Anyone familiar with this vintage "Rainbow" portable flash?

Dusty Negative · Sep 10, 2022

I was gifted this today, with no accompanying information --- I see a few of them on eBay...they are all dated 1950. I can't find much else on them, though, and curious (and rather certain) that someone here on Photrio is familiar with them.

Might be fun to play around...but what bulb? Will they fry a modern camera's circuitry?? I googled 22 1/2 volt battery, and, indeed, looks like they still exist!

btaylor · Sep 11, 2022

Yes, those 22 1/2V batteries still exist, thank goodness. I need them for the solenoid shutter release on my Super Graphic. A bit pricey to resurrect that old flash- for a cheaper alternative there was a discussion over at LFPF about building cheaper alternatives using button cells I believe.

AgX · Sep 11, 2022

Aside of the brand/manufacturer I do not see anything special at that flash. A typical amateur flash from the 50's maybe 60's.

Sirius Glass · Sep 11, 2022

A fan fold flash holder/gun that was common in the 1950's and 1960's. They worked well which explains the popularity. I used them back then. There were so many brands that all the names were unmemorable.

Dusty Negative · Sep 11, 2022

AgX said:
Aside of the brand/manufacturer I do not see anything special at that flash. A typical amateur flash from the 50's maybe 60's.

Agreed. But, they’re new to me and I am curious.

Sirius Glass said:
A fan fold flash holder/gun that was common in the 1950's and 1960's. They worked well which explains the popularity. I used them back then. There were so many brands that all the names were unmemorable.

I assume, given the size, that they weren’t particularly powerful? What would have been your typical use-case for a flash like this?

MattKing · Sep 11, 2022

Dusty Negative said:
I assume, given the size, that they weren’t particularly powerful? What would have been your typical use-case for a flash like this?

You may be surprised how powerful flashbulbs with small reflectors actually were!

AgX · Sep 11, 2022

Dusty Negative said:
Agreed. But, they’re new to me and I am curious.

So, you only came across the dish-type flashes? I thought those fan-type ones had been popular in the US too.

Sirius Glass · Sep 11, 2022

Dusty Negative said:
Agreed. But, they’re new to me and I am curious.

I assume, given the size, that they weren’t particularly powerful? What would have been your typical use-case for a flash like this?

MattKing said:
You may be surprised how powerful flashbulbs with small reflectors actually were!

One looked a that diameter of the fan fold extended, the surface type, and the film ASA, pre ISO numbers, or DIN on the table printed on the flash bulb box to get the guide number. The guide number was divided by the distance in feet or meters, according to the table and the result was the f/stop.

DWThomas · Sep 11, 2022

Loosely speaking it appears to share similarities with the Honeywell Tilt-A-Mite which has been periodically discussed on these forums. https://www.photrio.com/forum/threa...ll-tilt-a-mite-flash-have-a-capacitor.138896/

That socket in the Rainbow looks as if it may take an number 5 or 25 bayonet base and possibly (can't be sure from the picture) an M2 type with a small diameter cylindrical base. Some Tilt-A-Mites took AG1 bulbs also.

As noted above you may be quite surprised at how much light those bulbs put out.

Dusty Negative · Sep 13, 2022

DWThomas said:
Loosely speaking it appears to share similarities with the Honeywell Tilt-A-Mite which has been periodically discussed on these forums. https://www.photrio.com/forum/threa...ll-tilt-a-mite-flash-have-a-capacitor.138896/

That socket in the Rainbow looks as if it may take an number 5 or 25 bayonet base and possibly (can't be sure from the picture) an M2 type with a small diameter cylindrical base. Some Tilt-A-Mites took AG1 bulbs also.

As noted above you may be quite surprised at how much light those bulbs put out.

Thanks for that. I'll give it a try for grins. I'm curious to see how 50-year old (or more) consumer technology performs.

Anyone familiar with this vintage "Rainbow" portable flash?

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