What on earth is this little gadget?

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Morris
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I thought it was a hearing aid when I first saw it but the suction cup put that to the back of the pile. It came in a bunch of photography bits and pieces I bought at auction.

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Wot redsnappa said. I have one in my old cameras box, and used to use it back in the day as he describes.
 
Seeing the above replies I would add to my earlier reply that I think the flat surface piece visible in the front is a 'photoresistor' not the old OCP71 phototransistor that I recall as well.

None too sure what it was I built back in the 60's in electronics class at school but it had a Photo Resistor..............just can't recall what it was for once finished ~ but it was nothing photographic :thinking: :thinking: :thinking:
 
It is an optical flash trigger. You plug this little device into your secondary flash and light from your primary flash would hit this device and it would in turn fire your secondary flash.
This is how we did off camera flash before radio triggers.
They were often nicknamed a 'peanut'

Awesome and a great nickname.

I guess I'll have to test it. I like the little 'book' that it came in.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and suggestions.
 
Seeing the above replies I would add to my earlier reply that I think the flat surface piece visible in the front is a 'photoresistor' not the old OCP71 phototransistor that I recall as well.

None too sure what it was I built back in the 60's in electronics class at school but it had a Photo Resistor..............just can't recall what it was for once finished ~ but it was nothing photographic :thinking: :thinking: :thinking:

They were often used in oscillator circuits.
 
I got rid of one about 1yr ago. It had the same little box with a cut-out inside for the trigger. :)
 
It is an optical flash trigger. You plug this little device into your secondary flash and light from your primary flash would hit this device and it would in turn fire your secondary flash.
This is how we did off camera flash before radio triggers.
They were often nicknamed a 'peanut'
I think I have a couple that are identical to this, right down to the book style box as mentioned by @Suvv & shown in all these photos. The connector that's been left done up one the back of the peanut is just the same as the PC connectors used on old cameras for triggering flashes.
They still work quite nicely to trigger old high voltage flash units using the flash from modern flash units - as long as you TURN OFF TTL modes (or the pre-flash activates them) & can also be used to trigger some shutter releases with a little careful wiring.
 
Me too :), still got it. IIRC it came with a sticker that you put on the flash gun so that the rubber sucker on the bottom of the trigger would stick to the flash, never worked though.
 
Ha!

Some of the stuff I get at auction does evoke memories that for sure. Often I am bidding on a lot that says "box of camera associated stuff" so you have no idea what you are getting.

I got this in one recently; love the price tag! Takes me back :D

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I got this in one recently; love the price tag! Takes me back :D
Half a crown! I can remember buying a plate of Spaghetti Bolognese in the Belsize Village Italian restaurant for 1/9d. :D
 
Some of the stuff I get at auction does evoke memories that for sure. Often I am bidding on a lot that says "box of camera associated stuff" so you have no idea what you are getting.
Some of those listing really keep you guessing, but I rarely now bid unless I spot a few things I recognise. I suppose the hours of sorting through trying to work out exactly what it is has been worth the cost of a few lots, but it has to be a big collection going for very little for that to be the case.
Simply browsing the 'assorted', 'job lot' & 'unknown' hits can keep me amused for a whole lunchtime, and it sometimes even stops me looking at the lens specific searches ;)
 
Don't open it, call the police and have everyone move at least 400 miles away! This is a soulcatcher accumulator, part of a lethal alien weapon that will move everything it's sensor field reaches into a netherland from which there is no return. It is used by the Tharg people of Hallumus 3 to enslave other races and species. Repent, the end is nigh, they have found us!!!!
 
Don't open it, call the police and have everyone move at least 400 miles away! This is a soulcatcher accumulator, part of a lethal alien weapon that will move everything it's sensor field reaches into a netherland from which there is no return. It is used by the Tharg people of Hallumus 3 to enslave other races and species. Repent, the end is nigh, they have found us!!!!

Crumbs!........... haven't you been taking your medication ;)
 
Some of those listing really keep you guessing, but I rarely now bid unless I spot a few things I recognise. I suppose the hours of sorting through trying to work out exactly what it is has been worth the cost of a few lots, but it has to be a big collection going for very little for that to be the case.
Simply browsing the 'assorted', 'job lot' & 'unknown' hits can keep me amused for a whole lunchtime, and it sometimes even stops me looking at the lens specific searches ;)

I enjoy the occasional "lucky dip" as I refer to them. I just got a box from an auction house that only had one thing of value and I'll need to buy a charger for the battery so I can see if it works. I MAY cover the cost of the lot if it does.

The lot the 'peanut' came in looked like it wasn't going to offer up a great deal but there is a single camera in there that will sell for more than I paid for the lot. Luck of the draw.

It's the closest I get to gambling (the Lottery on the 5th rollover doesn't count in my book) ;)
 
I enjoy the occasional "lucky dip" as I refer to them. I just got a box from an auction house that only had one thing of value and I'll need to buy a charger for the battery so I can see if it works. I MAY cover the cost of the lot if it does.

The lot the 'peanut' came in looked like it wasn't going to offer up a great deal but there is a single camera in there that will sell for more than I paid for the lot. Luck of the draw.

It's the closest I get to gambling (the Lottery on the 5th rollover doesn't count in my book) ;)
I've picked up a few simply to investigate an unusual item spotted in the photos, and sometimes the goods aren't worth the postage - but still the odds of winning are certainly greater than the lottery!
 
Half a crown! I can remember buying a plate of Spaghetti Bolognese in the Belsize Village Italian restaurant for 1/9d. :D

My favourites eating places in the "Belsize" area were the "Witches Caldron" and the "Loft" and further up in Hampstead the "El Serrano"
Met the wife in the "Loft" Those were the days in the late 50's.
There were some fabulous Jewish Coffee shops for cakes in the Swiss cottage area.
 
I also met my wife in Belsize Park. She's kept me for more than 50 years now, so her taste hasn't improved yet! :naughty:

I was living in a bed sit in Primrose gardens, and she was a nurse living in the Charing X "nurses home" in England's Lane
The Loft was in Elizabeth mews.
 
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And that folks is how you get from Peanut to Primrose in a single page :LOL:

I keep thinking of the line from Marillion's "Kayleigh" when I see mention of Belsize Park. ;)
 
And that folks is how you get from Peanut to Primrose in a single page :LOL:

I keep thinking of the line from Marillion's "Kayleigh" when I see mention of Belsize Park. ;)
With topic drift that could easily take us to Fugazi...
Misplaced childhood was the last Marillion tour I attended, overall a disappointing album, nowhere near as good as Script for a Jesters Tear (which I still have the tee shirt for despite it being many sizes too small for me)
 
With topic drift that could easily take us to Fugazi...
Misplaced childhood was the last Marillion tour I attended, overall a disappointing album, nowhere near as good as Script for a Jesters Tear (which I still have the tee shirt for despite it being many sizes too small for me)

Used to love Marillion but I realised, after he'd left, that it was Fishs' lyrics that I loved the most so gave up with the band...and subsequently with Fish because Marillion was greater than the sum of the individual parts.
 
Used to love Marillion but I realised, after he'd left, that it was Fishs' lyrics that I loved the most so gave up with the band...and subsequently with Fish because Marillion was greater than the sum of the individual parts.
I still have some of Fishs' solo tracks on the MP3 player in the car, I generally skip them as I agree 100% with the above.
 
Crumbs!........... haven't you been taking your medication ;)


Sounds like his quack has been administering peanuts as suppositories and the Sun now shines out of his "ask no questions"! (It's the sparks from the lighter as he attempts flatus ignition that sets the slaves off - but slavery's even further off topic...) :p:p:p:p:p
 
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