Re: Realist flash problem

[P3D Ronald W Doerfler <doerfler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Paul writes:

>I fired a bulb in a Realist flash for the first time this evening...and
>it "went up in smoke."  Parts of the outer coating of the bulb were
>singed black, with some bubbling and peeling effects, and crack marks
>emanating from the worst black areas.  Rather smelly also.

Be aware that in normal use, a flashbulb does have a bubbly, peeling
look, with a bit of smoke and some smell, after firing.  It really
looks bad.  However, it's quite impressive and I kind of like the effect.
I also enjoy the stunned looks of the subjects after having the
flash fire--kids in a classroom that I took a picture of with my
Realist and a flashbulb were awestruck by the "blue dots" that they
kept seeing after the picture was taken.  It is a little disturbing
to the modern mind, however, to take out the single-use flashbulb
and just throw it away--it seems kind of wasteful.

I use alkaline batteries.

However, the black singes and particularly the crack marks sound as
if the bulb actually cracked.  This can be a problem if the plastic coating
of the bulb had been scratched or rubbed off at some spot, but it
sounds as if you didn't have any glass shards flying about, so the 
coating contained it.  In general, it's a good idea to have the flash
shield in front.  Putting a blue sheet of transparency in the slots
meant for the diffuser also converts the clear flashbulbs, meant for
black-and-white photography, to the equivalent of blue-coated flashbulbs,
for color.

You did remember to set the shutter speed at 1/25sec or slower, right?
The shutter will not synch with the flash at higher speeds (due to the
slow rise time of the burn).

Ron Doerfler
mailto:rdoerfler@xxxxxxxxxx


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