All I can say is - Wow! That looks like a helluva setup. Do you have some sample shots taken with it?
I haven't gotten around to making a spacer to use with the setup I've been fooling with - I've been thinking about using a cork with velcro on each end, and all I've managed to do so far is obtain a cork. I would want to paint it black to avoid spooking the bugs. But with the A* 200 back in commission - and temps too cold for insects still - I haven't played around with things. If the PDML had an Oscar I'd nominate your setup for the best franken-gear of the year... (Cotty would be a contender for the lifetime achievement award in that category...) - MCC Leon Altoff wrote: > Mike, > > The unit looks a bit cobbled together, but it works fine and the AF360 > is completely usable as a standard flash. Here are some of the salient > points from when I made it. I'm not going to take it apart to take > internal photos. Like all modern electronics it's very tight and > delicate inside and should be played with as little as possible. > > Here are some quick and dirty pictures of what it looks like. > > From above > http://www.bluering.org.au/leon/flash/FrankenFlash4259.jpg > > From the front > http://www.bluering.org.au/leon/flash/FrankenFlash4260.jpg > > The socket on the flash > http://www.bluering.org.au/leon/flash/FrankenFlash4263.jpg > > Folded up > http://www.bluering.org.au/leon/flash/FrankenFlash4264.jpg > > Electronically it's easy - 3 wires and a plug and socket. Mechanically > it's tight and fiddly. > > The second flash tube is housed in the swivel head of a very old Metz > flash. I initially used the tube out of the Metz as well, but it > eventually killed the main flash transistor. I now use a replacement > AF360 tube in the Metz housing and it's been working for about 3 years > with no problem. > > The second tube is simply wired in parallel to the first via a mini DIN > socket on the flash. Do not use a headphone type socket as this shorts > out when being unplugged and you get a lot of sparks and mess. The > wiring goes from the tube through the wiring on the opposite side to the > tilt locking button and to the mini DIN. The socket is located in the > only place where there is any room inside the flash. Be very careful > how you run the wires particularly in the head of the flash. It needs > to be out of the way of the mechanism that drives the zoom. > > The brackets are simply whatever I could find that put things in the > right place. I'll rebuild the bracket with something that looks better > when it breaks. > > The first prototype was made about 6 or 7 years ago using an AF240F > flash with a broken hotshoe. It had no socket for unplugging the second > head and had an old hotshoe from another glued on it's side to mount > onto the bracket (yes the same bracket I'm still using). I used it with > a Z1p and then the MZ-S before I retired it and upgraded to the AF360 to > use the PTTL. This one is the second. > > Hope this gives you an idea, but don't blame me if anything you do kills > the flash. > -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mark Cassino Photography Kalamazoo, Michigan www.markcassino.com - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
