greetings good people of aditnow tiss ferret 😎
just wanted to try and stir the collective pool of knowledge of people on the forum about flash bulbs and there use in UG photography.

i have recently been purchasing some of these off eBay to experiment with as they are a very bright source of light in a small and light package as cave photographers in past have found
what I’m trying to find out is some advice on firing circuits and triggers (many connecting to firefly slaves)


there seems very little on the web about this and the old flash guns designed to fire bulbs use mostly obsolete batteries of a type long out of production (often the firing capacitors too, which tend to be of the paper variety)something along the lines of a relay isolated firing circuit of some type seems the best modern option probably using basic transistor switching to isolate the slave/camera from the high currents involved but:
so do's anyone still use flashbulbs ?
how do they fire them?
and what trigger/slaves do they use?

Answers ion a post card please
Cheers
ferret.:.

Ah, I see we're going to have the same conversation here! :)

The list of what I have, together with suggested prices is as follows:

Metz 60CT4 flash head + Battery + Charger @ £35 (x1)

Metz 60-40 flash head @ £20 (x 5)
Metz 60CT1 flash head @ £20 (x 4)

60CT battery pack @ £10 (x3)
60CT1/2 battery pack @ £10 (x1)
402 battery pack @ £10 (x1)

Battery pack charger @ £5 (x5)

Carriage I can work on, offers I'll consider and the only warning is that none of these include the power lead from the battery pack to the flash head! The battery packs are pretty meaty, weighing in at just under 2kg. If anyone wants one, I'll test it to make sure it works before I send it out...

1. A test shot with the Metz 60 in the shed at work - bear in mind the walls are white, hence it's very bright:

[img]http://www.aditnow.co.uk/showimage?f=/community/Personal-Album-2-Image-032/[/img]


2. Lake level in the back vein at Cwmorthin. This is perhaps 3 or 4 flashes.

🔗Personal-Album-2-Image-031[linkphoto]Personal-Album-2-Image-031[/linkphoto][/link]

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Metz 60CT4 flash head + Battery + Charger @ £35 (x1)

Will this work as it is Vanoord?

Yes, but... you'll either need to get a Metz power lead or bodge it with a fixed lead - for which you might need to know what you're doing ;)

I found one on t'interweb for under £20 new, but fleaBay may have them cheaper?

Only thing I'd add is that this is a bit of kit for a photo trip rather than as something to carry all the time due to the size and weight. The Metz 60 has got massive power, but that's balanced by the fact that it's not as portable as it could be.

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:offtopic:
not to disagree with the great all powerfully vanoord but do's anyone actually have any info on flash bulbs and there use?