page_title: Flash (photography)
section_title: Flashbulbs
hierarchical_section_title: Flash (photography) / Types / Flashbulbs
caption_attribution_description: English: The AG-1 flashbulb, introduced in 1958, used wires protruding from its base as electrical contacts; this eliminated the need for a separate metal base.
context_page_description: A flash is a device used in photography producing a flash of artificial light at a color temperature of about 5500 K to help illuminate a scene. A major purpose of a flash is to illuminate a dark scene. Other uses are capturing quickly moving objects or changing the quality of light. Flash refers either to the flash of light itself or to the electronic flash unit discharging the light. Most current flash units are electronic, having evolved from single-use flashbulbs and flammable powders. Modern cameras often activate flash units automatically.
  Flash units are commonly built directly into a camera. Some cameras allow separate flash units to be mounted via a standardized "accessory mount" bracket. In professional studio equipment, flashes may be large, standalone units, or studio strobes, powered by special battery packs or connected to mains power. They are either synchronized with the camera using a flash synchronization cable or radio signal, or are light-triggered, meaning that only one flash unit needs to be synchronized with the camera, and in turn triggers the other units, called slaves.
context_section_description: The use of flash powder in an open lamp was replaced by  flashbulbs; magnesium filaments were contained in bulbs filled with oxygen gas, and electrically ignited by a contact in the camera shutter.  Manufactured flashbulbs were first produced commercially in Germany in 1929.  Such a bulb could only be used once, and was too hot to handle immediately after use, but the confinement of what would otherwise have amounted to a small explosion was an important advance. A later innovation was the coating of flashbulbs with a plastic film to maintain bulb integrity in the event of the glass shattering during the flash. A blue plastic film was introduced as an option to match the spectral quality of the flash to daylight-balanced colour film. Subsequently, the magnesium was replaced by zirconium, which produced a brighter flash.
  Flashbulbs took longer to reach full brightness and burned for longer than electronic flashes.  Slower shutter speeds (typically from 1/10 to 1/50 of a second) were used on cameras to ensure proper synchronization. Cameras with flash sync triggered the flashbulb a fraction of a second before opening the shutter, allowing faster shutter speeds.  A flashbulb widely used during the 1960s was the Press 25, the 25-millimetre (1 in) flashbulb often used by newspapermen in period movies, usually attached to a press camera or a twin-lens reflex camera. Its peak light output was around a million lumens.  Other flashbulbs in common use were the M-series, M-2, M-3 etc., which had a small ("miniature") metal bayonet base fused to the glass bulb. The largest flashbulb ever produced was the GE Mazda No. 75, being over eight inches long with a girth of 14 inches, initially developed for nighttime aerial photography during World War II.
  The all-glass PF1 bulb was introduced in 1954.  Eliminating both the metal base, and the multiple manufacturing steps needed to attach it to the glass bulb, cut the cost substantially compared to the larger M series bulbs. The design required a fibre ring around the base to hold the contact wires against the side of the glass base. An adapter was available allowing the bulb to fit into flash guns that accepted the bayonet capped bulbs. The PF1 (along with the M2) had a faster ignition time (less delay between shutter contact and peak output), so it could be used with X synch below 1/30 of a second—while most bulbs require a shutter speed of 1/15 on X synch to keep the shutter open long enough for the bulb to ignite and burn.  A smaller version, the AG-1 was introduced in 1958 which did not require the fibre ring.  Though it was smaller and had reduced light output, it was cheaper to manufacture and rapidly supplanted the PF1.
caption: The AG-1 flashbulb, introduced in 1958, used wires protruding from its base as electrical contacts; this eliminated the need for a separate metal base.
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