Ed, Just measure the 285HV trigger voltage to ensure safety. It's easy:
- off camera, power up the flash unit - use a Volt-Ohm-Meter (VOM), set it to DC Volts, auto or high scale - measure voltage between side and center terminal on the flash foot If you see greater than 10V (positive or negative) on the VOM, don't use the flash on the camera without a Wein Safe Sync to insulate it from the camera. Current production Vivitar 285HV units should show about 6V trigger voltage. Older Vivitar 285s could show up to 200V or so. If you don't own a VOM, you can get a small digital VOM from Radio Shack or similar for under $12. A very useful tool to have... Godfrey On Jun 1, 2007, at 7:42 AM, Ed Keeney wrote: > Excellent resources all -- thanks for saving me the time to look them > up. The 'Stobist' site has a ton of information, it'll take a long > time to get through it all. > > I've always been hesitant with my external flash - but now with > digital and instant review of the shot, I think its time to pull the > flash out of the bag. > > Now I just need to confirm that I won't destroy my K100D with my 285HV > (testing this weekend). > > Thanks again! >>> >>> Somebody posted a link to their "Idiot's Guide to Manual Flash" >>> some years >>> ago. Not sure who or when (certainly more than five years ago) >>> but you >>> could try searching the mailarchive.com pentax-discuss archive >> >> That was Mafud, or Matt Greene, who knows.... >> Anyway, I quoted it into the archives a while back: >> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg173247.html -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
