285HV Flash Help

[aduda]

So, I admit that I am completely new to any type of flash photography, so please bear with me. I am using an XT. I just found a Vivitar 285HV Zoom Thyristor flash. From what I have read, it is used as an off camera flash. I do not currently have, but am thinking about getting a 430EX Speedlite. I am on a budget, so that also puts some constraints on what I am doing here.

I guess I am wondering if the 285HV is of any use to me now. Can it be used in conjunction with the popup flash on the XT? If so, what do I need to get going? I assume that I need something to put the flash on. Do I just use a regular tripod with an adapter?

Also, I guess I would need to trigger the thing somehow. I had read about the use of an optical slave as a decent low budget option. Like I said, I am new to this, so I am not sure what direction to head here. Any suggestions or advice would really be appreciated.

[Heap64]

I bought one of the Optical Slave Trigger's Made By Fotodiox off of Ebay from Korea. It arrived in just over a week - not bad and works as expected on an old Vivitar 285. I have taken several test shots with my Canon 580ex II on camera set to manual mode so I don't get a pre-flash. I use it on the Vivitar as a hair-light and it should work great. No problems so far with it not triggering that flash.

Before this I tried a couple Wien Peanuts with no success.

I don't believe you can eliminate the ettl pre-flash on the onboard flash? Others will know for sure. So I doubt this will help much for now until you get the 430 EX, unless you can find an optical trigger that doesn't fire on the pre-flash? There are supposed to be some out there, but I have no experience with them.

[nadtz]

The 285hv can be used on camera assuming you dont mind dealing with an auto flash on camera as opposed to a dedicated flash. There have been tons of posts referring to off camera setups, you can search the forum and hit up the strobist site for more info on that note.

[marc453]

I use this flash with a Canon off camera shoe 2 and a Stroboframe Pro T bracket. My 285HV is one of the lower voltage model. I can't remember how to tell (you can research it on the Internet). At F/8 - 1/60 sec. you get very good results.:cool:

[Curtis N]

If the 285HV is the recently produced low-voltage model, you can use it on your RebelXT. This web page (http://www.botzilla.com/photo/g1strobe.html)shows you how to test it.

Assuming the voltage is under 250v, use it on-camera first. Put in auto mode, match up the ISO and aperture on the camera to match the flash, and shoot.

[vcutag]

If the 285HV is the recently produced low-voltage model, you can use it on your RebelXT. This web page (http://www.botzilla.com/photo/g1strobe.html)shows you how to test it.

Assuming the voltage is under 250v, use it on-camera first. Put in auto mode, match up the ISO and aperture on the camera to match the flash, and shoot.

Thought I'd heard somewhere the max voltage a dSLR could handle safely was 6 volts?

[aduda]

If the 285HV is the recently produced low-voltage model, you can use it on your RebelXT. This web page (http://www.botzilla.com/photo/g1strobe.html)shows you how to test it.

Assuming the voltage is under 250v, use it on-camera first. Put in auto mode, match up the ISO and aperture on the camera to match the flash, and shoot.


Well, I can say that the flash is a minimum of 9 years old. I would guess closer to 20. So, I would guess it is not the low-voltage model. Thanks for that website. It is really great to get help from people in the know. I feel like sometimes researching things like this on the internet can be really tough.

I feel as though it takes me an hour to understand something that would take me 5 mins to get if I was talking to someone at the local camera shop. It is all a matter of finding the right thread on the right website, which seems easy when you have already done it, but.....well....you know.

Looks like I will be ordering the 430EX and I ordered some cactus triggers. IN good time I will be shooting away with falshes popping. Can't wait. Thanks all.

[DDCSD]

Thought I'd heard somewhere the max voltage a dSLR could handle safely was 6 volts?

Most Canon DSLR's can handle 250V.

See this website for an official un-official list:
http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0703/tech-tips.html

Or is that an un-official official list? :rolleyes::lol:


Well, I can say that the flash is a minimum of 9 years old. I would guess closer to 20. So, I would guess it is not the low-voltage model. Thanks for that website. It is really great to get help from people in the know. I feel like sometimes researching things like this on the internet can be really tough.

I feel as though it takes me an hour to understand something that would take me 5 mins to get if I was talking to someone at the local camera shop. It is all a matter of finding the right thread on the right website, which seems easy when you have already done it, but.....well....you know.

Looks like I will be ordering the 430EX and I ordered some cactus triggers. IN good time I will be shooting away with falshes popping. Can't wait. Thanks all.

You can check the trigger voltage on your flash by letting it charge up and use a digital multimeter on DC volts between the center pin and the contact on the side of the foot.

I have heard that the 430EX has issues with the cactus triggers sometimes, you may want to look into it. If you are mostly looking at doing off-camera stuff, just use the 285 with the cactus triggers. You won't get ETTL when using the cactus triggers anyways.

Another option is to sell your 285, they fetch a pretty decent price these days as long as it is working. Use those funds for a 430EX. I have a 430 and love it, it is always on my camera just in case. Perfect size.

[vcutag]

Most Canon DSLR's can handle 250V.

See this website for an official un-official list:
http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0703/tech-tips.html

Or is that an un-official official list? :rolleyes::lol:

You can check the trigger voltage on your flash by letting it charge up and use a digital multimeter on DC volts between the center pin and the contact on the side of the foot.

I have heard that the 430EX has issues with the cactus triggers sometimes, you may want to look into it. If you are mostly looking at doing off-camera stuff, just use the 285 with the cactus triggers. You won't get ETTL when using the cactus triggers anyways.

Another option is to sell your 285, they fetch a pretty decent price these days as long as it is working. Use those funds for a 430EX. I have a 430 and love it, it is always on my camera just in case. Perfect size.

Good call. I've been playing it safe and only using them connected via PC synch and triggering the others via Wein peanut slave, so far no problems.

[SolidxSnake]

Good call. I've been playing it safe and only using them connected via PC synch and triggering the others via Wein peanut slave, so far no problems.

The hotshoe has the same volts as the PC sync, so if your camera supports 250v on the PC Sync, it supports 250v on the hotshoe. This was confirmed by Chuck Westfall in the article above, and that allowed me to have piece of mind using my Vivitar 283 on my 20D's hotshoe without any adapter.

[vcutag]

The hotshoe has the same volts as the PC sync, so if your camera supports 250v on the PC Sync, it supports 250v on the hotshoe. This was confirmed by Chuck Westfall in the article above, and that allowed me to have piece of mind using my Vivitar 283 on my 20D's hotshoe without any adapter.

Oh, hell. Whoops.

Good to know it's safe, though... that's a relief. Although I do need to get ahold of a meter soon, as I've got an ollld 283, an old 285 and one of the early 285HV's.

[DDCSD]

Oh, hell. Whoops.

Good to know it's safe, though... that's a relief. Although I do need to get ahold of a meter soon, as I've got an ollld 283, an old 285 and one of the early 285HV's.

Meters are cheeeeeeaaaaaaaappppp!!!!! Lon at flashzebra.com sells one for like $7. :lol: Just toss it in the cart when picking up your next batch of optical slaves. Either that, or Radio Shack has them for a fairly low price too.

I have used my pawn shop Vivitar 2800-D Auto-Thyristor (~11V) on my 20D with nice results.
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=477444

[vcutag]

Meters are cheeeeeeaaaaaaaappppp!!!!! Lon at flashzebra.com sells one for like $7. :lol: Just toss it in the cart when picking up your next batch of optical slaves. Either that, or Radio Shack has them for a fairly low price too.

I have used my pawn shop Vivitar 2800-D Auto-Thyristor (~11V) on my 20D with nice results.
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=477444

I work in a camera shop and get a pretty sweet employee discount on that kind of thing, but my dad has... probably 5 or 6 meters sitting around the house. Next time I'm down there, I'll borrow one from him.

[aduda]

Most Canon DSLR's can handle 250V.

See this website for an official un-official list:
http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0703/tech-tips.html

Or is that an un-official official list? :rolleyes::lol:




You can check the trigger voltage on your flash by letting it charge up and use a digital multimeter on DC volts between the center pin and the contact on the side of the foot.

I have heard that the 430EX has issues with the cactus triggers sometimes, you may want to look into it. If you are mostly looking at doing off-camera stuff, just use the 285 with the cactus triggers. You won't get ETTL when using the cactus triggers anyways.

Another option is to sell your 285, they fetch a pretty decent price these days as long as it is working. Use those funds for a 430EX. I have a 430 and love it, it is always on my camera just in case. Perfect size.


Thanks for this response. Yeah...I am going to at least play with just the 285 and the cactus for a little bit.

I like the idea of using the flash for some trade in vaue, but this is equipment that has been passed on, and has sentimental value, so I like the idea of shooting with it.

Again, thanks for the help everyone. Hopefully I will have some shots to show the outcome in a little while.

[SolidxSnake]

BTW, the Cactus V2/V2s triggers are not compatible with high trigger-volt flashes I'm fairly certain. I know the 16ch ones from Gadget Infinity are (I still have yet to pick up a set), but the very popular 4ch ones I don't believe are compatible.

[aduda]

Wait, so this isn't going to work? Or, am I just going to have to use a PC sync to the reciever base?

[DDCSD]

Wait, so this isn't going to work? Or, am I just going to have to use a PC sync to the reciever base?

No, it will probably work. He's just warning you that there is a possibility of it not.

[SolidxSnake]

Well you'll have to test the trigger voltage of your 285HV. You can't do that without a voltmeter. Once you test it you'll know. I know the 16 channel Cactus triggers will work, but I'm not sure on the 4 channel Cactus triggers (I was under the impression that they won't work).

[nadtz]

If you are sure it is 9 years old its not an HV, its the older (and in some eyes better) 285. According to http://www.botzilla.com/photo/strobeVolts.html the old ones are a no go directly on camera, so to be safe you can get the safe sync

[DDCSD]

If you are sure it is 9 years old its not an HV, its the older (and in some eyes better) 285. According to http://www.botzilla.com/photo/strobeVolts.html the old ones are a no go directly on camera, so to be safe you can get the safe sync

It depends on your camera. That site's go/nogo is based on Canon Powershot G cameras, which handle a maximum sync voltage of 6.

Most of Canon's DSLR's will handle 250V. Supposedly the the 285HV puts out 8-12V for sync voltage. It is best to test the flash for yourself and find out. Again see post 8 on this thread for a list of Canon DSLR's maximum sync voltages.


OP-
It should say right on it what model it is. Best thing to do is take a picture of every side of it and post them here.

[nadtz]

I wasn't basing that on the yes/no, but the actual recorded voltage. The supplied results are 350v which wouldn't be good directly, though there seems to be a bit of difference in voltage between tested models.

"Alan Latafat Correa checked with Vivitar and they clarified:
The 285HV has a voltage of 12V. The 285 has a voltage of 350V. Hope this helps you."

[SolidxSnake]

I wasn't basing that on the yes/no, but the actual recorded voltage. The supplied results are 350v which wouldn't be good directly, though there seems to be a bit of difference in voltage between tested models.

"Alan Latafat Correa checked with Vivitar and they clarified:
The 285HV has a voltage of 12V. The 285 has a voltage of 350V. Hope this helps you."

There's a huge difference between flash models. Some 283s range all the way up to 300v-600v. Mine (a very old one, Made in Japan) runs at 103v measured. There is no way to tell what yours does without actually metering it.

If its under 250v, then it should work on your camera without any damage via hotshoe and PC sync (if applicable).

[nadtz]

There's a huge difference between flash models. Some 283s range all the way up to 300v-600v. Mine (a very old one, Made in Japan) runs at 103v measured. There is no way to tell what yours does without actually metering it.

If its under 250v, then it should work on your camera without any damage via hotshoe and PC sync (if applicable).

Yes, thus the "so to be safe you can get the safe sync" If you thought I meant "OMG IT WILL NOT WORK RUN AWAY" that isn't what I meant, but I could have worded it better.

[SolidxSnake]

Yep you're definitely right. Personally, I'd meter the particular unit and if it's under 250v I would have no worries. I'd rather meter it and hope its within the spec instead of just going straight to the safe-sync. Then again.. I'm a stupid and adventurous person :D

What I was getting at was that because of the extreme variations between all of the different flash units, that you might as well meter it and hope to get lucky and save some cash that could be better spent. Its worth a shot, at least.