New member question about OM1 and flash

[Gnuny]

I'm new to photography and to this site. A friend recommended this site, and it seems very cool! I'd appreciate it if anyone had any advice for the following question:

I recently got an Olympus OM1 and a few good lenses. I bought a new Vivitar 283 flash for it, but it doesn't seem to be getting a signal from the camera. I tried it with the hot shoe (took the hot shoe off as well and couldn't see any visible problems) and the seperate shutter cord, and neither worked. According to the manuals for the camera and flash, I was using the correct settings for the flash. Any advice? I live in NYC, so if anybody had any recommendations for a place to get the camera serviced (if necessary), I would appreciate that too. Thanks!

 

[Big Mike]

Welcome to the forum.

So you are saying that when you fire the shutter with the flash in the hot shoe (powered up & turned on of course)...that the flash does not fire?

Can you fire the flash by itself (with a discharge button)? If so, the problem may be with your camera's hot shoe. Make sure all the connections are clean and if that still does not work...you may have to have it serviced.

 

[Gnuny]

Thanks for the fast reply (and the welcome)!

Yes, I can fire the flash by itself, and it worked fine on my friend's Pentax K2 in his hot shoe and with the cord. How would I clean the connections properly?