JHAG Posted November 10, 2008 Share #1 Posted November 10, 2008 Advertisement (gone after registration) A bit of history here, for a script I'm working on, where a photoreporter shoots a Leica II (1930). Which were the first Leicas allowing to mount a flash on the hotshoe ? The Leica III with a Vacu flash ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted November 10, 2008 Posted November 10, 2008 Hi JHAG, Take a look here Leica II and hotshoe. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
jc_braconi Posted November 10, 2008 Share #2 Posted November 10, 2008 Hello, Here you will find the first pages about flashes & Leica cameras from J. Lager book # III. Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/68022-leica-ii-and-hotshoe/?do=findComment&comment=710857'>More sharing options...
JHAG Posted November 10, 2008 Author Share #3 Posted November 10, 2008 Fantastic. Thanks a lot. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lars_bergquist Posted November 10, 2008 Share #4 Posted November 10, 2008 But a hotshoe it was not. It was the usual 'coldshoe' plus a synchroniser working on either the shutter release, or later a from special, lobed shutter speed dial. A hot shoe means a shoe with a center contact for flash. The first Leica M with a hot shoe was the M5, the M4-2 was the second one. The first camera with internal flash synch that I know of was he Kine-Exakta of 1936, by way of two plug sockets on the front of the camera. The first Leica with internal synch was the IIIf/IIf/If models of 1950. But in the field of camera history, there is always the gent with an odd specimen that makes a joke out of every statement ... The old man from the Age of Flashpowder Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHAG Posted November 10, 2008 Author Share #5 Posted November 10, 2008 @lars @braconi Do you mind if I send you a few pages from this feature script (should be ready by january) to review every possible errors ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jc_braconi Posted November 10, 2008 Share #6 Posted November 10, 2008 I agree with pleasure, check your PM box Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lars_bergquist Posted November 11, 2008 Share #7 Posted November 11, 2008 Advertisement (gone after registration) OK, shoot! (I may return the fire ... old Swedish soldiers do). The old man from the Age of the m/45 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHAG Posted November 24, 2009 Author Share #8 Posted November 24, 2009 Lars, I'm back (late) with some questions. When exactly did the VACUB appeared first ? How exactly was it fired, to synchronize with the shutter speed (with no sync or hotshoe) ? Thank you so much. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lars_bergquist Posted November 25, 2009 Share #9 Posted November 25, 2009 The VACUB, the Leitz New York first effort, appeared in 1934. It did go into the accessory shoe and an arm (I seem to remember) over the shutter release fired the bulb. Synchronising, such as it was, was set by a knurled ring on the flash hat was turned until a test bulb in the flash lit when the shutter was seen to be open ... 'Trial and error' in this case meant 'mostly error' and the fitments over the rotating shutter dial were actually an improvement. The old man from the Age of Flash Powder Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHAG Posted November 25, 2009 Author Share #10 Posted November 25, 2009 Lzrs, I'm curious because the book says between 1925 and 1950, there were possibilities of flash with Leica, mentioning the VACUB. So what happened between 1925 and 1934 ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roydonian Posted November 25, 2009 Share #11 Posted November 25, 2009 Lzrs, I'm curious because the book says between 1925 and 1950, there were possibilities of flash with Leica, mentioning the VACUB. So what happenedbetween 1925 and 1934 ? The only possibility at first was 'open flash'. You mounted the camera on a tripod, and set the shutter to the 'bulb' setting. When ready to take the shot, you pressed the shutter release to open the shutter, fired the flash, then allowed the shutter to close. If the scene was really dark, you might even get away without using a tripod. And is the scene was really dark and also big, you could leave the shutter open and walk around the scene letting more flashes off in order to illuminate different parts of the scene. (I think that a famous pic was once taken of the pyramids by night using this technique.) The arrival of the shoe-mounted synchroniser for the Leica - which unlike the VACUB was mechanically linked to the shutter speed dial rather than the shutter release - allowed the camera to be used modern-style, automatically triggering a flash unit when the shutter was fired. But that flash unit would be fairly big, and probably mounted at the side of the camera by means of a bracket. The IIIf had a built-in synchroniser, but until the arrival of the M5 although the flash unit could be mounted on the accessory shoe but a cable was needed to correct the camera's synchronisation socket to the flashgun. Self-contained 'flashcubes' appeared some time in the 1960s or 1970s - I'm not sure when. Best regards, Doug Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHAG Posted November 25, 2009 Author Share #12 Posted November 25, 2009 It means no handeld flash photography was possible with a Leica before the VACUB appeared in 1934 ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
giordano Posted November 25, 2009 Share #13 Posted November 25, 2009 AFAIK the first series produced miniature camera with internal synchronisation was the Kine Exakta of 1936. The Standard Exakta (127 rollfilm) was available with internal synch from 1933. There's a contemporary instruction leaflet for the Vakublitz system here: http://www.ihagee.org/manvakublitz.pdf. Flashbulbs in 1930 had only been around for a few years and were big and expensive. It seems that the Leitz NY VACUB unit only appeared in 1934 or possibly 33; so maybe your hero will have to use a tripod and a time exposure. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lars_bergquist Posted November 26, 2009 Share #14 Posted November 26, 2009 All sources say that the VACUB appeared in 1934. Yes, before that you had to use the B or even T setting. I was born two years after the VACUB, but during the 'forties I took pictures with a Zeiss folder and pre-packaged flash powder ( the German term was 'Kapselblitz'). This was a celluloid container with the powder. The thing looked like a tea bag with an extra 'tail' for a fuse. You suspended it from the chandelier, rigged your camera, herded the terrified relatives in place, lit the fuse, and opened the shutter. Bang. And a fine rain of magnesium oxide fell on the dinner table. Extra entertainment resulted when the fuse went out and you had to re-light it. Use a new flash bag? Are you crazy? They cost money. Your eyebrows did not. Flash cubes, BTW, were far from self-contained. Cameras that used them had a rotary holder for the cube, and lighted them from an internal battery. Cubes appeared in the mid-1960's, as I remember. Flash guns for the small bayonet-mount bulbs took adapters for the all-glass miniature bulbs. All bulbs had a cellulose laquer to guard against explosion, and it fried and bubbled from the heat. I do distinctly remember the smell of it, as you scanned the landscape for an ash tray where you could deposit the burning hot thing. That is one of my olfactory Madeleine cookies, along with tarred rowing-boats. The old man from the Age of Flash Powder Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gyoung Posted November 26, 2009 Share #15 Posted November 26, 2009 snipAll bulbs had a cellulose laquer to guard against explosion, and it fried and bubbled from the heat. I do distinctly remember the smell of it, as you scanned the landscape for an ash tray where you could deposit the burning hot thing. That is one of my olfactory Madeleine cookies, along with tarred rowing-boats. The old man from the Age of Flash Powder And it did not always stop them exploding, when I was working foir a big industrial company we only had one Mecablitz, one day we had two 'group shots' of visiting 'rotyalty' to do, as the youngest I drew the short straw and got the Microcord and Kobold out, the PF60 exploded and deposited the glass at the Managing directors feet, we got the money for another electronic flash the next day:rolleyes: Another time we managed to set fire to a stand at Earls Court when the photographer didn't look when he raised the flash above his head and the bare bulb came into contact with the fabric roof of the stand. Hey Ho what fun in those days, I have only used a flash with the Leicas a couple of times in 40+ years, good fast lenses solve a lot of problems! Gerry Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
giordano Posted November 26, 2009 Share #16 Posted November 26, 2009 Flash cubes, BTW, were far from self-contained. Cameras that used them had a rotary holder for the cube, and lighted them from an internal battery. Cubes appeared in the mid-1960's, as I remember. ...Then so as not to need a battery someone invented the Magicube, whose ignition system harked back to the days of flash powder: each of the four bulbs had a tiny detonator at the base, with a tiny spring under tension aimed at the detonator. When you pressed the shutter a little pin popped up out of the camera and released the spring which struck the detonator and fired the flash. These were almost self-contained: you could fire them by poking a paperclip or some such into the slot to release the spring. That is one of my olfactory Madeleine cookies, along with tarred rowing-boats. Tan canvas and hemp cordage for me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHAG Posted November 26, 2009 Author Share #17 Posted November 26, 2009 AFAIK the first series produced miniature camera with internal synchronisation was the Kine Exakta of 1936. The Standard Exakta (127 rollfilm) was available with internal synch from 1933. There's a contemporary instruction leaflet for the Vakublitz system here: http://www.ihagee.org/manvakublitz.pdf. Flashbulbs in 1930 had only been around for a few years and were big and expensive. It seems that the Leitz NY VACUB unit only appeared in 1934 or possibly 33; so maybe your hero will have to use a tripod and a time exposure. No portable solution prior to that, then ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lars_bergquist Posted November 26, 2009 Share #18 Posted November 26, 2009 Depends on what you think is portable. A frying pan full of magnesium powder was somewhat portable. It did also ensure that nobody was fit to pursue you while you folded up your view camera and fled ... The old man from the Age of God's Own Flashes. Zap! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
giordano Posted November 27, 2009 Share #19 Posted November 27, 2009 Could your man actually have had a Leica II in 1930? The sources to hand suggest they weren't sold before 1932. How about giving him one of these available light classics instead? Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Ermanox camera: picture from Science and Society Picture Library - Search The f/1.8 Ernostar lens is two stops faster than the f/3.5 Elmar and seems to have been available in 1925. Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Ermanox camera: picture from Science and Society Picture Library - Search The f/1.8 Ernostar lens is two stops faster than the f/3.5 Elmar and seems to have been available in 1925. ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/68022-leica-ii-and-hotshoe/?do=findComment&comment=1132687'>More sharing options...
lars_bergquist Posted November 28, 2009 Share #20 Posted November 28, 2009 The first Leica to have a reliable internal flash synchronization was the IIIf, from 1950. What did Leitz do during those fourteen years since 1936 and the Kine Exakta? Did they think flashbulbs were a passing fad? This coma would not have occurred if Barnack hadn't got that fatal pneumonia in early 1936. Remember that his advanced 'Leica IV' project was also shelved, while Leitz invested in better methods to manufacture the same old camera. Wilhelm Albert was the presiding genius of this comatose state. He kept the traditional screw thread Leica going, warts and all, until he retired in 1960! The old man from the Age of the M3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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