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Thierry Rebours



born in 1960

photographer, works with
stock agency Jupiter Images
http://www.jupiterimages.fr
never travel enough
manager of "La Boutique"
in galerie-photo since 2005 to 2010
 

 

 

 

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offre de pieds et rotules
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FLM : one day in the factory

 

by Thierry Rebours

 

Galerie-photo : Anne and Werner Bürklin, you’re the founding manager of FLM, which is not well known yet in France (La Boutique de Galerie-Photo retails them for one year). What means FLM and could you browse his history ?

In the beginning, the idea was to build ball heads, which met the requirements of professional photography (F).
In order to obtain optimal image quality, additional light (L), which must be exactly adjusted, is needed in many situations.
Ball joints are also used for metrology (M) to hold sensors, light beam instruments, deflection mirrors and measurement optical systems so that they do not shake and cannot be displaced.

 

How did you learn this job ?

1993 I bought a company called Sedelmayer in Bavaria Bad Wörishofen. Sedelmayer was a manufacturer from ball heads only the industrial elliptical types. Until this time I was at the head of department from a CNC manufacturer for precision mechanical work and I saw a ball head for the first time.

1994 I studied the market from the photographers and the competitors. Then I started to develop a new ball head range. I looked for a wholesaler and as the ball heads were on the market, the important thing for me was the customer feedback.

Between 1995 and 1997 I tried to make every day something better. I looked for a way to produce very high quality to a reasonable price. I stick to one principle : all parts are produced by myself, and not simply bought in Far East, which would have been easier. Instead of Made in Germany I could label “Made by Werner Bürklin”.

1998 I applied the first patent and get more and more success in Germany. Until now I have 13 patents and sell my products in 15 countries world wide.

 at the Photokina in 2006  

Your balls have a really fine quality and feel strong,
what are your "secrets" ?

This demanding and variable range of use places high requirements on the products and requires multifarious knowledge of precision engineering.

FLM was founded in 1993 and initially a ball joint family was developed for the photography branch. Through very close contact with photographers as the users, these products were continually improved to achieve the perfect holding and guiding of the camera.  

When the photographer is concentrating on his best picture, his accessories must function reliably.  

What is your manufacturing process ?

True to this guiding principle, we attempt to manufacture products of the highest quality. Our basic material, aluminum, is lead-free and is carefully machined with CNC technology.  

Every part is produced in a fixing device and thus sequence errors can be prevented and the required precision of each part in the series is assured. We produce all parts in one clamping this is the reason that we can eliminate mistakes.  

 

 

If we clamp the parts more times then it’s possible to make clamping mistakes. For example: The housing from the ball head has lots of boreholes, slot and threads and all process operations are made in one clamping. This is our guaranty for a high quality in our continuous production. The ball, the heart of a tripod head, is turned precisely to one one-hundredth of a millimeter and then polished.  

In the plastic guides, which are produced the same way, the ball then runs as smooth-as-silk and without any jerky motions. Ranging from the set screw to the twist handle, over 95 percent of all parts are produced at our company, FLM. 

 

This assures precision where this is important and this is also done without additional costs from suppliers.  

After the assembly, which is performed by specialists with many years of experience, each product goes through a final inspection, which assures the customer proper functioning and a long service life.  

 

 

 

 

How many work to produce a ball head ?

The CB-58FT with QRB has 68 parts. It takes 1hour and.40min to produce the parts and 45min. to assemble the ball head.

Why choose a FLM ball head ?  

When making a decision to buy a new ball joint, the user should be able to choose the mounting system he wants to use. FLM tripod heads in the 0 version make it possible to continue to use your own mounting system.

The fast change system from FLM is compatible with ARCA and Novoflex.   

What are your projects in the future ?

For the new developments, measures were taken to offer the photographer greater ease of use without having to buy several products to achieve this. For this purpose, a pan graduated movement system was integrated in the ball joint and a new slide rest for the panorama photography is being worked on.

Using the conventional camera plates from FLM, this is to allow the adjustment of the camera in the focal point of the objective lens. A leveling unit for compensation up to 15 degrees in any direction is also available without panorama rotation, which is already contained in the ball joint. 

In just a few days FLM will take care of your needs be this a general overhaul of your tripod head or simply spare parts, which are available from us for up to 10 years.  

You are currently making other stuff for aeronautical,
can you explain ?

FLM has succeeded in developing a ball joint with prestressing of the ball and cable inlet, which is used in the most modern airplanes in first class for positioning reading lights.  

How can you manage to produce in Germany and having concurrential selling prices ?

The willingness to make something better every day with love for detail and high dedication of our 3 employees have allowed FLM to establish itself in Germany and the company is on its way to selling its products, "Made in Germany," around the globe with success.       


Photos FLM

   

 

 

 

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last version  : 2007

 

     

 

tous les textes sont publiés sous l'entière responsabilité de leurs auteurs
pour toute remarque concernant les articles, merci de contacter henri.peyre@(ntispam)phonem.fr

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