Old flash, new DSLR

[Graham Smith 51]

There are often inquiries about whether or not "old" flash units (suitable for film cameras) can be used on modern DSLRs.
The reason people are generally advised NOT to use them is because they generally have a high trigger voltage that can seriously damage a modern DSLR's circuitry.
Now, according to the literature I have seen, modern Nikon DSLRs can take trigger voltages up to 250V. So if I have an old flashgun that has a trigger voltage of, say, 150V, it should be safe to connect its sensor/trigger/hot shoe fitting/pc cable directly to the camera, right? Well, not as far as I'm concerned.
For all I know, there may be a fault with the flash, or the stated trigger voltage might be a bit above that, so I'm NOT going to chance it! It's not worth it when there is a very cheap and simple way to play it safe.
The setup I have shown here is one I use with an old "Popular 38TG" flash unit. I use this because it has an abundance of power, plus I can connect it to a larger-capacity 6V battery for prolonged shooting. I have connected it indirectly to the camera using a cheap radio trigger that I got from eBay for under 10GBP! There are lots of similar ones, costing no more than £30 or so. With this unit, there is NO ELECTRICAL CONNECTION between camera and flash, so it's perfectly safe. An added advantage of this arrangement is that there's a huge range with the wireless connection, so it's handy for off-camera use too.
So, go ahead and use your old flashguns - if you do it this way, you're not going to damage your expensive camera. Of course, you're going to be doing everything manually - just set a convenient ISO sensitivity, dial that into the flash unit, read off the suggested aperture, set your camera to that aperture and its flash sync shutter speed, and off you go!
It works!

 

[Graham Smith 51]

I apologize to seasoned photographers for this "teach your grandmother" item, but there still are people who don't know about this, and it's worth saying again.

 

[Braineack]

the flash on your E5400 did a much better job exposing the image than your manual setup...

did you put a DMM on your flash unit? your Nikon is rated to be able to trigger a flash up to 250v. (D3100 manual pg 172) You can check the voltage of your flash with a DMM and see if it's below the rated number.

I'd personally rather buy a cheap TTL flash (like your Neewer) and use a bracket like this, and connect via TTL-wireless triggers or cable.

~2400maH rechargeable batteries have tons of flashes at their disposal--enough to satisfy plenty of photographers working a real events--and are cheap and easy to replace/store/carry when/if they need to be changed during the night. I dunno why you'd actually want to sling some old heavy battery around your shoulder for a weak bulky flash.

That flash only has a guide number of 38 and can't tilt/rotate or simply perform to the same level or versatility as your NW985N. That's just my opinion at least.

 

[tirediron]

I apologize to seasoned photographers for this "teach your grandmother" item, but there still are people who don't know about this, and it's worth saying again.

Nothing to apologize for. Information on gear is useful to everyone.

 

[Graham Smith 51]

I'd personally rather buy a cheap TTL flash (like your Neewer) and use a bracket like this, and connect via TTL-wireless triggers or cable. ~2400maH rechargeable batteries have tons of flashes at their disposal

Well, yes - I do that too, but I still find I run through batteries quickly. As I said, I can run the "old" flash off an external battery, and anyway, I posted this info for those out there who have older units like this and still want to use them - safely. In addition to the hammer unit above, I have an excellent Olympus T-32 that still does sterling work as well.
Yes, I did put a meter on the flash - that's where I got the 150V value from.
Oh, the "popular"'s head does tilt/swivel, in fact. Yes - the Neewer unit is theoretically more powerful, too, I agree.
Incidentally, that bracket is a bit pricey! Mine only cost me a couple of quid from Amazon!

 

[Graham Smith 51]

What I'm meaning is that with the radio triggers you can safely use lots of old gear - back in the day, I had a Mecablitz unit like this:

- and with the advent of digital, I got rid of it!!!!. Wish I still had it now! Mind you, none of these weedy little AA cells in this baby. The control unit had a hefty 6V lead-acid gel cell in it! You had to be a man to do wedding photography in those days! (No sexist remark intended) - I still walk with my left shoulder down a bit.

 

[Braineack]

I do agree, that is is a clever way to utilize a flash like that that may not be compatible.

 

[Derrel]

I dunno why you'd actually want to sling some old heavy battery around your shoulder for a weak bulky flash.

That flash only has a guide number of 38 and can't tilt/rotate or simply perform to the same level or versatility as your NW985N. That's just my opinion at least.

The flash is not weak in any way; it has a GN of 38 in meters, or 123 in Feet (and at what beam spread? Likely at a fairly wide beam-spread angle, and not Chinese-inflated at 135mm zoom setting alleged GN, as is so common today with distorted flash GN ratings).

It has a three f/stop auto thyristor switch. And it can tilt and rotate. One wide aperture, one moderate aperture, one small aperture, which varies as the ISO level changes. It has two 1/4x 20 threaded receptacles, and more 1/4 x 20 devices can be mounted across the width of the foot.

The type of photocell-based flash output regulation used in this flash is **supremely useful**, and is easier, faster, and more-consistent than TTL metering often is, in many types of shooting scenarios. I know it might be hard to believe, but yes, this photocell-regulated type of flash control is VERY easy to work with, and it works very well. Photocell regulating gives a very steady, consistent output, and makes it easy for the photographer to make simple adjustments to the f/stop or the ISO, to get a very consistent, perfected exposure--without the dog-chasing-its-own-tail issues that can arise with TTL regulation of the flash output.

This page from a UK-based retailer's web site has some specifications on the above-mentioned flash, and states the trigger voltage is 140 volts.

Powerful Bounce Swivel Wide Auto Manual Flash with Grip and Bracket Hot Shoe for Pentax K1000 Fujifilm S9500 S9600 etc.

 

[Graham Smith 51]

... the Metz 402 that I used to own had a guide number of 60 metres - and a helluva beam spread. I could photograph a large group of people at a wedding reception in a cavernous, dark village hall quite easily. I was able to shoot two weddings or similar functions in the same day on one fully-charged battery, and with typical British weather that meant using fill flash for most shots. It never failed - and with 36 exposures per film and only 3 rolls to go at, (no way to immediately check a shot in those days) you needed something that was 100% reliable. That's why we lugged a bulky great thing like that around. In any case, there wasn't any choice. That's what we had to work with 20 years ago. I'm not saying I'd want to do that today if there was a modern alternative that worked as well, but when it comes to an important shoot, I'd still fall back on the old faithfulls. I've only been using TTL flash a short time, but already I've found that the only way to get consistent results is to go manual. The guy in the camera shop said yesterday, my Nikon D3100 is (sneer) "not capable of controlling flash properly, seeing as it's a discontinued entry level DSLR." Apparently I will have to go up to a £550+ 7000 series model before I get full functionality. What rot. Forget all the fancy stuff and just concentrate on aperture and shutter speed. But that's a whole new story........

 

[robbins.photo]

Graham, you go buddy. Isolating anything with that kind of voltage just makes good sense, regardless of what the equipment is rated to handle.

Even though I seriously doubt I'd ever find a use for this setup personally (most of what I shoot I can't use a flash for) it still put a smile on my face to read

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk

 

[KmH]

Note that Nikon camera hot shoes can handle flash trigger voltages of up to +250 Volts, but could be damaged if you use a flash unit having a negative (-) voltage of any amount.