Diane Arbus' strobe

[alanbarker]

Does anyone know what brand and model strobe Diane Arbus is shown using in this photo?

 

[Alex Benjamin]

Even better view here:

 

[Pieter12]

Metz/Braun?

 

[alanbarker]

Metz/Braun?

I don't see any models that match. Some of the early Heiland Strobonars are close but not the same. Judging from her photos it must have had a quite high guide number.

 

[MattKing]

Could it have been a Mamiya flash?

 

[retina_restoration]

It was NOT either the Metz or the Braun, which were electronic flash types.
It seems there were a number of similar flash units made for cameras of that time, but I could find none that appear to be a match. There were flashes made by Heiland/Honeywell that were similar, and there was the Mendelsohn Speed‑Gun Universal Flash, Model E, but it doesn't look exactly like what Diane is using. There was also the Graflex 3-cell flash handle, but it also appears different.
Now, what I note in the second photo is that there is a classic hose clamp about halfway down the battery (capacitor?) tube handle. Surely that is a home-made modification of some sort, but why is it there? Is it possible the tube is just some ordinary plastic tube that the flash unit slides into? (Which may explain why I've found it very difficult to ID the unit) If the flash unit is simply resting in some kind of DIY sleeve attached to the camera, it could potentially be something like the Graflex "light saber" flash.

 

[ags2mikon]

Mighty light. Made in New York city.

 

[BrianShaw]

Mighty light. Made in New York city.

Having never heard of these, I googled it and found a citation for one at the Metropolitan Museum in NYC… donated by Larry Fink in memory of Diane Arbus. Interesting!

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/307434

Sadly, no image available.

 

[ags2mikon]

Check ebay. I just found some for you.

 

[Don_ih]

Mighty Light from ebay. Sure looks right.

 

[Alex Benjamin]

Side note: researching this, I learned that the Star Wars lightsaber was based on the Graflex flash unit .

The Star Wars Lightsaber was based on a camera flash handle

Star Wars owes the design of the Lightsaber—one of the most iconic props in the franchise—to an antique camera flash handle.

www.popphoto.com

 

[Don_ih]

Star Wars lightsaber was based on the Graflex flash unit

yes - many Heiland flash handles have been voraciously bought up and transformed into fan-light sabres. For a while, one of those flashes could sell for $1000.

 

[Pieter12]

Vintage Mighty Light Flash Strobe With Battary Pack | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Vintage Mighty Light Flash Strobe With Battary Pack at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

ebay.us

 

[alanbarker]

Check ebay. I just found some for you.

That is it! Thank you. Now the hunt for specs.

 

[alanbarker]

Many thanks. More info here, scroll down. https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-724206-3.html

 

[reddesert]

It was NOT either the Metz or the Braun, which were electronic flash types.
It seems there were a number of similar flash units made for cameras of that time, but I could find none that appear to be a match. There were flashes made by Heiland/Honeywell that were similar, and there was the Mendelsohn Speed‑Gun Universal Flash, Model E, but it doesn't look exactly like what Diane is using. There was also the Graflex 3-cell flash handle, but it also appears different.
Now, what I note in the second photo is that there is a classic hose clamp about halfway down the battery (capacitor?) tube handle. Surely that is a home-made modification of some sort, but why is it there? Is it possible the tube is just some ordinary plastic tube that the flash unit slides into? (Which may explain why I've found it very difficult to ID the unit) If the flash unit is simply resting in some kind of DIY sleeve attached to the camera, it could potentially be something like the Graflex "light saber" flash.

I had no idea what the brand of flash was, but as others showed, it is an electronic flash, not a bulb unit. I think one can kind of tell this from the shape of the tube, which is more cylindrical than a typical flash bulb. The hose-clamp-like thing is clamping the flash onto her camera bracket. I don't know if that was improvised or part of the bracket. It is possible that the flash was originally meant to fit in a bracket that hooked into two clips like you often find on a Speed Graphic, and that Arbus preferred a different bracket to fit the Mamiya TLR.

 

[Don_ih]

The hose-clamp-like thing is clamping the flash onto her camera bracket. I don't know if that was improvised or part of the bracket.

See:

That's a standard hose clamp. So, the attachment was makeshift. But it worked, so that's all that matters.

 

[Alex Benjamin]

Excerpt from Arthur Lubow's biography of Diane Arbus: "Arbus had borrowed, probably in 1964, a Mighty Lite hand-held flash from the photographer Larry Fink, another former student of Model; she kept it for the rest of her life.

So not only can we confirm the Might Lite, we now know where she got it from .

 

[BrianShaw]

... and we have a real good idea of where it is currently. See Post #8.

 

[reddesert]

At the head of this article is a photo of Larry Fink with a Mamiya TLR and the same type of flash unit, possibly the exact same one. https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2023/11/a-fond-farewell-to-photographer-larry-fink

It's a little melancholy or something, one imagines him lending the flash to his fellow-student (Fink would have been beginning his career, he was quite a bit younger than Arbus), getting it back after her untimely death, and holding onto it for 40 years until donating it to the Met, perhaps while trimming down his own possessions.

 

[Alex Benjamin]

... and we have a real good idea of where it is currently. See Post #8.

Oh yeah. Missed that one, for some reason...