flash compatability

oldstoat

oldstoat

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Am making the leap into DSLR and am buying a K10D pentax. I have a pentax dedicated Cobra flashgun which I purchased for my previous non digital Pentax. A large twin infra red lensed firing box sits on the hot shoe and is connected to the pistol grip which holds the flash both the box on the hot shoe and the flash grip are powered by four AA batteries My question is can I use this flash gun on the new pentax or will it blow the camera. I have had conflicting advice in different camera shops so I am confused also having read the thread on here I am still confused talk of voltages etc and measuring pins is not making my confusion any less
 
Chances are that the Cobra will be a high trigger voltage. If you cannot get it tested don`t chance it. But then again if the digi Pentax has a sync socket it may take a high voltage.
 
Lots of paranoa around with sync. voltages.

The only way to know for sure is to measure your flash and read the camera manual.


Steve.
 
is a sync socket another name for a hot shoe or is it a completely different animal
 
Sync. (or synchronisation) socket is the little co-axial socket which a flash lead plugs into. Not the same physically as a hotshoe but usually, they will be connected together (although it's rare to have both on a camera now).

It's a common myth (in my opinion) that a sync. socket can take a high voltage but a hotshoe can't. I think the reasoning for this is that some manufacturers worry about sliding in a charged flash of unknown manufacture and momentarily having the flash centre pin touch one of the other pins (TTL, control, etc.) on the hotshoe which communicate with the flash.

You couldn't actually buy an opto triac or thyristor which only works up to 6 volts (the commonly quoted maximum) so I don't personally believe that any cameras have an actual circuit that is limited to this voltage.

******* WARNING ******* That's just my opinion. You experiment at your own risk!!!


Steve.
 
having done a lot of digging it appears that the Cobra 750 AF has a voltage of 4.4v should this be low enough to use on a Pentax K10D without blowing the camera. I assume there will be a hot shoe on the K10D
 
I have read the Pentax K10d manual from front to back and cannot see if the 4.4v output of the Cobra flash unit is too much for the hot shoe on the camera can anyone confirm that this will be low enough not to blow the camera
 
oldstoat said:
I have read the Pentax K10d manual from front to back and cannot see if the 4.4v output of the Cobra flash unit is too much for the hot shoe on the camera can anyone confirm that this will be low enough not to blow the camera
Click to expand...

That's as low as it gets. It will be fine.

If you want it from the horse's mouth, a quick call to Pentax.
 
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