Multiblitz joins Bowens!

Well I haven't done an outdoor location shoot for oh so many years, well over 30 in fact, but the stands I took were lightweight, but then large brollies weren't used on location & softboxes, well they didn't exist, just small rigid light tubs, so the stands didn't need to be super tough, but you could always have invested in one of the 6 or so Manfrotto large footprint (with adjustable leg) stands - don't know if they still make those?. As for leveling my stands well for me that was a selection of bits of wood. The location heads I used, battery powered modular Multiblitz ones (launched in 1980), just un-clip the mains pack and snap-on the 12 volt module and attach to a car battery - now carrying the battery (or getting the car close enough) was the usual challenge! But then again you could always use the Reporter module which to 8 x 1.5v batteries in a remote housing joined to the head by a coiled lead. Specs for that were 180 pops @ 200ws and a t1 flash duration of 1/400th. Now I don't have the heads, but still have the stands and the light tub which I use all the time...Those modular heads only lasted in production for 5 years, after all why would anyone really need this level of versatility from a flash head;) the non-modular version lasted in production for 12 or so years and I used them for perhaps 15 to 20 years before I felt the need to change, oh just when I thought I'd gotten over the loss of Multiblitz :(


:)
 
HoppyUK said:
Haha I know what you mean, C-stands with the adjustable height dogleg. But you can't adjust the footprint and they weigh several a tons.
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Actually I was thinking more along the lines of a Kupo 135M, Matthews beefy baby, Manfrotto 008CSU etc.

Can be small enough to fit into a case, heavy duty design means they'll take some weights without issue or might be enough on their own.
 
HoppyUK said:
Haha I know what you mean, C-stands with the adjustable height dogleg. But you can't adjust the footprint and they weigh several a tons.

The kind of stand I'd like for location would be a very simple design and easy to produce with just a few mods to existing models, even DIYable. How about it Lencarta/Garry? :D
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Nah, I'm retired and past it and now spend a lot of my time enjoying the weather on my farm:)
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As for Lencarta, they are following (or more correctly, leading) the move towards giving customers what they want, which means products that sell cheaply in large quantities
Unfortunately, it's been proved time and time again that niche products just don't sell in sufficient volume, the price is too high because the volume is too low, and then people moan about the price and think that the firm is making a fortune when in fact they're making nothing
 
Eloise said:
Pie in the sky ... come on Nikon (not sure about others) can't even get a 2.4GHz transmitter built in for their OWN flashes. And looking from the other end, every flash manufacturer has their own 2.4GHz system, some even have different systems for different ranges of flashes; so who should Nikon (as an example) support? But flashes are the same as lenses, from Nikon's point of view only Nikon lenses should be used with a Nikon camera (same for Canon, Sony, et al); afaik only 4/3 and micro4/3 are "open" standards which embrace third party lenses and cameras - and even there Olympus and Panasonic have mutually incompatible stabilisation systems so you can't use hybrid IBIS / OIS if using Olympus body and Panasonic lens (or vice versa).

Perhaps the world of cameras would look very different if everyone had used F mount in manual focus days, then EF for AF (D)SLR and now E mount for mirrorless (with m43 for small sensor mirrorless) - but then everyone wanted their own system for their own purposes.

(Sorry rant over).
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Actually quite ironic considering Nikon started out as a third party lens makes becoming famous among press photographers during the korean war with their lenses for Leica and Contax cameras. A photographer named David Douglas Duncan has been celebrated as father of nikon
 
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At least Canon have a workable solution, albeit proprietary and theyre keeping their cards close to their chest. They’re only short of a ST-E3rt

Nikon can’t even produce a practical wireless system! Surely it shouldn’t have taken a massive leap to create a radio version of an SU800. All the other camera manufacturers seem resigned to leave flash to 3rd party suppliers.
 
From where we are now, I don't think a common cross-brand flash system is possible or even desirable. It would inevitably turn out to be yet another new system and at best only part compatible with anything else. The best we can hope for is camera manufacturers opening their protocols to third parties, and stop introducing new codes seemingly with the sole intention of messing things about (looking at you Mr Canon) but I can't see that happening either. I don't actually want in-camera radio control built-in. Flash is different, a separate entity, and it's better and more easily managed from an on-camera unit with it's own control interface.

It's a conundrum though. Why do camera manufacturers continue to make things difficult for both third-party manufacturers and consumers when they've never shown any interest whatsoever in producing anything beyond speedlights? And they are not only expensive, but often not as well featured as third party brands. Native Canon products can't do remote second-curtain sync (probably for patent reasons) and the ST-E3-RT has no AF-assist beam (WTF?). All third party products have both. Nikon's radio system came very late to the party but now requires a little add-on unit controlled from in-camera menus. No AF-assist beam; doesn't work with any camera pre the D5, and on the D7500 it sticks out of the left-hand corner right into the palm of your hand. And there seems no prospect of a radio version of the old SU800 that would fix all these things. It takes a very special talent for muddled thinking to come up with something like that :eek:
 
Faldrax said:
That would be "Senior Management" :rolleyes:
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Brings back memories about German camera companies unvilling to give up the compur leaf shutter in 35mm cameras. As a result they went bankrupt
 
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