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Flashpowder - old school way of flash?


9 years 7 months ago #403689 by ArtWagner
Back in the day to create a flash if I'm looking at this correctly was done with a number of different chemical mixtures.  I'd like to try this and was wondering which is generally the more common or safe approach with back in the day photography:  A mixture of potassium nitrate and aluminum power and sulfur (5,3, and 2 parts)  OR a 50-50 mixture of magnesium powder and potassium nitrate.

Thanks in advance

Art
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9 years 7 months ago #403706 by Allen D
Sounds like a fire hazard to me, I'd be super careful and not mix this in your home. 
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9 years 7 months ago #403709 by ShutterPal
I'll bite, how do you control something like that?  Or shall I say set up?  
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9 years 7 months ago #403722 by Frisco

Allen D wrote: Sounds like a fire hazard to me, I'd be super careful and not mix this in your home. 




I was thinking the same thing.  Be careful here.  
Nikon 18-55mm VR, Nikon 70-200mm VRII f/2.8, Nikon 50mm f/1.8, Nikon 10.5mm Fisheye, Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8, SB-700 & SB-800
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9 years 7 months ago #403737 by Tim Chiang
What are you trying to do here? 
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9 years 7 months ago #403843 by TedReichner
That's rather adventurous.  Not sure I would want to mess around with old chemical process.  I'm not help, be careful.  
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9 years 7 months ago #403990 by Joves
Neither way is any safer than the other. They are both merely loose explosions on a metal bar. If I remember correctly the magnesium mix was brighter, but it has a tendency to burn hotter because of the magnesium. Either will burn you, and many photographers did get burned using both mixes. The sulfur mix just smells plain nasty. If you choose to try it, do it outside over a dirt area. You pile it on a piece of angle iron, and put some for of reflective metal behind it. There is a reason that as soon as they made viable bulbs the practice was dropped. Also many of the early bulbs were string filaments coated with the magnesium mix.
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9 years 7 months ago #404035 by Adam Nagle
:agree: ddefinitely an outdoor project
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9 years 7 months ago #404193 by Ben Vanderbilt
Is this for a project or just for the heck of it? 
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9 years 7 months ago #404300 by Joves

Geospiri wrote:

Joves wrote: Neither way is any safer than the other. They are both merely loose explosions on a metal bar. If I remember correctly the magnesium mix was brighter, but it has a tendency to burn hotter because of the magnesium. Either will burn you, and many photographers did get burned using both mixes. The sulfur mix just smells plain nasty. If you choose to try it, do it outside over a dirt area. You pile it on a piece of angle iron, and put some for of reflective metal behind it. There is a reason that as soon as they made viable bulbs the practice was dropped. Also many of the early bulbs were string filaments coated with the magnesium mix.


from my experience with very early and large mag bulbs.. ( 1 shot) ... they have a fairly long burn time which was needed due to the slow film used and coated glass negs were very slow so for flash pwder the sulphur was added to slow the burn down a bit


Yeah my old Speeds flash used those, and I burned my finger tips more than a couple of times on them.
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9 years 7 months ago #404420 by ArtWagner
Hey thanks guys, honestly I'm just looking for a fun project and this is something really out there!
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9 years 7 months ago #404433 by icepics
Seems like Joves knows his stuff. I found something on a couple of sites I've used before, sounds like it wasn't exactly safe in its day and if nothing else put out a roomful of smoke.

http://earlyphotography.co.uk/site/entry_M42.html  

http://www.photomemorabilia.co.uk/Ilford/Flash_History.html
Sharon
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9 years 7 months ago #404438 by McBeth Photography
No wonder they won't let a person use flash in museums! ;)  
It is what it is.
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