed with the less harsh light from flashbulbs and the more powerful output than form hand held strobes, I decided to give it a try. It was a trial and error process and I’ve decided to tell what I earned so others can enjoy this wonderful aspect of photography.

The flash holder

I ended up with three: the Honeywell TILT-A-MITE, The Kodak flash holder, and the Kodak BC flashholder. Each had advantages.

The TILT-A-MITE

This is relatively small, has a tilting flash head, and accepts AG-1 miniature, M3, M5, and P25 bulbs. It requires a 22.5 V A221 505A Alkaline battery available from Amazon or B&H. I read where a 123 battery will work, but I could not make this happen. It also has a small old style paper capacitor which may not work. I tell how to fix this later. The 3 inch reflector expands to the open position, has a satin finish, and the flash will attach to a hot shoe (non-powered) or tripod.

The Kodak Standard Flasholder

This is the simple press style flash holder which requires 2 C batteries. Mine was dirt cheap and came with the Kodak bayonet end to the cord, and a PC adapter. If you have one with the Kodak ASA bayonet end and need to adapt it to PC cords, you will need the adapter. These are a little hard to find on eBay. You may be able to get Paramount to make you one or you can strip the Kodak cord and attach a PC cord to it. Mine has a shiny 5 inch reflector.

The good thing about this flash holder is that it is simple and has no capacitor to go bad. I guess it exhausted batteries in press service and that is why Kodak went to the battery-capacitor (BC) flash units. It takes #5 and P25 bulbs, and you can get an adapter for M2, M3 and M5 bulbs on eBay or Etsy.

The Kodak BC Flasholder

This was the third Flasholder I bought. It is essentially the same as the Kodak Standard Flasholder, except that it takes one battery (C or 22.5 V) and has an old-style capacitor. As with the Honeywell flash, the capacitor in this one was bad, and I had to replace it. The battery should last longer with the capacitor (if it’s working), especially if you use the Exell Battery 412A 22.5V Alkaline Battery.

The capacitor

The old-style capacitors were made of rolled paper and an electrolyte solution. As they dried out or the chemistry changed with age, they ceased to work. The good news is that you can replace them with a modern capacitor. You will need a 220uF 35V 220MFD 35 Volt capacitor, and I bought 10 for $5.99 on Amazon. You will have to remove the old capacitor from the Flasholder. This pops out in the Honeywell, and required removing one screw holding a contact in the Kodak. Be sure you put the screw and contact back though. Then solder the new capacitor in place, taking care you put the positive (+) end of the contact wire on the positive terminal of the capacitor holder and the negative on the negative end. I didn’t have a soldering iron anymore, but I found this really great small one with all the accessories I could possibly need for & 14.39 on Amazon. That’s it, and now all my flasholders work great. I’ve included some pictures of my soldering work and the old and new capacitors:



View attachment 398251 View attachment 398252 View attachment 398253 View attachment 398254

Flashbulbs

I bought M3, M3B, M5, M5B, P25 and P25B bulbs off the internet. I looked for bargains, especially where I could buy a bulb for $1 or less if possible. Many of the bulbs had corroded bases and I had to lightly rub them on sandpaper so they would fire. All my bulbs worked so far except for one batch of M3 bulbs where about 1/3 were bad. The nice thing about the Honeywell TILT-A-MITE flash is that it has a test button which will light up when pressed if the bulb is good. I also found that the manufacturer’s guide numbers were pretty accurate.

Conclusion

I’m very pleased with the project. Now I have the wonderful quality of flashbulb lighting with guide numbers up to 320. That’s probably impossible with hand held strobes. My cost for the flashes and capacitors was about $19-$27, and the bulbs are about $1 to $1.50 apiece. It will take me about 175 flashes to approach the price of a $300 strobe and I’ll still have a more powerful flash with better quality. I hope you will try this on your own. Maybe if enough of us use bulbs, someone will start making them again. Best of luck!

James

I have to make a correction here. The 22.5 V battery for the BC flasholder burned out the ceramic capacitor I installed. I guess the battery had too many Amps or something. I'll replace the capacitor and just use a C battery, which I know will work. Sorry for the misinformation. As I mentioned this is trial and error for me.

James

 

[wiltw]

I have to make a correction here. The 22.5 V battery for the BC flasholder burned out the ceramic capacitor I installed. I guess the battery had too many Amps or something. I'll replace the capacitor and just use a C battery, which I know will work. Sorry for the misinformation. As I mentioned this is trial and error for me.

James

The capacitor has a Voltage rating which should not be exceeded by the supply. A Tilta-a-Mite BC flash in the past was 15V battery (Eveready type #504)
If you fried the capacitor, select one that matches/exceeds the 22.5V rating of your substitute battery. Someone once posted that the stored charge in the original capacitor is 400 uf.

 

[benveniste]

@benveniste
I’m impressed; that’s novel. I assume that was done a shutter speed of 1/30 sec or slower.

Yes, although I do have some FP25 bulbs to try.

 

[benveniste]

A mirror less will sync with a flash bulb?

Sort of.

 

[JKW284]

The capacitor has a Voltage rating which should not be exceeded by the supply. A Tilta-a-Mite BC flash in the past was 15V battery (Eveready type #504)
If you fried the capacitor, select one that matches/exceeds the 22.5V rating of your substitute battery. Someone once posted that the stored charge in the original capacitor is 400 uf.

Thanks for the tip. Maybe that was the problem. The capacitor I used had 200mF capacity. I used another capacitor rated at 200 mF and changed the battery to a C battery and so far it works. If it fails, I'll try the 400 uF capacitor. Still learning as you can see.

 

[wiltw]

Thanks for the tip. Maybe that was the problem. The capacitor I used had 200mF capacity. I used another capacitor rated at 200 mF and changed the battery to a C battery and so far it works. If it fails, I'll try the 400 uF capacitor. Still learning as you can see.

The capacity of the cap was not the issue...that is merely the amount of charge that it can store, to later discharge throught the flashbulb. It is the max Voltage rating of the cap that was exceeeded via the 22.5V of the battery that supplied the charge which exceeded the amount of electrical force that the 'container' could withstand.

 

[Paul Howell]

Sort of.

I guess at 1/30 or 1/60 th of a second, although I stopped carrying flash bulbs when I got a F3, the F3 would sync with flash bulbs. Not sure about the F4 or 5.