A70: slave flash?

Hiya.

In this forum I noticed several references made to successfully attaching slave flashes to their Canon A70's.

I have an old flash attachment that I used with my SLR for many years and now want to try it out with the A70. But I can't seem to figure out where to plug the flash cord into the Canon as I count only 3 ports: USB, A/V out, and DC in ..and none of those either fit the plug or make any logical sense.

Thanks,
Jak

Slave Flash

A slave flash operates without any connectors of any kind, triggered by the flash on your camera ,preferably in manual exposure and manual flash mode. The slave flash has a sensor on it that picks up the burst of light from the flash on your camera, causing it ( the slave flash ) to fire. This is a simplified explanation to your confusion.

As ekrunaj says, make sure you are shooting in manual mode when using a slave flash, as the pre flash that fires in other modes will trigger the slave flash early...

Thanks for the info on trying to adapt a flash to my A70.
I'm now going to check around and find a proper slave flash for it.

Jak

The right way to do a slave flash...

You can use an external flash with a digital slave trigger. I got mine from B&H Photo. It is made by Wein.
http://www.weinproduct​s.com/safesyncs.htm
I use model HSD with a 20 year old Vivitar 2800 flash unit. I'm always amazed at the results and at the ability of this thing to work no matter where I place it. It is the best accessory that I ever bought for one of my toys.
Have fun!

Could I attach this flash to my A60? http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …tails&Q=&sku=89​986&is=REG

How does this work?

No. The Morris Midi Slave DC that you point to is for traditional cameras. Most digital cameras flash twice - so fast that you don't notice it. The first flash is used to set the exposure, the second is to take the picture. If you use a traditional slave flash, it will fire with the first flash - fooling the camera into thinking there is more light. It won't be recharged quickly enough to fire on the second flash and your picture will come out darker than it would have without the slave!
There are a number of digital slave flash assemblies if you need the whole flash - they run about $100 and up. If you have a good flash unit, you can just buy the digital trigger and save about $50.
The Wein trigger works perfectly with my A20 in auto or manual flash mode. The only glitch that I have seen is that if multiple people are flashing pictures, your flash will fire if it catches the light. you have to be a bit careful that you don't mess up others pictures. Usually if you bounce the flash, it enhances everyone's pictures!

Thanks for the info. I am thinking of selling this and getting a G3 or G5. I am not sure if I want to do it or not. Until then I will most likely not buy any more accessories. Thanks.

Wow, the price sure went up since I bought mine. I paid just over $50 with shipping. You might shop around, but it is a specialty item, so it might be hard to find.
http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …ails&Q=&sku=263​024&is=REG

For just a bit more, you can get the whole flash:
http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …ails&Q=&sku=240​844&is=REG
Good luck.

Slave Flash

You can buy a little flash activator bulb for under $30 (quite a bit under $30). The bulp plugs into your flash through the little jack nearly all flashes have near the hot shoe mount. Use the camera on manual mode. Set the flash intensity on the camera to about 1/3. When the camera flashes--it activates your flash to go off. Really works. You can put your save flash anywhere to illuminate your subject.

This is in response to "Steve K's" info about the Morris Midi Slave DC. This is the very slave flash that I have successfully used with my A70. As both "bookster" and I have mentioned, this slave arrangement works only in the manual exposure mode, when the preflash of the A70 is not operational. In all the other the other modes, (Auto, P, Tv and Av), the preflash is indeed operational, causing traditional slave flashes such as the Morris to fire prematurely, with no effect on the exposure. Therefore, with the A70 in manual exposure mode ,the flash output can be controlled in three steps; up to FULL. See the camera manual on page 112 "Adjusting the Flash Output". Of course, you'll have to figure out what manual exposure settings will give you the best flash exposure. My best results have been using the slave flash as the main flash with the A70's flash powered down to the lowest setting, acting mostly as the trigger flash. Using these suggestions, you can use any traditional slave flash such as the Morris or my other slave set up of a Vivitar 283 with a Wein peanut slave attachment. Also, a digital slave flash or trigger would not be necessary. Do heed "Steve K's" warning about slave flash when other people nearby are shooting with flash. I hope that I have clarified a confusing issue.