Studio Strobes for Daguerreotypy

[jgmotamedi]

What sort of strobe equipment have you been using (or dreaming of using) with Daguerreotypes?

 

In a previous post I mentioned that I received a huge collection of Speedotron equipment for practically nothing (part of a Craigslist studio buy-out). Rather than cope with weak Oregon sun, I decided to check to see if there was enough power in the equipment to light a mercury developed Dag. Sure enough, 7200 w/s on one head was enough to expose a plate at f/2.8.

 

My daughter agreed to sit, although complained about the flash afterward. To make up for it, I allowed her to push the button while I sat in the chair. It wasn’t as bad as the descriptions I have heard of Jerry Spagnoli’s set-up–burned hair and all of that–but it does make a very loud POP and you see spots for a minute or so. Anyhow, as you can see, the image is present, although this is a rather ugly example (you can comment on the plate problems here).

 

Anyhow, I used a Speedotron 105 “Quad” four-cable head in a 22″ “Beauty Dish” reflector at 7200 watt seconds (with 4803 and 2401 boxes). The rim of the reflector was about 32″ from subject, and was placed above and to the right of the camera.

 

What are you using?

 

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[Andy Stockton]

Wow. That Quad head is quite the piece of equipment. I have nothing meaningful to add to the technical side of this discussion, but I am going to start watching Craig’s list for studios going out of business! 🙂

 

I do have a plan for using my puny off-brand strobe heads to take an indoor still-life by using multiple flash pops, but that is waiting on my understanding better how to translate the multi-flash reading on my light meter. I have just been using the meter’s EV scale and an exposure cheat sheet derived from Jonathan Danforth’s work for my previous exposures. The multi-pop gives a standard reading of speed/f-stop.

 

[photolytic]

I tried my Speedotron 4-tube no 105 flash head at 9600ws using 2 Speedotron 4803 power units today. Speedotrons guide number is 720 at ISO 100. Multipling 720 by the ratio the 10 aperture stops between ISO 100 and the ISO 0.10 speed of a Daguerreotype or 1/32 predicts a Dag guide number of 22.5 at 9600ws.

 

This plate was shot at f/3.5 with the 9600ws unit at a distance of 6.7 ft (2m) or guide no 23.

 

 

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[jgmotamedi]

I never thought of figuring out the guide number, nice idea! I will have to figure out what the guide number is for the reflector I use. Here is today’s plate. Sorry for the horrid through-the-cover-glass scan.

 

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[photolytic]

Speedotron accepts several different reflectors.

You mentioned using a 22inch model whereas I used a 20inch aluminum reflector.

I measured the distance from the end of the tubes inside the reflector.

It is important to hook up the cables, one to a center 2400ws socket and one the a combined 800/1600ws socket located on the left side of the 4803 power pack. If you hook both cables up to the 2400ws sockets you only get half power.

[jgmotamedi]

Interesting. Based on my bellows extension, distance, and aperture I am using a GN of about 11, roughly half of yours. I suppose this is partially due to the difference in the reflectors we use. Notably yours is silver and thus reflects more light, while mine is white and has a built in diffuser.

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