I've got a Crown Graphic which is working fine, but I'm now trying to work out how to use it for flash photography. The setup is basically:

• Crown Graphic with a side-mounted Kalart rangefinder
• Schneider-Kreuznach Xenar 5.6/150 lens, with a single-post X connector
• Graflex "No. 2773" 3-cell flash with 5 inch reflector
• Several #5 bulbs

One end of the flash cable was connected to the single X connector on the lens, and the other goes to the "Shutter" connector on the flash body. The flash body was set to "N". The exposure was 1/125 f8 at 10 feet on ISO 125 film, but the shots came out grossly underexposed (i.e., extremely thin negatives, almost useless).

I wouldn't have thought my exposure was that far wrong, so I suspect either that I'm setting up the gear incorrectly or I haven't got the right combination to make this work. (For example, some things I've read online imply that I need a solenoid which I don't have.)

Flash bulb photography is new to me, I'm used to using electronic flashes but I'd like to learn how to the "old style" flash photos.

I intend to try some more experiments but I don't want to use up too many flash bulbs, I can't source them locally so they work out fairly expensive for me.

Does anyone have any advice for where I'm going wrong?

Thanks.

P.S. I should mention in case it's not clear; yes, I'm certain the flash did fire on each occasion, it's blindingly bright and impossible to miss!

Hi (fellow Aussie) gyron!

Your main problem is that bulbs don't sync with the X connection.

A shutter with 'M' setting is what you need as these fire the bulb a few milliseconds BEFORE the shutter opens. This allows the bulb to achieve peak brightness as the shutter opens.

A shutter with X setting is fine for instantaneous electronic flash but opens too quickly for bulbs, hence the underexposure.

A Graflex Graphex shutter or similar will do the job or any other shutter with M (for normal flashbulbs) or F ( for fast-speed bulbs) settings.

Cheers,
Bruce
http://graflex.coffsbiz.com

bruiser wrote:

A shutter with X setting is fine for instantaneous electronic flash but opens too quickly for bulbs, hence the underexposure.

I did suspect something along those lines; that the timing of the flash & shutter opening weren't compatible.

Now I suppose I'll need to find a suitable new lens etc. (I've never changed lenses on one of these, I'll do some reading to work out what's involved.)

Thanks for your help.

Hi again,

I just sent you a PM with a link to what you need!

Cheers,
Bruce
http://graflex.coffsbiz.com

This thread may be of some help.
http://graflex.org/helpboard/viewtopic.php?t=6029

45PSS wrote:

This thread may be of some help. http://graflex.org/helpboard/viewtopic.php?t=6029

Thanks for the pointer, that thread does have lots of interesting information. It sounds like my lens/shutter can be modified to do what I need but I fear that process would be beyond me.

As bruiser suggests, I'm going to look for a Graphex shutter & lens & lensboard, once I get my head around what's involved. If that fails I'll consider buying a second Crown for flash photography and keep my current one for daylight photography.

Hmm... this kit sounds great, other than the price!
http://www.collectiblecameras.com/product.php?productid=173278&cat=290&page=1

All you need is one of these:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Graflex-Solenoids-x2-/350467044831?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item519976b5df

http://cgi.ebay.com/ELECTRIC-SHUTTER-RELEASE-SOLENOID-3-GRAFLEX-VIEW-/290597539531?pt=Film_Cameras&hash=item43a8f68ecb

Suggest you try one exposure at same aperture and distance but with a shutter speed of 1/30 or slower. That should leave the shutter open long enough for the flashbulb to come up to full brightness.

C. Henry

C. Henry wrote:

Suggest you try one exposure at same aperture and distance but with a shutter speed of 1/30 or slower. That should leave the shutter open long enough for the flashbulb to come up to full brightness.

That's a good idea, I'll try it. If nothing else it'll be interesting to see the different result with some different shutter speeds. And I'm less likely to make a mess of that than I would be trying to fit and calibrate a solenoid

A belated follow-up. I finally had the opportunity to try C.Henry's suggestion:

gyron wrote:

C. Henry wrote: Suggest you try one exposure at same aperture and distance but with a shutter speed of 1/30 or slower. That should leave the shutter open long enough for the flashbulb to come up to full brightness. That's a good idea, I'll try it. If nothing else it'll be interesting to see the different result with some different shutter speeds. And I'm less likely to make a mess of that than I would be trying to fit and calibrate a solenoid

In particular, I ended up testing 1/250, 1/125, 1/60, 1/30, 1/15 and 1/8. All with the original settings, ie f8 on ISO125 at 10 feet, using Number 5 bulbs.

I understand that the root cause of my problems is that the peak of the flash bulb output doesn't match my shutter opening, but I was trying to work around the problem by using a longer shutter speed. I got a good range of results from this experiment;

• 1/250 was grossly underexposed, virtually no usable information on the negative (extremely thin negative)
• 1/125 had a recognisable image, but still very thin.
• 1/60 didn't work due to my brain-fade with the dark slide, oops!
• 1/30 is a good usable image, but a little underexposed. Quite usable though.
• 1/15 looks good.
• 1/8 looks very similar to 1/15, no real noticable difference (at least not one that I can discern without a densitometer)

So for now I'll stick with shooting this camera & flash setup at 1/15 assuming the other parameters, but it'd probably be more practical to use ISO400 film at a shutter speed of 1/60. (I'm using B&W film that I'm developing myself, so I have a fair bit of latitude.)

It's not an ideal solution but at least I can now do some flash photography until I either do a solenoid modification or I change the lens & shutter. Now all I need is to find a source of number 5 bulbs that will ship to me, I've almost run out

Thanks.

T don't know how much it will cost to ship, but Pacific Rim Camera in Oregon, USA charges $15.00 U.S. for a box of 12 press 25 or 5 bulbs. Best price I've found. I also picked up a HR solenoid for my CG (GRAPHEX X Contacts) for $15.00 U.S. Overall quite pleased with items purchased, and fast service. I even traded some AG1's for two boxes of 25's.

James