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Yes! Processing film at home is easy. Click here.

No minimum order. Locate the item you want in our catalog. Click the "Add To Cart" button.
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Flash cubes and bulbs

 

These products have not been manufactured for decades, and everything we offer is from recently excavated warehouse stocks or out of the back rooms of long-established camera stores for whom inventory control was never a priority. Most packages are shopworn, and some have torn flaps. All are complete and the flashes are probably all fully functional.

Clear bulbs are for black and white photography. Blue bulbs are for properly balanced color with the color films of the '50's, 60's, and 70's, and they work with black and white as well..

Supplies are limited, and when they're gone, they're gone.

Safety note: flash bulbs generate significant heat when fired. Do not fire them close to anyone's face or skin, nor anywhere near flammable substances. Do not touch them with your bare fingers immediately after firing. Do not carry them loose in your pocket, where they might be fired accidentally by static electricity (Ouch!). Flash cubes and Magicubes are shielded, but glass bulbs (AG-1 "peanut" bulbs, and M2 types) are not, so keep a safe distance from people since it is remotely possible that bulbs might shatter when fired.

AG-1 "peanut" flash bulbs (clear or blue)

Choose clear for black and white, or blue for color. Of course, you can use blue for black and white too. These require a battery to fire.


Box of 12 clear flash bulbs
Product AG1C
 
Box of 12 blue flash bulbs
Product AG1B
 

AG3-B flash bulbs

These are a more powerful version of the AG-1 bulb. Choose these if they're recommended by your camera manufacturer, or if ordinary AG-1 bulbs don't provide enough light. Like standard AG-1s, these require a battery to fire.


Box of 12 blue high-power flash bulbs
Product AG3B
 


Your camera uses flash cubes if the flash socket looks like this. The socket shape is a cross, and the pin in the center of the socket is round.


Flash cubes have electrical contacts. A battery in your camera provides the power to ignite the flash.

Flash Cubes

The original flash cube, four "peanut" bulbs arranged as a cube. Your camera automatically rotates the cube as you shoot pictures. The bulbs are blue, so OK for color film as well as black and white. Choose High-Power flashcubes if recommended by your camera manufacturer. High-power flashcubes produce significantly more light than standard flashcubes. All flashcubes require a battery to fire.


Click here to watch a wonderful '70's Kodak TV commercial promoting flashcubes. "Newest Instamatic camera outfits from only $18. Only from Kodak!"

 

Box of 3 Flashcubes, 4 flashes per cube
Product FLSH-FCUB
 

Box of 2 High-power Flashcubes, 4 flashes per cube
Product FLSH-2PACK
 



Your camera requires Magicubes (or X-cubes) if the socket looks like this. The socket shape is an X with a square pin in its center. There are no electrical contacts, and the camera's flash socket has four studs (see detail below).


Magicubes do not have electrical contacts, and the camera does not require a battery for flash. 

Magicubes, also called X-cubes
An improved flash cube, four "peanut" bulbs arranged as a cube. Your camera automatically rotates the cube as you shoot pictures. They're blue, so OK for color film or black and white. Because they self-ignite when the shutter button is pushed, no battery is required.


Box of three Magicubes, 4 flashes per cube
Product FLSH-MCUB
 


M2 and M3 flash bulbs for many 1960-era cameras, like the popular Brownie Starflash pictured. Blue bulbs give proper color balance with the color films of a half-century ago, and of course they also work with black and white. Clear bulbs are for black and white. A battery is required to fire the bulb.

Package of 12 M2B blue bulbs
Product FLSH-M2B
 

Note: we have a small supply of clear M2 bulbs, "Bond" brand, in distressed packaging. Per package of 12 Bond M2 clear bulbs
Product FLSH-M2
 

 

Flipflash

These blue color-balanced flashes fit into special flipflash sockets. You shoot six flash pictures with the bar inserted one way, then remove it and flip it over to shoot the next six. 12 flashes in all.

One 12-exposure Flipflash
Product FLSH-FLIP
 
Flashbar

These were invented especially for the Polaroid cameras of the day, and since Polaroid films make ten photos per film, flashbars have ten flashes per bar. The fit into a special flashbar socket, and do not need to be flipped over. Blue for color or black and white film.

One 10-flash Flashbar
Product FLSH-BAR
 

 

 

HOME  CATALOG  DOWNLOADS  FORMULARY  PROCESSING YOUR FILM
CONTACT    FAQ    HOW TO ORDER  CHECK YOUR ORDER STATUS
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All prices are in $US. This page last modified Tuesday, October 28, 2008 . Please be sure to read our privacy policy. Entire web site protected by copyright. © 2001- 2008, The Frugal Photographer. All rights reserved. Reproduction of text, photographs, illustrations, and web page design without permission is strictly forbidden. ADOX is a registered Canadian trademark of Adox Fotowerke, Inc., Calgary. "Bluefire" is a registered trademark, used with permission.

Serving photographers on the World Wide Web since September 1, 2001