At 09:41 8/4/02, Mickey Trageser wrote:
I thought the AG-1 and AG-1B were loose bulbs placed in a flash unit
individually. The data below lists 2 entries as 'flash cube'. Now, I've
always seen 'flashcubes' as the commonly used flash on Instamatic type
cameras which plug into the top of the camera and rotate to provide 4 flash
exposures from a single cube. The reflector was/is? tiny and built into the
flash cube. I'm so confused....
The AG-1 and AG-1B were introduced in the late 1950's for the non-pro
market. Standard flashcubes were introduced in 1965 about the time of the
Kodak Intstamatic. These were made using AG-1B bulbs and the reflectors
were very shiny, the equivalent of a wide angle shallow dish type
reflector. The "hi-power" flashcubes were introduced in 1971 with twice
the light output from a more powerful bulb (hence ~1.414 X the GN) to bring
them up to the guide number of an AG-1B in a deeper, polished bowl
reflector. I included the "cubes" because they were the same bulb type
with the same guide numbers. Magicubes were the same thing as flashcubes,
except they didn't require batteries to fire them. The bulbs were
triggered by a spring percussion device inside the cube. There were also
"flash bars" used on Polaroid cameras in the early 1970's. These used
AG-1B bulbs with likely the same GN as an AG-1B in a shallow dish
reflector, and held 10 bulbs. A variation on the same theme a few years
later was the "flip flash" with 8 AG-1B's, four on each side.
Of note is how powerful the standard AG-1B was in a 2" polished
bowl. About halfway between a T-32 and a T-45. The "big boys" for camera
mounted flash were the Press 25 and 25B bulbs in polished bowls. The
M3/M3B and 5/5B bulbs put out the same amount of light, but were
smaller. Only two potato masher electronic flash units I know of punch out
about the same light as these did, the Metz 60 CT-? and Sunpak 622 Super
Pro. Actually they're slightly stronger, but not by much; about 1/3
f-stop. I know of nothing electronic that cranks out the light of clear
Press 25's (or M3's, or #5's) in a polished bowl with B&W film. With B&W,
a clear bulb was about 2/3 f-stop more light than the same blue bulb for
color film. The clear bulbs have an approximate color temperature of about
3800 K. This is a bit cooler than tungsten film which is balanced for 3200
K studio hot lights. An 81EF or 85C can balance it.
-- John
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