Graflex advertises its Stroboflash III electronic flash in the mid 1950s
Toronto. In the 1950s, one of the big fresh eggs was the portable electronic flash. Mind you the cost would buy a lifetime-plus of flash bulbs and guns for most serious or beginning amateurs.
In the December, 1955 issue of Popular Mechanics, Graflex advertised its ‘new’ StroboFlash III with a 200 watt-second flash. The extremely brief flash was the equivalent of daylight and once connected, simple to use and reliable.
In any case, as electronic flashes became smaller and cheaper they became firstly hot shoe accessories, then built-ins. Today’s smartphone cameras have an even tinier built-in flash that can be set to on/off/auto. The huge and heavy external strobes of yesterday are but a memory now – brought to mind when we see ads like this.
Thanks is due George Dunbar for sharing this touch of history (nearly 70 years ago) with us.
