I was given some old studio flash gear by a chum. It’s something I had always wanted to have a go at, but never had the money to buy a set. I’ve used small camera flashes previously to try learning the Strobist thing, but I fancied a go at the big jobs with the possibility of using light modifiers.
What I got was two cases, and it turns out, two sets of flash gear. There is a pair of Courtenay Solaflash 2500 units with some reflectors and brollies. The other box has a couple of Bowen Monolite units with brollies, but also a large softbox.
So the first thing I did was to assemble everything from the boxes. The Bowens have a large square softbox that was a challenge to put together. It was obvious that the parts made a softbox but building it was less so. In the end it just took the bravery to bend the arms, as they provided the spring to keep the softbox in shape.
The next thing was to fire them up and see how much light I could get. What’s the point of a big light if it doesn’t give you big light? I’ve had a handheld flash meter for a while, plus there was a Jessops one in the box. And the answer is, depending on reflector, from f8 to f22 at 100ISO. The old Jessops meter and my own one also agreed, which was a bonus.
I did a quick look-up of what I had online. The Courtenays don’t seem that popular, as they are reckoned to be not very powerful and there is a question over the way their trigger leads are wired. The opinion I found was “the trigger is the wrong electrical polarity compared with nearly every other strobe on the market today, being tip negative and positive ‘earth’.” It would be easy enough to make a lead that swaps the polarities, but I prefer to not use long trailing cables – I would be worried about pulling the lighting stand over if I moved. I have both trigger cells and a wireless trigger, so I will be using those. I tried the Courtenays with the radio trigger and they worked just fine.
The Bowen Monolites are a 200 and a 400. The 400 works fine but the 200 just shows a flashing charge light and won’t fire. So at worst I have three working flash heads. They could be as old as 1968 though, so I can hardly bear a grudge.
I will definitely be firing both sorts with a trigger or radio though. The reason is the voltage that comes back through the sync cable. While mechanical film cameras probably didn’t care, more modern electronics can be at risk if the trigger voltage is too high. Searching online says that the Courtenay units reach 18v, which should be safe. The Bowens could be anywhere between 35v and 220v though, which probably isn’t. When I was testing the radio trigger I used the nearest camera to hand, which was a Canon G9. I’d forgotten that I’d set it to use second-curtain flash (it fires the flash just before the shutter closes, not at the point it opens). I thought the trigger was broken at first – there was a noticeable delay between pressing the shutter and the flash firing. Then I realised that the combination of a modest lens aperture, 100ISO and a dim room might give me a slow shutter speed. D’oh!
So the next thing is to work out what to do with them. What I’d like to do is shoot portraits, but I don’t have a line of people waiting at the door. Also, to make portraits I need some lighting set-ups that work. So I’m off to find a wig head or mannequin. For some reason I thought an inflatable mannequin would be ideal: full sized and with a reflective skin so I could learn to deal with highlights. I even had a name for it – Ronan, after the actor who played the body in Blow-Up. But the types of inflatable on offer are definitely NOT the type I want. So a cheap foam wig head it is. I’ll paint it a mid-tone grey or colour if I can find something that doesn’t melt the foam. Oh, and I’ll call it Garth.
Garth arrived, and was fine-boned and very white. So a bit of makeup is in order. I had some grey paint that was a close match to a Kodak grey card, so Garth got two coats. He also gained some eyes, made with white electrical tape. It gives me something to focus on and will hopefully show when I get a nice catch-light. Garth also got some specs, as learning to avoid reflections would be useful too.
As for what I’m going to try-out with Garth, I’ll go to my little book of answers, where I have collected notes of light placements to get various effects. I’ve also got a copy of Light – Science and Magic to work my way through. This is how I learn stuff – follow my curiosity and try things. It won’t make me an expert, but I will learn the basics and push back, even marginally, the limits of my ignorance.
So that’s me sorted for the dark days of winter. What about you – got anything lined-up to learn about?
Fup Duck Photography 