Quantum Radio Slave

[billfranklin]

Does anyone have experience with the Quantum Radio Slave when used on a D60. I know you are not suppose to use anything over 6 volts on an external flash, but was wondering if the 9 volts, used to trigger the sending unit on the Quanatum, is too much voltage?
I bought a wein safe sych, but so far I have not been able to make it work with the Quantum sending unit. I don't know, but the safe sync may be defective. Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Bill F.

[PrimoFelis]

billfranklin wrote:
...
I know you are not suppose to use anything over 6 volts on an external flash, but was wondering if the 9 volts, used to trigger the sending unit on the Quanatum, is too much voltage?
...

I think there are a lot of people out there who'd be interested in a definitive answer to a variation of this voltage question for their own Canon cameras (myself among them). But I don't have any high hopes for finding it anytime soon.

Although this "6 volts maximum" rule is often repeated in various web sites and online forums, I'm a bit skeptical about its validity and accuracy, as it is applied to all Canon cameras, or all digital cameras, or all DSLRs or whatever category of cameras.

For one thing, I am yet to see any such _original_ and official statement from Canon. Not in manuals, not on their web sites that I know of. Their official position seems to be that they don't support use of third party products with their cameras, leaving it at that. This creates what someone calls FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt), which tends to help them sell more of Canon-brand accessories.

For what it's worth, for a rather nuanced take on this maximum flash voltage issue, a careful reading of the several paragraphs immediately after "Follow at your own risk" on this page may be somewhat helpful:

http://botzilla.com/photo/strobeVolts.html

If your camera's manual doesn't have anything to say about it, and if Canon's customer service is no help, in the end one may have to use one's own common sense and make own decisions.

Just my two-cents worth. I have no personal experience with either the D60 or the sending unit.

I guess this is no help. :)

--
PS., In case this was also part of your question: 9 volts is 9 volts whether it is for a flash or for a sending unit. But first, you might want to measure the voltage yourself to be sure what voltage you are really dealing with.
--
PPS. To add to the confusion, a second set of opinions on studio lights and EOS flash trigger voltages in general here at photo.net. Draw your own conclusions...:
http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=005vkw

[Cal Maier]

Hi Bill,

I use the Quantum Radio Slave system with the 10D and have not had any problems yet. It works very well and has not caused any damage to the camera. I've never measured the voltage that the send unit emits but I'm sure that it falls well below the 6 volts that I've seen mentioned on numerous forums. I do not use a Safe Sync.

As far as the Safe Sync is concerned, I would imagine that it is faulty, I would try it with a regular hotshoe strobe (420EX or whatever) to see if it will fire at all.

Good Luck with it!

Cal
CPS432

PS. I've used this system with the D60 a few times and it seemed to work fine.

[PrimoFelis]

For what it's worth, the aforementioned botzilla.com web site lists the following actual voltage measurements for "Quantum 4i Radio Transmitter":

8.45V reported by "Lad"
7.5V from Toney Hall
8.71V from Jan C. Doddy

(Somehow I get the feeling I'm not helping... :) I wish I had more definitive info for you and myself alike.)

[billfranklin]

I just got this reply from quantum. I guess it answers my question if they can be trusted. If anyone else finds out something different, it would be good to hear it.


"Thank you for inquiring about our Radio Slave II. We have not encountered any problems with this unit and the Canon D60. They don't want their customers buying another company's products. The sync voltage of our Radio Slave II is approximately 8 volts. It cannot exceed the 9 volts put out by its 9-volt battery. A camera's sync voltage is approximately 14 volts. Thus, it is safe to use our slaves."

Bill F.