Vintage Bulb Flash

[Maxws]

Hi,

A while back I saw a flash gun which from memory took AG-1 bulbs but it took multiple at a time so you could load 5 and shoot of 5 shots similar to a flip flash but instead it took bulbs, I've been trying to find it online, does anyone know what I'm, referring to I really just need a starting point to find one.

EDIT: Moments after posting this I finally stumbled upon it, the Canon Flash Quint. It takes the AG-1 or AG-1b (for daylight balanced colour film) bulbs, were any others made like this for different bulbs as I have many PF1B capless bulbs.

Finally I want to add what is the difference between AG1b flash bulbs and AG3b I can't find documentation, are they interchangeable?

 

[Donald Qualls]

I had a flash unit back in the mid-1970s that used then-new Flashbars (designed for SX-70) on a cold shoe with PC socket. It didn't have the circuitry from the SX-70 to select the next unfired bulb automtically, but it did have switches on top (behind the bar) to select which or how many of the five bulbs in the front side of the bar would fire when the shutter synch triggered. With all five bulbs on ASA 400, at f/4 or so, it would reach out fifty feet -- or with a single bulb, it had a guide number just like a common flashcube or AG-1 flash.

An AG-3 or AG-3b had the same light output as the larger M3 bulb, but in an AG envelope. Guide number would typically be about twice that of an AG-1, or same as a High Power Flashcube.

 

[eli griggs]

I really liked those SX-70 flash bars, and considered them essential until I used an expired one to rig a flash cable for hand held shots.

I wish I remembered how I did that back when I was 19, LOL.

 

[AgX]

Do not mix this up with flashbars and alike, as these were readymate.
The OP to my understanding inquires on devices, complete flashes or inserts, that took loose bulbs.

There were several devices that took several loose bulbs to be fired in sequence.

The latest version of such by this replicated the flash-cube. It took indeed AG bulbs, similar to those in the readymade cubes.

 

[eli griggs]

Do not mix this up with flashbars and alike, as these were readymate.
The OP to my understanding inquires on devices, complete flashes or inserts, that took loose bulbs.

There were several devices that took several loose bulbs to be fired in sequence.

The latest version of such by this replicated the flash-cube. It took indeed AG bulbs, similar to those in the readymade cubes.

Can you post a pic?

 

[AgX]

Not at the moment, but I remember complete bulb flashes that accepted several AG bulbs to be fired in sequence, just to save one exchanging bulbs between exposure. However so far I have not come such across in the wild.
That relaoadable flash-cube is just a drum with flash-cube mount and contacts and four mirrored chambers to take an AG bulb each and a clear, colourless cover. These I have come across repeatedly.

 

[eli griggs]

This link shows a three dome unit, I believe, using #50 flash bulbs.

https://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=146522&d=1455383987

 

[GRHazelton]

In a similar vein, I seem to recall a BC flash gun which took 5 or 6 M3 bulbs loaded into a plastic "disk", which was then inserted into the flashgun..After each shot you pulled out the back of the flash gun, which held the "disk," and rotated it to the next unused bulb. I recall using it when I was in high school - I graduated in 1961 - when I was the school sports/yearbook/newspaper photographer. Here is some info on it: https://www.photo.net/discuss/threads/multi-flash-kodak-gun.84612/ Somewhere I may have mine....

 

[Donald Qualls]

In a similar vein, I seem to recall a BC flash gun which took 5 or 6 M3 bulbs loaded into a plastic "disk", which was then inserted into the flashgun..After each shot you pulled out the back of the flash gun, which held the "disk," and rotated it to the next unused bulb. I recall using it when I was in high school - I graduated in 1961 - when I was the school sports/yearbook/newspaper photographer. Here is some info on it: https://www.photo.net/discuss/threads/multi-flash-kodak-gun.84612/ Somewhere I may have mine....

I have one of those, and a spare "disk", currently attached to my Kodak Bullseye (vertical 6x9 box, like a portrait Brownie Hawkeye Flash). They use the old Kodak screw and pin mount, so they'll fit most of the 1950s vintage Bakelite Kodaks.