Brian Roebuck
Site Admin
Caver
Caving - the one activity that really brings you to your knees!
Posts: 2,732
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Post by Brian Roebuck on Jan 15, 2007 19:27:46 GMT -5
Speaking of Cave Photography. I have recently come upon some larger flashbulbs (lightbulb sized units that screw into a common size light socket) and I was wondering if anyone has good ideas for a portable battery powered igniter for them. I know there are commercially made pieces that resemble flashlight tubes with large reflectors but I was wondering more about what sort of DC voltage and types if batteries you need to set them off. I imagined building up a couple of rechargable base units that are manually triggered with simple screw in sockets and maybe a threaded base for use with a tripod etc. I might also cannibalize a couple old hotshoes from flash units and see if they can be used with a slave to set big bulbs off using the base units I build. Any ideas or experiences would be appreciated.
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Post by Innermostphoto on Jan 16, 2007 22:28:30 GMT -5
All it takes to set off a bulb (even the large ones) is three volts. Some flash units exhibit voltages up to 110v but nominal voltage is only three. You can make your own flash unit with any small project box from Radio Shack, a three volt power supply and a momentary contact switch / normally open. I have made several but there is so much cheap, obsolete, used camera gear out there that was specifically made for this purpose why spend time reinventing old equipment? The stuff is practically everywhere! Bob Biddix Innermost Imagery www.innermostimagery.com
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Brian Roebuck
Site Admin
Caver
Caving - the one activity that really brings you to your knees!
Posts: 2,732
|
Post by Brian Roebuck on Jan 18, 2007 19:52:13 GMT -5
Thanks Bob, It sounds easy to fabricate to me. What I was wanting probably isn't available everywhere - something small that can fire the bigger bulbs either manually or remotely via a slave from a hot shoe. I'll look around anyhow and see what is out there before I fire up the solder gun.
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