david vt Loc: Vermont

Hi

Among items found in parents house, was a like-new Novatron lighting system. Two strobes, controller, and umbellas. I would love to keep, but going through their house reminds not to put one thing in my house that I don’t need, and while it would be fun to have this, it is more likely my kids will be making the same kind of post.

Please see pics. This is a full kit in a nice foam hard case. Has original materials

A) What do you think it is realistically worth? (Ebay is all over the map)
B) Are you interested, or know someone whom might be?

twowindsbear

WOW! What a treasure. If you were in driving distance, I'd be on this in a heartbeat. Do you have any sort of local camera club, school, portrait studio, etc., that would be interested?

Timmers Loc: San Antonio Texas.

This is a low out put flash unit (120 and 240 watt second). Known to professionals as a Nova-Bomb. The units are consistently variable in their out put. Simply, it is the poor mans flash. Made in Dallas Texas, it is a rip off one of the best flash units, made in Chicago by Speed-O-Tron (an industry standard). The basic Nova Tron uses the same basic set up as a Speed-O-Tron, so the two companies heads and power bases are 'interchangeable' (no one with a Speed-O-Tron would take a chance on messing up their flash by using Nova heads or power bases on the Chicago equipment).The flash is so non consistent that when plugged into a Speed-O-Tron power base the heads will not deliver the same flash volume from one in four or one in two flash discharges.

If you do not know your way around power based (studio) flash units then DO NOT PLAY with this. None of these types of power based (even mono lights flash units) are safe to be around. Let me be clear, this is not a user safe flash unit (not like many modern flash units, but like the old Norman Flash units that pioneered safety in power base designs 50 years ago), IF you were stupid enough to unplug the head while the power base was on, or tried to plug in a head while the power base is on, you could get no response, blow your hand/arm off, or just blow the bower base killing everyone in the room. This is NOT just scary thinking, it is real with the Nova Tron design.

But, should you really want to kill yourself and others, dump some liquid on the unit, better yet, toss it is a pool of water. That includes having an idiot trip and dump a coke on the unit. Yes, these are not toys.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

I actually believe you. I worked with a fellow at a Museum and he some how bent a prong on a cable to a high-end Norman unit. It shorted and a power capacitor and/or transformer exploded and sounded like a bomb going off. Filling part of the building with smelly smoke! The repairs were costly.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Amazing, I have the same sort of BIC Light Stand and White Umbrella. And a similar old school Speedotron D604 Electronic Flash Power Supply and two Speedotron Strobe Light Heads M90/CC & M90Q/CC. Unless things have changed most photographers want nothing to do with these sorts of systems with cables running everywhere, they want self contained wireless (RF) Speedlights. A few years ago a friend of mine and myself we could find no takers for even a free Norman and Speed-o-tron Flash sets. We both ended up keeping them.

Timmers Loc: San Antonio Texas.

I got to know a contributor to all the photo trade journals/magazines, his name was Lynn. He was the engineer who redesigned all the Normal flash equipment back in the early 60's. I met him at a conference on photography in the late 70's. He explained the particulars of the Norman system. One of his major points was with regards to the capacitors for power based units. He pointed out that it is best to simply keep a trickle charge on the base by keeping it always plugged into the mains (the wall outlet in a building). This not only increases the life of the capacitors but it actually increases the total out put of the unit (it takes about 24 to 36 hours to fully form a capacitor to full strength, this guarantees max out put and a more consistent out put of power).

As to 'sped lights', stopped using them, too may problems. To over power the sun for sync-o sunlight one needs a Norman D 20000 power base, that gives you absolute control and will be up to power in about five seconds after a total discharge. I demand control over the set, not pandering to the gear and it's limitations.

As an example, here are three images of Serena Gabriel doing fire dance in the garden at night. Two Norman D 2000 power bases in use with 7 heads. The heads are located around the set to illuminate the scene, one head directly above and forward to illuminate Serena. And yes, the fire added to the illumination during the session. The camera on a tripod and the shutter set for several seconds open and the flash units tripped manually during the exposure.

The last image is an 8X10 Polaroid Transfer shot in an 8X10 camera in the studio using a 121 Super Angulon lens at f22. Norman D 2000 power base with five heads to create the illumination. One must have power to create images with a big camera and lens.

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Timmers Loc: San Antonio Texas.

So many who make photographs today have lost the knowledge of their craft. It is the world that we live in but it does not need to be. It is the technology (computer) that has driven is to the location. Cell phones that are in fact no longer phones but mult purpose devices. Good or bad it is the way the world has gone. Knowing this can empower some of us to do what appear as amazing things that are simply 'normal' things in a world that is lost to technology.

One thing that I can say is that the human race seems to be moving further toward technology and further away from magic. The loose for many is that there lives never become filled with the rick pageant of life. That is why I still treat the silly plastic device as a phone and nothing else, I have no use for yet another computer in my life.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Any high voltage strobe with a separate power pack is subject to create havoc or injury if mishandled. High voltage in the KV range coupled with the huge amount of energy a big cap can store can be deadly or explosive and demands respect. Novatron are a mixed bag. They were the low end of strobes in terms of cost, but many thousands have been used by pros and amateurs for years with no problems - the company is still in business. On the other hand, there are reports of the capacitors exploding. In fairness, many of those incidents seem to have occurred when a strobe was plugged into a pack that was energized and the capacitor charged which is contrary to the explicit instructions not to do so. If you short large oil filled fully charged photo flash capacitor, it’s going to be dramatic, may destroy the cap and in so doing create some toxic smoke as the caps are filled with PCB oil, but I have my doubts that it would blow the metal enclosure apart though I haven’t tried it.

Those old oil filled photo caps can last a very long time if you don’t do something stupid. I have two in my 4KV 1Amp HV power supply for my ham radio linear amp that must be at least 25-30 years old and work great. Needless to say, the supply has a bleeder, is metered and interlocked, has a breakered primary and a fused output and I treat it with the utmost respect (note the big Sprague Photo Flash cP on the left of the attached image). I actually also have a Novatron pack and 3 strobes which I bought from a working pro that had used it for a decade, and it works just fine with a very consistent output. A bargain for what I paid for it. I am not afraid of it, but I follow the rules: the strobes are plugged in with the supply off and discharged and I always use strobes of the appropriate power to match the pack. I will note that the output only has 2 settings on each lamp. Obviously if you have the budget, some Alienbees or similar are preferable, but the Novatrons (or better Speedatrons) are useful for the price as long as you understand the limitations, obey the instructions and never work on them yourself unless you have the requisite high voltage experience and tools.

I hope E.L. Shapiro reads and comments on this as he is the local flash expert.

david vt Loc: Vermont

Thank you all for your comments.

roxiemarty Loc: Florida

I still have and use Novatrons. They are workhorses. I think I paid about 500.00 for a 3 head unit, over 15 years ago. It has a stronger power unit. You will need a light meter to use these. And if you do not have a wireless set, you will need a Wein Safe Sync.