press flash - help

[Jos De]

After watching my fair share of movies over the past few years, I have noticed over and over again press cameras with there loud flashes popping off and/or exploding and it has sparked some interest in me. I was looking around trying to find a large flash dish to mount on my TLR, but have come up short handed. I'm really looking forward to experimenting once I find one but until then does anyone have any experience (or advice) shooting with flash bulbs? Any help would be great! Thanks alot.

Joe

 

[Roger Hicks]

After watching my fair share of movies over the past few years, I have noticed over and over again press cameras with there loud flashes popping off and/or exploding and it has sparked some interest in me. I was looking around trying to find a large flash dish to mount on my TLR, but have come up short handed. I'm really looking forward to experimenting once I find one but until then does anyone have any experience (or advice) shooting with flash bulbs? Any help would be great! Thanks alot.

Joe

Dear Joe,

Bulbs throw out an immense amount of light (think of a shoe-mount 1200 W-s flash). They are damnably inconvenient and hellish expensive, but quite fun. Go for a 3-cell gun not 2-cell (I have both). The MPP version is very expensive because it is reputedly the basis for Jedai light sabres...

I have quite a few bulbs, and they are (or were, last time I checked) still available from Meggaflash in Ireland. They shouldn't explode (and are extremely dangerous if they do) and two or more bulbs, next to one another, can fire sympathetically if one is triggered.

Oh: and they're not really all that loud.

Cheers,

Roger

 

[ben-s]

AFAIK, the big ones are often used in films to simulate lightning.
The longish burn time means that the flashes record well.
I believe they are also used for cave photography.

 

[David H. Bebbington]

After watching my fair share of movies over the past few years, I have noticed over and over again press cameras with there loud flashes popping off and/or exploding and it has sparked some interest in me. I was looking around trying to find a large flash dish to mount on my TLR, but have come up short handed. I'm really looking forward to experimenting once I find one but until then does anyone have any experience (or advice) shooting with flash bulbs? Any help would be great! Thanks alot.

Joe

Flash bulbs work best with M synchronization, which your TLR probably has. With this setting, the shutter opening is delayed slightly until the bulb fires. The shutter is always fully open with the flash at its peak, you can synchronize at any shutter speed, the effective guide number (exposure) will be different for different speeds, since at high speeds not all the full flash duration can reach the film. If you have only X synchronisation, you can use bulbs at no faster than 1/30.

Explosions are rare, but for safety's sake you really should put a transparent guard if you are pointing a bulb flash at somebody from less than 10 feet away. As Roger says, bulbs are not loud - the sound is a bit like the sizzle of liquid being spilled onto a hot surface.

If your TLR is a Rolleiflex, you can buy a neat bulb flash ("Rolleiflash") which bayonets onto the taking lens like a filter and takes smaller capless bulbs (PF1, PF5, etc.). A larger flash does of course look more spectacular, notwithstanding that it will probably throw out more light than you need.

Best regards,

David

 

[BrianShaw]

If your TLR is a Rolleiflex, you can buy a neat bulb flash ("Rolleiflash") which bayonets onto the taking lens like a filter and ...

Many people attach Rolleiflash to the viewing lens bayonet, when one is provided.

 

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

The "loudness" of flashbulbs in movies has always pricked my curiosity. I use a Kalart handle flashgun with my TLR (because all the Graflex are being bought by Star Wars doucheba**** er, fans), and it's a pretty gentle "pop."

My hypothesis is the following: when used on a focal plane camera like the Speed Graphic, the telltale noise is in fact the massive shutter, not the flash. However, because they happen both at the same time, we eventually associated and merged the two.

Anybody with a Speed can confirm this?

 

[Roger Hicks]

Anybody with a Speed can confirm this?

Not with an SG, but certainly with an MPP Micropress. The Ker-ZAP of the shutter is certainly louder than the sound of a big bulb going off.

Cheers,

Roger

 

[Jim Noel]

The loud pop often heard in movies has to be an added sound. Although there is a slight pop I have never heard a loud one and I have probably used several thousand bulbs of all sizes in my lifetime. I have stacked as many as 5 bulbs around a central bulb in a large reflector and that does make an audible pop, but still not loud. I believe the movies add the sound for effect.

By the way, a small peanut bulb gave (g9ives) off more totallight than the largest handheld strobe, but over a longer period of time.

 

[BrianShaw]

The loud pop often heard in movies has to be an added sound.

This was always my hypothesis - those foley artists aren't always trying to be accurate.

This reminds me of the time when I was at a professional engineering conference and the guest speakers were special effects guys from Star Trek Deep Space 9. They were asked why the Enterprise banked as it turned and always flew upright/forward. Their response was basically that Hollywood imagery often has very little to do with science, physics, or reality.

 

[paul ewins]

I use a 3 cell flash with my Speed Graphic and it is pretty quiet. Generally you use the leaf shutter on the lens with M series bulbs, not the rear focal plane shutter which needs rare FP bulbs. Even then, the rear shutter isn't that noisy.

There should be lots of aftermarket flash units available at auction. The big Graflex 3 cell units are probably too big and the little folding fan types are probably too small (and will probably use expensive 22v batteries). So the Goldilocks "just right" size would probably take 2 D or C cells and use M2 or M3 bayonet bulbs.

I've bought a lot of bulbs on eBay and elsewhere and only had a couple of duds, so don't worry too much about how old the bulbs are. M2 & M3 are still relatively easy to get and can often be quite cheap if you are prepared to buy multiple boxes. I've found them in flea markets and thrift shops too. I've got a variety of adapters that allow me to use the smaller bayonet and baseless bulbs instead of the screw mount monsters.

One of the big variables will be the size of the reflector. This can determine how widely the light is spread. One of mine vignettes noticeably with a standard 135mm lens. Basically you will probably need to burn a roll of film and a dozen bulbs testing the coverage and output of your particular flash and bulb combination. After that it should be plain sailing.

 

[Jos De]

Thanks alot everyone. I'll see what I end up trying to rig up and let you all know how it turns out.