To put an end to the wild times of Flash Powder, magnesium ribbons and sheets, one had the ingenious idea to put the magnesium inside a glass bulb and light it up with an electric spark. It avoids the smoke and the handling of raw chemicals. But as the quantity of heat released in the proccees is quite high and the glass quite often does not resist, there is a transparent plastic layer covering the bulb. It does not crack and hence holds the glass. Of course it is one bulb one shot. Today people tend to think annoying the delay for an eletronic flash to recharge but for sure, just wait, is much easier than to substitute a bulb that is still so hot that it burns your figertips.

Still today flashbulbs are in production for professional use but they are so expensive that it is not reasonable just for fun. The advantage is the amount of light that is outputed. Difficult to match with electronic in some situations where, for instance, there is no eletricity outlets available or it is not possible to carry 20Kg of equipment. Caves and nature photography are good examples. A dozen of big flash bulbs weight less than a normal domestic eletronic flash and can lit a stadium (but just once, bettet don't miss it)

So the sources are old stocks that pop up here and there, flea markets and the WWW of course. One bulb prices from 0.50 to 5 euros in average, it depends on who is selling and who is buying. Recently (september 2003)I put one box of M2 (12 units) in Ebay just to see how far it would go and only one guy bid and gained it for 1.00 euro!

When one uses electronic flash there is no need to think if the flash will fire exactly when the shutter is open. That is because most of the cameras produced from the 70's onwards operate only for that kind of flash. To synchronize the shutter with the light for bulbs we must think of it. Here is a page from the book Photo-Technique by H.J.Walls - Focal Press 1954, that explains it in details:



To conclude I attached the exposure charts for some bulbs just to show that with a GE Nš5, shutter at 1/25, f4 and film 400ASA one can photograph a subject as far as 50 meters (150 feets). Not bad.

Find more info and bulbs for sale at: Cress Photo If money is not a problem for you, go to: Meggaflash and anyway, even if you are not to purchase from them, the site in itself is really interesting and shows the kind of application where this old technology has still the competitive edge