Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Flashpoint 400 watt battery portable flash unit custom modified

 Here is the Adorama Flashpoint 400 watt battery flash with its sturdy carrying case.
 I modified the unit  with a new 100 k ohm potentiometer after one wedding.  The original "volume" dial was 5k ohm.  It felt like it was giving me too much flash even at low.  By the time got to the cake cutting (flash shot number 200ish?) it went battery dead on me.  No fade, just gone.

I had to move the control to the side of the metal case to clear the circut board that covered the old smaller 5k potentiometer.  Otherwise I would've had to make some technically perfect solder work on the board itself.  There was plenty of space inside the case for other locations.

 The plastic handle that comes with the unit is the only piece of the kit that I'm not using.  I use this 1/4 20 adapter stud that fits into a universal umbrella holder/swivel.  
 Unit ready for work atop a redwing quick stand (sadly no longer made).
 In this configuration, I'm getting f2.0.5 iso 200 16' from my light meter at the lowest setting.  If I turn the potentiometer to high, I get 5.6.7.  Not a bad spread for $199!