Improvements in electronics for nature photography

Nature photography was almost the first application of the electronic flash system of lighting when it became commonly available.1 Although these first units used paper capacitors charged to high voltages and discharging at microsecond rates, later ``strobes'' employed lower-voltage capacitors and operated at longer flash durations. Hence, today's conventional strobe is not suitable for the rapidly moving subjects of nature photography. This article describes a development in strobe equipment that incorporates new and improved design to create flash units of not only lighter weight, but with exposure times of less than 100 microseconds.