[Lord Lucan]

I notice that some old high-end flash units with interchangeable heads, such as the Vivitar 4600 and Sunpak 622, had an optional "Bare Bulb" head. Godox seem to sell bare-bulb units today, both hot-shoe and studio versions. What is the purpose of these? To give deliberate hard shadows for a gritty "crime scene" look?

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Last edited by Lord Lucan; 05-13-2022 at 01:29 AM. Reason: Corrected Spelling misteak

[JohnMc]

That or whatever the modifier you choose to use does, say a baby beauty dish, w/o penalties the standard diffuser on the typ flash imparts in terms of shape and light loss.

[vonBaloney]

They shoot light in all directions. They're actually pretty useful -- I've got a couple of them for the old Vivitar system.

[Digitalis]

Bare bulb flash units offer substantially more consistent light that works well with modifiers, and substantially more power than a typical flash which usually maxes out at around 80~90 w/s at full power*. A lot of bare bulb flash units have dedicated Lithium power packs that allow them to recycle from full power in 4/5 seconds. My monobloc Elinchrom/Broncolor studio heads are in the 500/1500 w/s range and recycle at full power is less than 1 second.



* with substantial recycle delay of 8~10 seconds depending on the state of the batteries.

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Last edited by Digitalis; 05-17-2022 at 01:24 AM.

[inkista]

I notice that some old high-end flash units with interchangeable heads, such as the Vivitar 4600 and Sunpak 622, had an optional "Bare Bulb" head. Godox seem to sell bare-bulb units today, both hot-shoe and studio versions. What is the purpose of these? To give deliberate hard shadows for a gritty "crime scene" look?

No. The purpose is to throw light out in all directions. If you're in a small room, that means bounce back from all directions and that can mean nice soft light (if you've shielded the subject from direct light from the flash). Inside a modifier (e.g., octa), it can mean filling the modifier more completely (wider spread) and evenly; round heads on speedlights do this too. Most studio strobes use bare bulbs.

Fresnel heads on typical speedlights are designed to concentrate and focus the light from a bulb and throw it farther, but it can only be sent in one direction (forward), and the fresnel lens itself will cause hotspots.

Bare direct flash, however, will still be as hard, regardless of which head is used.

[Wheatfield]

I notice that some old high-end flash units with interchangeable heads, such as the Vivitar 4600 and Sunpak 622, had an optional "Bare Bulb" head. Godox seem to sell bare-bulb units today, both hot-shoe and studio versions. What is the purpose of these? To give deliberate hard shadows for a gritty "crime scene" look?

Bare bulb flashes are what are used in real studio lights (as opposed to AA battery powered hot shoe flashes that are stuck into a softbox). The reason for this is because they work with the widest variety of light modifiers.