I've recently bought a used vivitar 5600 flash. I was told that old flshes like this one could dmage new electronic cameras (related to voltage triger values). Does anyone got any info on that, as i don't have an voltmeter ... Thanks..

-- Karampatsos Ilias (ikaram@essex.ac.uk), May 02, 2002

Answers

Vivitar is noted for changing the internal specifications of their flashes without notification. So if one 5600 has less than a 6 volt trigger, it doesn't mean that yours does. The one I tested had a trigger voltage that was too high.

Whatever you do, do not put it on your EOS camera until you have tested your flash and it found that it's trigger voltage is low enough. Canon specifies 6 volts max. However anything less than 10 volts is probably safe. Accumulated use of a flash with a moderatly high trigger voltage may damage your camera. If the flash trigger voltage is very high it could fry your camera with one use.

The bottom line is, get a volt meter & test it.

-- Jim Strutz (j.strutz@gci.net), May 02, 2002.

I got another interesting reply to this problem by edward_kikta@fmc.com: "...Also, not all voltmeters are capable of measuring a transient (rapid) flash voltage. Most inexpensive meters, that one might have at home, are designed to measure continuous values not short duration peak voltages. Some meters could lead you into a false sense of security that you have a low voltage flash when in reality it is outputing a very short high voltage pulse that the meter is incapable of measuring accurately."

These things terrify me. I don't have the knowledge now to interpret these type of voltmeter readings... I think I'll sell it without even thinking using it!

-- Karampatsos Ilias (ikaram@essex.ac.uk), May 03, 2002.