Ad in LIFE c1967 for the Perma-Cube electronic flash
Toronto. Flashcubes had four tiny flash bulbs and allowed four flash shots by rotating 90 degrees after each shot. Magic cubes looked the same but were ignited by mechanical energy instead of batteries. In 1967, Honeywell made two flashcube alternatives for five of the popular Kodak Instamatic camera line models.
They were both plug in replacements for the flashcube. The cheaper version used four AA size batteries for “up to 100” snaps while the pricier version used rechargeable batteries and included an AC charger for about 25% more and took about 30 snaps per charge.
Of course modern day smartphone users needn’t even think of flash. It’s all automated. Just use the internal digital camera and the flash goes off automatically when needed (unless you have it set to off ).
Once again my thanks to George Dunbar for sharing this bit of photographic history with me. You can see the ad in the November 17, 1967 edition of LIFE on page R7 just after page 103.
