Do anyone on UHH still use potato mashers?
Aug 8, 2022 18:24:15 #
TriX wrote:
B&H still shows them for sale (new). They are really excellent flashes - very well made.
Yes! I have many flashes but the only ones I bought new were Metz. I bought 2 45CT1, 1 60CT2 and 1 60CT4. All potato mashers. I really never bought a masher for potato.
Aug 8, 2022 19:01:32 #
I do all the cooking at home and still, upon occasion, use a potato masher. The one I own belonged to my mother, and I am 2 months shy of 80 years old, so I guess this tool doesn't owe us much. I use it more often for chunky guacamole. For large or time-consuming jobs, I will usually opt for my food processor.
Bob
Bob
Aug 8, 2022 19:28:45 #
Ascorlight, Berkey, Braun-Hobby, Dormitzer, Expertronic, FR, Hico, Hershey, Honeywell, Graflex, Lumadyne, Metz, Mecablitz ,Megalume, Mightylight, Norman, Olig, PLR, Q-Flash (Quantum), Ultrabilt, and Vivitar. There are more but I can't recall all the names
All of the above were in the falsh manufacturing businesses; most are gone or going down fast.
Speedotron and Photogenic are still kind of hanging in there.
The Chinese imports, Profoto, Buff, and a few high-end European manufacturers now dominate the market.
All of the above were in the falsh manufacturing businesses; most are gone or going down fast.
Speedotron and Photogenic are still kind of hanging in there.
The Chinese imports, Profoto, Buff, and a few high-end European manufacturers now dominate the market.
Aug 8, 2022 20:26:21 #
E.L.. Shapiro wrote:
Ascorlight, Berkey, Braun-Hobby, Dormitzer, Expert... (show quote)
Norman, Photogenic, Lumedyne, Speedotron, and Quantum are ProMark brands. Promark is both a manufacturer and a distributor of photo equipment and supplies. We used Norman, Photogenic, and Quantum at the companies I worked for. Novatron and Dynalite were two others we used. Dynalite died in 2020. Their units were very powerful, but their power pack features were indecipherable by normal human beings.
Aug 9, 2022 00:17:58 #
No. Too high tech for me. I still use flash powder with 5 or 10 second fuses.
Aug 9, 2022 01:30:02 #
smussler
Loc: Land O Lakes, FL - Formerly Miller Place, NY
I like my mashed potatoes lumpy, so always mash by hand.
Aug 10, 2022 10:21:47 #
Aug 10, 2022 12:10:26 #
E.L.. Shapiro wrote:
Ascorlight, Berkey, Braun-Hobby, Dormitzer, Expert... (show quote)
Yes Godox/Flashpoint (from China) dominates the world flash market these days. And there are other Chinese-made brands.
Profoto made in Sweden is a major pro player. They are great quality but too expensive for most.
The closest other EU major player is UK's Rotolight, whose lights are both LED and flash .
No other European flashes dominate anymore, though some other brands are still made and come from Europe.
American-assembled Paul C. Buff strobes are excellent and built tough, and IMHO have the best customer service in the business, (PCB strobe parts now come from some other countries along with some American-made parts) , I have three PCB strobes ; plus twelve Godox/Flashpoint strobes for my professional and personal work.
Cheers
Aug 10, 2022 13:56:32 #
gwilliams6 wrote:
Yes Godox/Flashpoint (from China) dominates the wo... (show quote)
LifeTouch used Paul Buff Alien Bees strobes in their pre-school photography studios when I worked there. My limited experience with those and the older White Lightning series was all positive. Paul was an amazing guy who had a strong customer service ethic.
Aug 10, 2022 13:58:40 #
I did back in film camera days. It was a Honeywell and worked pretty well at parties, weddings and events. It had a short recycle time for those days but was still too long.
Aug 10, 2022 17:28:08 #
therwol
Loc: USA
burkphoto wrote:
Potato masher strobes are gone, along with their traditional side-by-side brackets. Good riddance! That scheme puts a shadow on one side of a subject because A) The flash is beside the camera and B) Most "potato masher flashers" can be used only as *direct* flash when mounted in a camera bracket (I'm thinking of the ancient kind made before the major flash manufacturers had competition and had to add swivel/tilt heads to them.)
I stopped using my potato masher flash mounted on the camera. With my Nikon, I'd hold the camera in my right hand and bounce the flash with my left, experimenting with different angles. With my Crown Graphic, I figured out a way to hold the flash on top of the camera, manipulate the position with two fingers of my left hand and hold that side of the camera with my other three fingers. A Crown Graphic doesn't make a very good one hand camera. In any case, the point is that the flash was so powerful (250 watt-seconds) that I could bounce it or use bounce-fill with a piece of paper taped to the flash head, and take pictures that would have otherwise been impossible indoors.
These pictures were taken in my dorm when I was in college, the first three with my Crown Graphic and the fourth with my Nikon with a 28 mm lens. I don't claim they are perfect. I was 19 years old and still experimenting/learning, but getting better all of the time. Taking these pictures by available light would have been impossible, and they avoid the harsh shadows of direct flash.
Aug 10, 2022 17:46:38 #
Aug 10, 2022 21:30:32 #
therwol wrote:
I stopped using my potato masher flash mounted on ... (show quote)
Yes, when indoors with reasonably low, white ceilings, I'd nearly always bounce flash. But that does not work in arenas, auditoriums with high ceilings, outdoors, areas with no close walls, etc.
In my former industry, one of our specialty products was the "graduation handshake" or "grip and grin" portrait. We had teams of photographers who would go to school graduations and set up a camera at a fixed distance, fixed focus, fixed aperture, fixed power output on a flash. It had to be mostly direct flash. We would typically be 12' to 20' away from the subject.
Off the graduation stage, we could use a setup fixed at 7' for a head-and-shoulders portrait. We could diffuse the light slightly with a small soft box or paper scoop attached to the bounce flash. But it was still mostly direct flash because there was nothing to bounce the flash off of.
Aug 11, 2022 09:21:08 #
Bridges wrote:
If you don't understand the question, I assume your answer is no.
That is, does anyone! I started to ask the question differently, but after posting, noticed my question turned into gutter language! Sorry.
That is, does anyone! I started to ask the question differently, but after posting, noticed my question turned into gutter language! Sorry.
In a word, “No” but, once upon a time I did… a Strobonar 770 (with ‘thyristor circuitry!) was the workhorse and attached to either a Mamiya 23 Press (do NOT put an extra battery- with bare contacts- in the same pocket as as car keys!) or a Koni-Omega Rapid. Had a Mecablitz, too but honestly don’t remember what happened to it… seems to have disappeared ‘bout the same time a Vivtar 283 showed up.
And… for mashing taters, I prefer a ricer… excellent consistency and, some argue, on a molecular level, preserves tater cell integrity and thereby retains moisture. I don’t care ‘bout that, ‘cause butter fixes such things…
Aug 11, 2022 16:32:15 #
Bridges wrote:
If you don't understand the question, I assume your answer is no.
That is, does anyone! I started to ask the question differently, but after posting, noticed my question turned into gutter language! Sorry.
That is, does anyone! I started to ask the question differently, but after posting, noticed my question turned into gutter language! Sorry.
i love my potatoe masher which i bought at the dollar store. i use it for mashed potatoes rather than lifting
my big heavy mixer out of the bottom cabinet ...it works great!
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