The Strobonars were great line of flash units but I would imagine their trigger voltage might damage a modern camera unless tripped by a remote slave unit.
The Strobonars were great line of flash units but I would imagine their trigger voltage might damage a modern camera unless tripped by a remote slave unit.
Bruce F Anderson wrote:
The Strobonars were great line of flash units but I would imagine their trigger voltage might damage a modern camera unless tripped by a remote slave unit.
The Heiland/Honeywell Strobonar line was popular. The units with the 510-Volt Everready #497 battery pack were used by lots of pros. I had two over the course of 14 years, a 65D and an 880. The Strobonars with NiCd batteries weren't so great... They developed a memory effect within a year or so and required replacement of the sub-C cell batteries in the head of the flash.
I would not plug one into a digital camera... without a Wein Safe-Sync adapter.
fuminous wrote:
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…
In a word, “No” but, once upon a time I did… a Str... (
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Oh, Also, "No"... I've never used a German hand grenade.
burkphoto wrote:
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.
So true, we miss Paul. His company carries on. Paul fostered the best customer service in the flash business, and his strobes are legendary for reliability and durability you can count on. I have had Alien Bees, White Lightnings and still own three 640WS Einstein strobes, with triggers and a bunch of modifiers.
And PCB has come into the TTL/Lithium battery studio strobe field with their latest 800WS Link system. Not the cheapest, but fully featured and still less than any comparable 800WS competitors.
https://www.paulcbuff.com/LINK-Flash-Unit.html 1) Here a shot of model Heidi in a farmgirl shoot in a cornfield in Southern, New Jersey. Canon 7D Mk II, 24-70mm f2.8 lens, 24mm, ISO 100, f8, 1/250 sec., three PCB Einstein Strobes, two in softboxes, one in a beauty dish, all three powered by a single portable PCB Vagabond Lithium battery kit. Click and download the image to see the best image quality.
2) All in for a motorcycle dealer-commissioned shot: Models Cabrina and Sarah share a wild ride. Six PCB strobes; three Alien Bees, three Einsteins, all in modifiers. (shot in a closed car dealership on a white seamless ). I was shooting atop a ladder. Canon 7D Mk II, 24-70mm f2.8 lens, 24mm ISO 100, f13, 1/250 sec.
Cheers
gwilliams6 wrote:
So true, we miss Paul. His company carries on. Paul fostered the best customer service in the flash business, and his strobes are legendary for reliability and durability you can count on. I have had Alien Bees, White Lightnings and still own three 640WS Einstein strobes, with triggers and a bunch of modifiers.
And PCB has come into the TTL/Lithium battery studio strobe field with their latest 800WS Link system. Not the cheapest, but fully featured and still less than any comparable 800WS competitors.
https://www.paulcbuff.com/LINK-Flash-Unit.html 1) Here a shot of model Heidi in a farmgirl shoot in a cornfield in Southern, New Jersey. Canon 7D Mk II, 24-70mm f2.8 lens, 24mm, ISO 100, f8, 1/250 sec., three PCB Einstein Strobes, two in softboxes, one in a beauty dish, all three powered by a single portable PCB Vagabond Lithium battery kit. Click and download the image to see the best image quality.
2) All in for a motorcycle dealer-commissioned shot: Models Cabrina and Sarah share a wild ride. Six PCB strobes; three Alien Bees, three Einsteins, all in modifiers. (shot in a closed car dealership on a white seamless ). I was shooting atop a ladder. Canon 7D Mk II, 24-70mm f2.8 lens, 24mm ISO 100, f13, 1/250 sec.
Cheers
So true, we miss Paul. His company carries on. Pa... (
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Nice work! It would be difficult to photograph them with potato mashers!
I had a Vagabond I back in the mid-2000s. It was a backpack with lead-acid battery and inverter. It would run a Norman 800 W/s power pack at full power for about 120 exposures. At 400 W/s, we had enough for a typical high school Spring sports teams and individuals portrait job.
burkphoto wrote:
The Heiland/Honeywell Strobonar line was popular. The units with the 510-Volt Everready #497 battery pack were used by lots of pros. I had two over the course of 14 years, a 65D and an 880. The Strobonars with NiCd batteries weren't so great... They developed a memory effect within a year or so and required replacement of the sub-C cell batteries in the head of the flash.
I would not plug one into a digital camera... without a Wein Safe-Sync adapter.
I owned a number of Strobonars. My dad, who was an electrician, built a small device that allowed me to drain the batteries after I finished with them for the day. It did help with the life of the batteries, but those sub-C's were pretty crude compared to today's technology. When I sold off my Strobonars, I still had about 4 Honeywell replacement packs unused, that went with them.
burkphoto wrote:
Nice work! It would be difficult to photograph them with potato mashers!
I had a Vagabond I back in the mid-2000s. It was a backpack with lead-acid battery and inverter. It would run a Norman 800 W/s power pack at full power for about 120 exposures. At 400 W/s, we had enough for a typical high school Spring sports teams and individuals portrait job.
Thanks, Yes not shot with my Potato Masher flashes, but since we mentioned PCB, I thought I would share a couple of shots.
And yes the Vagabond was a revelation back when it first came out. Still have mine, but haven't tried using it in a long while, not sure of the batteries' states (I have a spare battery also) . Will have to see if it still works.
Take care, always a pleasure talking with you Burkphoto
Cheers and best to you,
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