Another Lighting Blast from the Past: The Spiralite Model 600

Back in the 70s when I was first starting out in photography, these strobes were a familiar sight in the advertising section of magazines like Modern Photography.  Spiratone was a big advertiser in all of the major photography publications.  I still remember looking lustily at their "complete studio strobe kits."  The Spiralite Model 600 is an edison based (screws into a standard light socket) strobe unit, equipped with a sync cord jack and an optical slave sensor.  The GN is 60 and it has a recycle time of about 2 seconds.  We have much better equipment these days, but that is not to say these old units can't be useful, especially when fired by a wireless trigger (the optical slave is only moderately reliable.)


They make great rim or background lights.  They can also be a part of the primary lighting system.  I often use these units when setting up the mobile studio where I frequently work at close range and don't need a LOT of power.  They were particularly useful when I photographed a 12 member band and I needed to strategically light the stage area; I could have used a few more of these units that night.  

I found 3 of them on Ebay awhile back at a very reasonable price.  At first I just screwed them into clamp light fixtures.  That worked "ok" but not great.  The weight of the strobes often caused the fixture to sag, and they were not always easy to adjust exactly the way I wanted.

Then came my first tripod mountable adapter.  It also works with many light stand adapters with a 1/4-20 mail thread on top.  It was quick and dirty.  Plumbing strap was use to secure a light socket to a small block of wood.  The real inspiration of this first model was the use of a 1/4-20 T-nut to make the block tripod mountable.  Make sure you get a T-nut designed for wood and not metal.  Those intended for use with wood will have rather vicious looking tabs to dig in.  T-nuts for use with metal projects will not have such tabs.

Note that the T-nut is recessed in the block of wood.  See image on right.  That was done because the T-nut wasn't quite long enough to go all the way through the block of wood.  It also looks better.  Recessing the T-nut was accomplished by first using a 7/8 inch speed bore bit  and drilling to a depth of about 3/16 of an inch, then drilling the rest of the way with a 5/16 inch that would allow a snug fit for the barrel of the T-nut.  The rest was easy: a couple of screws and a piece of plumber's strap attached the light socket to the block.

That also worked "ok,"  and better than the clamp lights by a long shot.  But it was a quick and dirty design, made with what I had on hand, only intended to be used until I could come up with something better.  And now I have something better.  Its more secure and it just plain looks nicer.

A Little More on How it's Made

I started with a block of wood from a piece of pine 1x4.  I chose pine because its cheap and easy to work with.  Note that a 1x4 is actually 3/4 inch thick and 3 1/2" inches wide.  From that, I cut a piece 2 1/2 inches long. The T-nut tripod socket was as before.  But in the new design, a length of lamp nipple allows a light socket to be screwed onto the end.  A nut on each end of the lamp nipple holds it securely in the block.

After I drilled the hole for the lamp nipple, I drilled a second hole almost all the way through on the opposite side as an umbrella receptacle.  The accompanying images should tell you everything you need to know.

BTW, once you know the T-nut trick, the possibilities endless for home made accessories, adapters, and whatnot.  



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Want to Use Old Strobes? Read this.

The link below is an invaluable resource for those wanting to use older strobes with digital cameras. Older strobes may have extremely high trigger voltages. If connected to the camera's hot shoe, they could cause damage to the camera. The same goes for your slave triggers. The following link will take you to a very long list of trigger voltages for old strobes. Note the disclaimer on the web site and let me add my own. Use caution when using old strobes with digital cameras or strobe triggers. 

http://www.botzilla.com/photo/strobeVolts.html 

But don't let the warnings dissuade you  from using old strobes.  There are good deals to be had on older equipment.  If you ever have a job where you need a little bit of light in a lot of places, old camera mounted strobes can be a cost effective solution.


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My Sunpak 544

I love my Sunpak strobes. This one (right) is my original Sunpak 544 that I've had for over 30 years; 30 years and still going strong.  It has been mounted on my old Olympus OM-1, then my OM-2n, and now on my Nikon D80 DSLR.  It's a dinosaur but its not extinct yet.  About 5 years ago I found it so useful I located and purchased two more of them.  They can often be found on Ebay or Craigslist for as little as $60.  Note that there are a couple more powerful units available but I chose the 544s because I already had one and I wanted identical units.

When buying these strobes, make sure that it comes with the battery holder.  They can be hard to come by.  And don't forget a sync cord.  If yours doesn't have one, its not a big deal.  Cords can be purchased from places like B&H.  Note that Sunpak uses its own plug size and style so you aren't going to make one with a quick trip to Radio Shack. 

So what makes me love them so much?

One is the grip configuration. It just feels good when I'm using it on camera. The bracket, not shown in these photos also buts the light above and to the left of the lens. As soon as you start getting the flash away from the lens. you notice your lighting gets better.  Granted its not THAT much farther away but at least its not right above the lens.  Want to get your light source even farther away?  No problem.  The handle has a quick release from the camera bracket.  Sunpak handle-mount strobes are great because the bottom of the grip is fitted with a 1/4-20 socket, enabling it to be attached to a standard tripod and most light stands, or even umbrella brackets that include the 14/20 tip or spigot.

At full power, it has a guide number of 140, stronger than some of the cheap entry level monolights. That power level is adjustable from full all the way down to 1/64. It's battery powered (6 AA cells) so they can be used in the field. Power supplies can be found, but oddly enough, a fresh set of batteries recycles them faster than the AC adapter.  When I'm photographing events, I usually keep it set to 1/2 to 1/4 power.  It conserves batteries, shortens the recycle time, and is not quite so blinding for your subjects.  The flash head is adjustable on both the vertical and horizontal axises for complete bouncability.


The addition of a wireless trigger makes it a versatile studio strobe.  I use the Cactus V4.  See my blog post below for a review of the triggers.  As an on camera flash, they are rather heavy; that's why they have the grip design.  But compared to monolights, they are pretty light.  Using standard monolights in the field would require a very heavy battery pack.  If weight is a criteria, the old Sunpaks are a great solution.  My three Sunpaks allow me to set up a studio in the woods should I choose to do so.

IMPORTANT NOTE: the output voltage of old strobe units such as this one runs very high. Make sure your trigger unit can handle it. That's one of the reasons why I chose the Cactus V4.  The same goes for your camera. Modern digital cameras weren't designed to handle that voltage. A Wein Safe-Sync will protect your camera.  Read and follow ALL directions when using old strobes with ANY digital camera.

Also note the high tech means (as seen on left) of attaching the Cactus to the Sunpak.  I used to use rubber bands, but a black elastic hair scrunchy, courtesy of my wonderful and very patient wife, looks much better. 

While this strobe does have two automatic modes, its better to use it on "manual."  That may be a deal breaker for some, but if that's the case, you may be relying too much on auto modes.  Go manual and use your knowledge and skills to light your scene as YOU see fit. I'm big on shooting manual, and you will see more evidence of that in future posts.

That's it for now.  I've got another blast from the past strobe coming up, and a couple of DIY projects coming soon.


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Review of Poverty Wizards: Cactus V4

I finally took the plunge into wireless triggers for my strobes.  Pocket Wizards were out of the question due to their price.  I liked the fact that they would handle the higher voltages of old strobes, of which I own many, including 3 Sunpak 544s, but I digress (I promise to talk more about the many uses of the classic Sunpaks in a later blog.)  What I didn’t need was the ability to trigger a strobe from a football field away.  Yes, Pocket Wizards have great range, but how often to we need to be more than 20 or 30 feet away?

In the early days, any trigger that wasn't a Pocket Wizard was considered "cheap Chinese Ebay junk;" and it was.  But the Chinese have learned they can no longer sell complete junk and still hope to compete in the global marketplace.  Their strobes still have a way to go but their triggers are great.  Enter the Cactus V4.  At the time of my purchase, and this writing, Cactus is up to V5.  But I have found that you can very often get the features you want, and pay a lot less, by staying one step behind technology.

Another reason for choosing the Cactus brand was the fact that I could by them from a US distributor: Midwest Camera.  That meant I didn’t have to give my credit card number to someone in China.  Not that I have anything against China in particular; I really don’t care to conduct transactions with businesses in ANY foreign country.  IF there are any shenanigans with my card, I want it to be in the US where I have more legal recourse.

So far the Catcus triggers have worked quite well.  Prior to their purchase, I had to rely on the built in optical slaves that often required me to set up in a manner that would make them all fire, rather than in the optimal locations for the best lighting.  Plus my 3 Sunpaks which I use in my location work don’t have optical slaves, and I found that the Peanut Slaves are a bit iffy.

For the most part, I have used them either in a studio situation where everything was in a 10 foot radius, or at events where I used them to trigger an off-camera Sunpak mounted on a monopod for overhead lighting of my subjects.

One of the more common complaints I’ve heard is that they don’t fire reliably.  I have not found this to be the case.  The only time they have failed to fire is when I forgot to turn on the receiver.  Another complaint I have heard is that the battery drains if you forget to turn OFF the receiver.  I have not found that to be the case either, as I often (usually) forget to turn them off, and have yet to drain a battery.  And if I do, they are cheap and readily available.

All in all, it was a good purchase.  The price, with shipping, from Midwest Camera for the starter kit of 1 transmitter and 1 receiver was right around $50.

THEIR Write Up
The much anticipated, all-new Cactus Wireless Flash Trigger System V4 is here! This new flash trigger system is a significant upgrade from all current and previous Cactus wireless flash trigger versions. The new version gives photographers even greater creative control over lighting in their images.

With the new Cactus Wireless Flash Trigger System V4, you can place multiple flashes at various angles and distances from your subject. This is particularly useful for portrait and product photography. Each receiver works with one flash. You can use as many receivers as you wish, all receiving their signal from one transmitter. Simply attach the hot shoe of the external flash to that of the receiver, or use the flash connection cable. Most importantly, without the need to connect the flash to your camera by hot shoe or cable, you can move the flash to anywhere that produces the best lighting on your subject. With the flexibility the new Cactus V4 triggers provide, the possibilities are endless!

The innovative standing design allows all the common portable flash units to sit securely on it without a separate light stand. When shutter is released, the receiver picks up on the signal emitted from the transmitter on your camera and will trigger the external flash connected to it. The fastest response time is 1/1000s (actual sync speed varies from 1/125s to 1/600s depending on the sync speed limit of the camera system).

The Cactus V4 offers many improved features over the V2 version. These improvements include a new antenna design that increases the reliability and effective distance to 30 meters(about 100 feet) and a new power source: AAA batteries. The 16 selectable channels and advanced anti-interference feature will allow the device to work within the effective area without interference from other devices. This new Cactus version offers a high degree of compatibility. With the provided connection cables, photographers can use the receiver with a range of lighting sources including low trigger voltage portable flashes, high trigger voltage portable flashes and studio strobes.


A complimentary copy of the photo album, "When Light Dances" is included in the package. Wonderful pictures taken by photographers using the new and improved Cactus V4 radio trigger system, as well as setup details are shown for your reference.


Compatible With:
Cactus V4 does not work with V2s or V2;
Cactus V4 does not transmit TTL information.
Some dedicated flashes (e.g. Nissin Di-622 and Di-466, Sunpak PZ42x and PZ30, Sigma EF-530/500 DG ST for Canon, etc.) are triggered via system-specific pins instead of the central contact of the hot shoe. Cactus V4 does not work with these flash models. To check whether your dedicated flash units are compatible with Cactus V4, try attaching them to a camera of other brand (e.g.attaching a Nikon TTL flash to a Canon DSLR camera). If the flash can be triggered, it will work with Cactus V4.


Tested with the following flash models:
Cactus KF36;
Canon SpeedLite 580EX II, 580EX, 540EZ, 520EZ, 430EX II, 430EX, 430EZ, 420EX,420EZ, 380EX;
Nikon SpeedLite SB-900, SB-800, SB-600, SB-28, SB-27, SB-26, SB-
25, SB-24;
Olympus FL-50R, FL-50, FL-36R, FL-36;
Pentax AF-540 FGZ, AF-360 FGZ, AF-400 FT, AF-240 FT;
Sigma EF-530 DG Super, EF-530 DG ST (for Nikon only), EF-500 DG Super, EF-500 DG ST (for Nikon only), EF-430;
Sunpak Auto 2000DZ, 622 Pro, 433AF, 433D, 383, 355AF, 344D,333D;
Vivitar 285HV, 285, 283, DF-400MZ, DF-340MZ


Specifications
Working radio frequency
433Mz
16 channels selectable
Responding time
1/500 - 1/1000 second
Support sync speed
up to 1/500 second (depending on sync speed limitation of the flash unit)
Maximum effective area
30 meters / 98 feet (open area without interference)
Operating temperature
above -10°C (14°F) and below 45°C (113°F)


TRANSMITTER SPECIFICATIONS

•  Transmitter’s Camera voltage handling
• Up to 6 volts
• Compatibility
• Compatibility to all cameras with standard ISO hot shoe or PC sync output
• Connection port
• 3.5 mm (1/8 inches) mono mini-phone
• Dimensions
• 60 x 46 x 27 mm
• Length of antenna
• 45 mm
• Weight (including battery)
• 33 grams
• Power input
• one (1) L1028 / 23A 12V battery

RECIEVER SPECIFICATIONS

•  Innovative standing design
• supports major portable flash units
• Flash voltage handling
• up to 300 volts
• Compatibility
• Compatible to portable flashes and studio strobes
• Connection port
• 3.5 mm (1/8 inches) mono mini-phone
• Dimensions
• 74 x 45 x 28 mm
• Weight (including battery)
• 55 grams
• Power input
• Two (2) AAA size 1.5V (IEC: R03) batteries

This Weekend

OK, enough of the social media for awhile.  Its time for some PHOTOGRAPHY.  Going to see a friend's band tonight and will be shooting some photos with an off camera flash.  With a little luck, we'll be able to get some photos OF shoot to illustrate how its done.

In a nutshell, I use an old Sunpak 544 equipped with a poverty wizard mounted on a monopod.  I used this technique at a living history event last month with outstanding results.

And IF I have time, I'll be cutting holes in the moving box that has been kicking around my garage for the past 6 months and doing some tabletop photography.