canon 50D/Vivitar 283

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talbot

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I did read somewhere that there may be some compatability issues with the above pairing but the article didn't make it clear whether the 283 was useable with the 50D or not.
Does anyone know the answer to this.
Ive got the gun from many years ago and would like to use it with canon, rather than having to splash out on a Speedlite.
Hope some can help?
talbot
 
talbot said:
I did read somewhere that there may be some compatability issues with the above pairing but the article didn't make it clear whether the 283 was useable with the 50D or not.
Does anyone know the answer to this.
Ive got the gun from many years ago and would like to use it with canon, rather than having to splash out on a Speedlite.
Hope some can help?
talbot
Click to expand...

I have both the 50D and the Vivitar 283 flash and have used them together via an optical sensor. As far as I recall when I bought the flash there were some differences regarding the trigger voltage depending on when and where the flash was built! After testing mine I found it was about 180 volts way over the 50D's limit which if I recall correctly was about 20 volts, although it was a while ago so I suggest you look into this for yourself.

My suggestion would be to test the trigger voltage with a multimeter to find out exactly what it is? again if I recall correctly there are some models that are okay and have very low voltages .... mine isn't one of them. Don't use it on camera without testing, as it could cause serious damage to the camera... not really worth the risk.
 
Thanks Steve, your reply is greatly appreciated.
I haven't tried the flash on the camera yet and will follow up as you suggest before doing so.
talbot
 
I wouldn't put that 283 in the hotshoe under any circumstances! Voltages of the 283 varied over a few years, from as high as 300 volts, but even the lower versions will be way too high for a modern Canon DSLR which only has a trigger voltage of around 6 volts.

There are safe solutions though.... CLICKY
 
Another vote for no contact and use an optical sensor to fire the 283 from your onboard flash.
One problem I found though was the onboard flash sometimes fired off a pre flash to gauge distance and exposure, that of course then fired off the sensor on the 283 at the wrong time in terms of curtain sync.
Not sure how you get over that?? Guys (above) how did you stop that happening?

Matt
 
MatBin said:
Another vote for no contact and use an optical sensor to fire the 283 from your onboard flash.
One problem I found though was the onboard flash sometimes fired off a pre flash to gauge distance and exposure, that of course then fired off the sensor on the 283 at the wrong time in terms of curtain sync.
Not sure how you get over that?? Guys (above) how did you stop that happening?

Matt
Click to expand...

Onboard flash on manual as low as you can get away with but in bright sun light you can expect misfires only other way is to use an expensive safe flash adaptor
 
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