help with this cheapo flash..

[felix21685]

hey guys i bought the following flash at walmart for like 15 bucks on clearance.

i just wanna mess around with it..

i wanted to know if there is any risk to my camera with using this flash..
i know its a cheapo but i wanted to be 100% sure it cant hard the camera.

http://www.vivitar.com/Products/Flashes/flash.html#2000

its the 2000..it calls for 1.5volt batteries aka alkaline. i am going to use NIMH which are 1.2 volt..
any issues with anything?
thanks for your help.

[felix21685]

it only has one hot shoe contact and thats in the center..fyi

[felix21685]

wow thanks for the help man i coulda messed up my xt just like that..
thanks man!!
you saved my camera..
wow..this forum is awesome

[Curtis N]

You could buy a slave adapter for it and use it off-camera. That's what I do with my old flash units.
The NiMH batteries will work fine. In fact they'll recycle faster and last longer on one charge than Alkalines.

[MTalley]

I have a Vivitar 2000 that I bought the same way several years ago (on sale at WalMart). You definitely want to invest in a Wien Safesync to use between the flash and your XT. Sure, it's another $50 on top of your $15 flash cost. But, compare that with a minimum of $250 or so for a decent Canon flash.

[felix21685]

Malcolm-
do you just shoot in manual and then try and guess the flash exposures?
how do they turn out?