David, do you think this tube is being driven conservatively ? If it's
the U6531 at this page

http://www.taytron.com/fttypeu.html

then it appears to have a 60Ws (joule) rating. The 10uF of the circuit
would be about 0.5J. Camera flash schematics I've seen, at eg

http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/strbfaq.htm

show anything from 250uF (12J) upwards, and 30Ws is what I've
read quoted for basic in-built camera flashes

Here's a quick comparison test, just to get some idea of the light output

http://home.clear.net.nz/pages/joecolquitt/flash_compare.html

Although the analyser traces indicate 10s of ms for the flash I'm
sure that's because the phototransistor is not being turned off
quickly enough

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenon_flash_lamp

There certainly are some intricacies to protect the tube and capacitor

-- 
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist