D30/60 with Vivitar 285

[soumya63]

I have placed order for two Vivitar 285HVs, (the legenday flash units :-) ) to set a portable studio. I will trigger the first flash off-camera by PC cord and other with a wein pn-xl slave. Any information about safety of a pc link from D30 to Vivitar will be helpful.

I am not interested with ETTL or TTL automation. I just want Auto Thyristor functionality of Vivitar. If you are using similar setup, can you please share your experience?

Soumya (http://gfoto.tripod.com)

[TonyKInTexas]

I have one 285 which I have used off camera with the pc sync cord.

It has worked well enough and provides good lighting considering it is a small flash. Don't expect to cover a large area. I did a portrait of 4 people and 2 babies with it and a quantaray flash and was pleased with the results. So two 285 flashes should be fine.

Take care,

[soumya63]

Thanks Tony. But have you triggered 285HV directly through PC cord or used some device like Wein Safe Sync to reduce the voltage? D30/60 can only tolerate 6 Volt trigger voltage and 285HV provides 10Volt.

So using a non dedicated flash on D30/D60 is kind of risky. 10 volt may not damage the camera sync circuit immediately but may in the long run. A Wein safe Sync will cost 50$, so I have designed, build and tested successfully my own circuit for Safe Sync. It cost me 8$. I have used all Radio Shack components. I am thinking of sending this tiny useful circuit to Elektor Electonics for publishing, then it will be my 14th published electronics project and earn me some royalty to buy another Vivitar 285!

[TonyKInTexas]

I have used a sync card and a slave. Additionally I have used it directly on the D30 and before than an Oly E10.

I have not had an issue with the operation of the 285 and have been pleased with my shots.

I would also suggest getting a Sekonic 308 light meter. It is a blessing in studio work.

Take care,

[soumya63]

Thanks for the tip. I am actually thinking in this direction and kind of zeroed on Sekonic L358. Any suggestion?

[TonyKInTexas]

The 358 has more features than the 308. For what I needed the 308 is fine and costs a lot less.

Have you considered a Sigma 500 Super flash? I am myself and was wondering what you thought of it.

Take care,

[Rudi]

soumya63 wrote:
Thanks for the tip. I am actually thinking in this direction and kind of zeroed on Sekonic L358. Any suggestion?

Yep. Get it! :D

See here: http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=5509

[soumya63]

I bought two Vivitar 285HVs. One I drive through a custom 12 feet extended cable with safe sync circuit designed by me. The other is triggered by Wein Extended version of peanut slave, which works on outdoor in day light. Both I mount on two cheap velbon tripods (15$ each at Fry's) used as light stands.

I use Vivitars in auto tyristor mode and Camera on Manual mode. Getting excellent result. Never before I was able to get that much flexibility in lighting. I have a plan to buy at least one more Vivitar 285 as a back light.

[gdstaples]

I am using a D60 with both Norman and Speedotron studio strobes (packs/heads), 2000WS and 2400WS respectively. Do I need to worry about this or should everything be ok? Why would Canon add a PC Sync if it couldn't attach to most common strobe equipment? There was no warning in the instruction manual about voltage issues with studio lighting equipment.

Thanks,
Duncan

[soumya63]

gdstaples wrote:
Do I need to worry about this or should everything be ok? Why would Canon add a PC Sync if it couldn't attach to most common strobe equipment? There was no warning in the instruction manual about voltage issues with studio lighting equipment.

Duncan


The Camera manual do say about the camera's inability to handle Sync voltage beyond 6Volt, but it surely does not mention what will be consequence if you try to trigger a Strobe having 200 Volt Sync voltage!

Canon heavily promote and suggest Canon's own dedicated flashes like 550 or 420s They are very capable flashes with matching Canon price tags :-)
A similar feature flash from Sigma will cost half the price of Canon. So why should Canon be interested to provide you all the necessary interfaces with their camera? They do not even want any third party to develop cheaper compatible products for their camera's. Remember, Canon does not provide any interface protocol of their flash or EOS Lenses with their Camera body. Third party manufacturer like Sigma, Metz etc. just have to reverse engineer Canon flashes and Lenses to figure out how they talk with the body. So many times, third party products gave compatibility problems with various Canon bodies.

I will advice to measure your flash sync voltage. A digital multimeter set in DC voltage range 20 can measure it. Turn on your strobe and wait till its ready lamp glows. Now touch the two metal contacts of the pc cord end with two probes of your meter. The reading you get is your strobe sync voltage. PLEASE REMEMBER to set your strobe at lowest power and turn it away from your eyes, cause while measuring if the probes touch each other, the strobe will get triggered. A full blast of light very near to eyes can cause temporary or permanent blindness.

I am very happy with my set up as I do not have any need for ETTL. Most of the studio photographers also perhaps care less about ETTL. For studio work, the main requirement is variable power strobes. No auto metering as metering is almost always done by ambient flash meter, or by visual trial and error and bracketing.

[gdstaples]

FYI: I found out through doing some reasearch and talking directly to Canon that the EOS line of digital cameras ALL need a voltage regulator attached to the PC outlet on the camera or power pack with just about every known studio strobe known to man. This includes all brands of Norman strobes with the exception of the 400B, all Speedotron, all Dyna Lite and all Broncolor. All of these strobes put about 20-25V down the sync cable and the digital camera PC sync is only designed for 6. It is not a problem if you are using a Radio Slave like a Quantum Radio Slave II, III or 4i etc. Just a heads up as I was not aware of this. The Quantum Radio Slave puts out less than 6V.

I found the Wein SafeSync SSH for about $25.00 at Adorama and B&H. The shoe mounted version is $48.00.

Duncan

[TonyKInTexas]

On Wednesday I purchased the Metz 54MZ3 and am happy with it. I get auot and ETTL plus manual down to 1/256 power level.

Thanks,