Why use flashbulbs

Why use flashbulbs?

	They pack a lot of illumination into a small, light-weight package. Even a tiny flashbulb like an AG1 has a guide number of around 45m at 100asa. Large bulbs can be up to 150m at 100asa. Compare this to the average electronic flashgun with guide numbers of around 30 to 40m.
	They work in the wet. The last thing you want to do with an electronic flashgun is get it wet. Apart from the fact that it will probably refuse to work, the high voltages inside can be very dangerous in the wet. Using a simple battery and wire firer, flashbulbs will fire successfully underwater.
	The light lasts for longer than an electronic flashgun, useful if you want a blurred effect (rather than a frozen effect) with moving water such as waterfalls.
	They are simple and easy to fire. Small bulbs can be easily fired by touching their contacts across a battery (such as a caver's caplamp battery). Bigger bulbs can be fired either from purpose made flashbulb guns, or a using a simple firing circuit.
	They are light and easy to carry, requiring protection only from breakage, and not from the wet and the mud often found underground. In practice they are a lot more robust than they look.