rippo

<p>I dunno, I think that's a pretty cool image! But I have to start weighing a $50-70 purchase (which I think the nicer ones are) as compared to a $250-300 purchase for the real thing, and it starts to make less sense.</p>

<p>Thank you Bueh, for a substantive answer! That's exactly what I needed to hear. I was concerned I was misinterpreting the whole .45x thing, or that it only applied to certain focal lengths etc (although why that would be, I don't know). I wasn't expected a good image, just a wide one. I'll have to look for your Laser Deluxe! ;)</p>

<p>Wasn't expecting good image quality for $12. Just puzzled why it didn't look like .45x. Can anyone answer my question?</p>

<p>Bought a cheap wide angle conversion lens off ebay for my Mamia 645AF, just to see what it would do. $12 and free shipping, how could I go wrong? I figured image quality would suffer at the edges, but I wasn't planning on using it for anything too critical. Conversion lens was advertised as a .45x lens.</p>

<p>On my 80mm lens, that ought to convert it to a 36mm lens…very wide for MF. (46mm to 21mm in 35mm equivalent, if I'm doing my math properly). However it is nowhere near that wide! Looks more like a very gentle 60mm or thereabouts.<br>

This lens is designed for dSLRs and video cameras. Is there something about using it on a longer lens (speaking in absolute terms) that is robbing me of my additional wide-ness? Or is it just BS about the focal length conversion? Thanks.</p>

Just as a follow up: the LH2 head arrived—with a bulb!—and is working just fine. I swapped bulbs with the LH3B head, and it still doesn't fire. So it appears to be the head that went bad. I don't mind, for $40, I'm back in business. And now have a spare bulb too. Thanks for your help, Bruce.

I had some time to kill while installing a new operating system, so I tried it. Nothing. I see what you mean though: there's a pin in each bulb with no wire going to it, but it's different for each bulb. Doesn't definitively tell me my head is dead though, but at least nothing blew up. :) Thanks again. I'll just wait patiently for my LH2K head I ordered.

Hi Bruce. Just double-checked, and both bulbs fit in both heads. Go figure.

 

No numbers on any of the bulbs, other than the pin numbers and "Amphenol" on the base. But the bulb out of the 400B looks like the FT400s I've seen online. Square rather than rounded top, with a vent on top rather than sealed. And it has two loops instead of one, plus some UV coating on it (the 200B bulb does not).

 

I appreciate the offer of a test. But you run the risk of blowing an FT-400 too! Perhaps, if no one has a definitive answer, I'll give it a shot. If the 400B bulb and LH3B head work, my question is answered. If it doesn't work (but no sparks result), I won't completely know if it's a bad head or an incompatible bulb. I DO know that the bulb worked, as I had the whole system tested when I got my 200B battery. So if I don't get an answer, I will ask you if you're still willing to test it.

 

Thanks!

Ok, one more quick question on Norman. I promise, it's quick! :)

 

Can I use the bulb from my dormant 400B lamphead (LH52K) in my possibly-dead-and-in-need-of-testing 200B lamphead

(LH3B)? I seem to recall the original owner saying it was possible. And they have the same pin configuration. But

I'd hate to blow up the bulb in the 200B, just for testing purposes. But I want to make sure it's the head and

not the bulb. Can anyone, ahem, "enlighten" me? Thanks.

Thanks Bruce and Nadine. I doubt I'll repair the LH3. The 200B and 400B together cost me $50, so I can't see spending money on repair. Better to replace the head…I've heard the LH3Bs tend are less reliable. I don't need the photo sensor capability, although the on-head power adjustment was nice.

 

I'm crossing my fingers that it's a bad head, rather than a bad tube. But a new tube will be about the same price ($37 from B&H, after adding it to my cart for the secret discount. :) )

 

One day I'll get that 400B going too, when I can afford a couple hundred dollars for batteries.

Thanks Bruce! That's very helpful. I'll take a closer look at the 400 bulb this evening. I remember that one of the pins was sort of hollow or something, although appeared to be the same size. But I really didn't notice any marking on the socket to indicate what went where. Must try harder.

 

I've ordered a LH2K head from KEH for $39. Probably no flash tube, but it was turned the wrong way round in the picture, so I can't say for sure. If this one is still working, then it's not an issue. Probably won't have it in time for my shoot on Saturday, so I'll have to gang up speedlights like in the old days (i.e. a few months ago).

 

I'll look into some high-temperature silicone to re-attach the cover.

 

Which prompts another question: how do I know it's head that went out, rather than the flash tube? Do flash tubes work intermittently before dying, or do they just stop suddenly? I'm new to the world of non-hotshoe strobes, so I don't have any experience with replacing dead flash tubes.

 

Thanks again!

I've got a Norman 200B and 400B set, which I posted about a few months back when I acquired them. The 400B has

sat dormant, waiting for me to be able to afford the batteries. I did get a battery for the 200B however, and

it's been my main location light ever since.

 

It started acting up today though. I've got an LH3B head, which has a photo sensor so you can use it in 'auto'

mode (although I never do). During a shoot, it started firing intermittently. Now it will hardly trigger at all,

either by using the test button or shorting the sync cable. I can see sparks when I short the sync cable

occasionally, so there's power. And the 'ready' light flashes ok. It just won't fire the strobe most of the time.

 

Is this the head, or the bulb, or something else?

 

And to that end, I removed the bulb to the 400B, only to find that it has four identical pins, with no obvious

way of determining how to put them back. Does the pin alignment matter?

 

And then I removed the bulb on the 200B, only to find that it was the cover I pulled off. The xenon tube part

stayed on the head. Is that normal? Does the bulb have a removable glass cover? And otherwise, how do I remove

the bulb?

 

Thanks.

Thanks John and Bruce.

 

I went round Christopher Glenn's studio yesterday and bought a battery for the 200B. It does appear that one of my chargers has been modified so that it won't cook the 400B's batteries. So when I'm feeling flush with cash, I'll get two batteries and have him make an adapter so I can charge them (with the modified charger) out of the unit.

 

He mentioned that rapid charging works on the 400B batteries, but it's the trickle charge that kills them. It's too high for the newer 'Super Batteries'. The Delta V and the modified gray cubes have a reduced trickle charge so that it doesn't harm the batteries (but doesn't charge them either). He says you can, however, rapid-charge them with a gray cube if you remove them promptly after the charging period.

Thanks all, for the responses!

 

Bruce: Oddly, the 400B doesn't say 'delta' on it, but the batteries inside are Super Batteries, which (according

to the label) require the Delta charger.

 

Nadine: Thanks for the links.

 

[later] I contacted Christopher Glenn at powersource.org on your suggestion, Nadine. He called me a couple of

minutes after I emailed, and we spent about half an hour by phone discussing the peculiarities of the 200B and

400B. Thanks for the suggestion. It's all a lot clearer now.

 

I'm going to stop by his studio in the next week or two and get a battery for the 200B. There are also some

options for the 400B that can use the gray cube as a charger. But that will involve buying one or two more

batteries (the 400B can take two, but doesn't require two), and a custom connector so I can charge the batteries

outside the unit.

 

Considering I paid $50 for a 200B, 400B, three gray cubes, an extension cord for the 200B, an LH3B lamphead

(automatic, and working!) and a regular head for the 400B, I got a good deal. I can afford to at least get a new

battery for the 200B, and take it from there.

 

I'm getting two stops more on my flash meter from the 200B than from my SB-28. Woo hoo! I'm already feeling the

power.

First off, I've spent the last hour scouring photo.net and google, and haven't found all the answers I need.

Some, but not all. So I'd appreciate some help!

 

Just bought a Norman 200B pack and head, and a 400B pack and head. Three gray chargers, all fitting the 200B. The

seller hadn't used them in 10 years, and didn't know where the charger for the 400B was. The battery on the 200B

held enough charge after 10 minutes to fire a test pop, so it shows the head is still working. Appropriate cables

for each. So, my questions:

 

- Are there manuals for the 200B and 400B online somewhere?

 

- Not clear on this, but it appears the red button on the charger is for fast charging, and otherwise it's

trickle-charging if just left to sit?

 

- So how do I know it's done charging? Light goes off when it's done? But what then, about trickle charging?

 

- When viewing a page on Calumet's website, it looked like there was some sort of cable adapter that might allow

me to hook up a gray box to the 400B. Rather than requiring a separate type of charger. Am I wrong?

 

- Other than buying a new third-party battery for $80, are there any other, even cheaper ways to replace the

batteries?

 

Ah. My light just went off, after about 15 minutes. Which means the battery holds a little bit of a charge, but

nothing fabulous.

 

Thanks!

ok so i've got the battery, and the camera works, and i've got a color 110 roll off to Dwayne's Photo in KS for development and prints. meanwhile, a kind soul on this forum sent me some Copex microfilm, instructions for loading it into a 110 fim cassette and copious amounts of help in getting it to work. so i've got b/w shots taken with my Pocket Instamatic 60! check 'em out here if you like....

 

http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=645280

AND you can still get film for them.

thanks dave. i'd been eyeing the zoom lens that came with my purchase too, thinking i'd seen a spot. i'll leave well enough alone. :)

i'm not sure if i should go buy that lottery ticket or not. :/

 

i found the ball bearing! i then tried the grease idea, but the little spring was mangled and it wouldn't seat in place. in my attempts to fix it, the ball bearing fell down the hole that the spring goes in, and won't come out. then the spring went flying to who knows where. i decided at that point i should leave well enough alone. but it probably would have worked.

thanks james. i'm more likely to find the ball bearing on the floor than i am to get that other lens open. i'll give it another shot. good idea, i appreciate the input!

well i figured it out, with mixed results.

 

after the 'branding' ring on the front is unscrewed, there are three very small screws underneath, sealed with some sort of factory glue. it's these that need to be removed as well, to get the front lens element out. i was able to remove this from one of the lenses, and clean the fungus with isopropyl alcohol.

 

there's a problem getting it back together though. the aperture ring makes a clicking noise and stops at each different f-stop number under normal usage. this is achieved by a very tiny ball bearing and spring combination, that clicks into slots underneath that ring. well this ball pops out immediately once you open it up, and it appears Olympus used magical gremlins to put it together. i couldn't get it back in, and then when i finally thought i might have a solution, i dropped the ball - literally. and that was the end of that.

 

so the lens is clean and works just fine, but the aperture ring is now continually adjustable rather than stepped. and probably won't stay in place at the chosen setting quite as easily as before. certainly operable though.

 

i couldn't get the other lens open. i stripped one of the screws and it's just going to have to stay mouldy (and clicking).

 

thanks to everyone who chimed in.

well i got that retaining ring off, but the lens elements wouldn't budge. should they have just dropped out? i should take a look at the other 50mm and see if that comes out any differently. it just seemed like it was sealed in there pretty tightly.

i've had an OM-G since the 80's, and it's got mold in the 50mm zuiko (1.8) lens.

i just bought another complete OM-G off ebay, and its 50mm lens has mold spots

too! i want to clean it myself as i've got two lenses and it's worth a shot. i

successfully cleaned an old Argus C-Four lens and got rid of the mold, so i'm

not a complete fumblefingers. i just can't figure out how to get the lens

elements out. i removed the 'lettered' ring on the front, but the front element

won't budge. took off the back but that looked like a bad way to go so i put it

back on.

 

can't find any net resources. anyone here taken one of these apart?

 

(no i'm not sending it to a technician. i want to do it myself. :) )

yeah the viewfinders are usually pretty nasty. my Brownie Target 6-20 is hard to use in landscape orientation, although the portrait viewfinder is a little better. it's all point-and-pray photography anyway.

 

i've used 100 ASA color film (converted mine to 35mm temporarily) in my brownie and it worked just fine. mine has two aperture settings, "sunny" and "cloudy" says the manual. i didn't have any problems with over-exposure, and i'm in sunny california. you should be ok with film speed, although you could always go to Ilford Pan F+ with an ASA of 50 if you're worried about over exposure.

you might not need to use anything at all. just keep the tape over it except when you're winding, and look for the number and then put the tape back. you should keep the tape over the hole anyway, even with a window there. the window isn't going to stop long-term light exposure leaking in. but the paper backing of the film in theory keeps the light out. if you expose the window to bright sunlight however, you'll get numbers printed on your film. just check the number in shade, or cup your hand around it etc.

 

mind you, i've still got my red window in place so i don't guarantee results. ;)

to answer the double viewfinder part of the question...

 

the camera is designed so you frame your shot by holding it at waist level and looking down into the viewfinder from that distance. you don't hold it up to your eye. there are two of them so you can turn the camera sideways and make a portrait or landscape oriented shot, and still be able to see the subject.

 

my six-20 only has a normal-shutter versus 'B' mode for the metal tab near the shutter activator. pull it out and you've got 'B' mode, where the shutter stays open until you let go. push it in and the shutter fires at a predetermined speed. mine doesn't do anything on an 'in between' setting.

 

the aperture slider is up top by the carrying handle. pull it out for 'bright sun', push it in for 'shade'.

 

i've bought the modified 120 film but have not yet put it in the camera. until recently i was using 35mm (see my modification in this forum). in the next week or so i will try using it as it was originally intended. post some pix if you get them!