Wellington Photographic Society Forums

Hi,

yesterday Mike reported about his fun and success using an old flash on his camera. Old flashes have a lot going for them but note that they may damage your camera.

Old film cameras have mechanical switches and therefore don't mind high strobe trigger voltages.
Digital cameras may be damaged by flashes with too high voltages.

To the best of my knowledge these are the maximum strobe trigger voltages you should expose your digital cameras too:

Canon: 6V
Nikon: 12V
Pentax: 30V

Some old flashes can have trigger voltages up to 300V. Your camera may survive this a couple of times but eventually either just the flash circuitry or the whole camera may be fried.

If you want to use an old flash check this list of strobe trigger voltages. If your flash is not in this list, you can measure the voltage yourself by letting the flash charge itself and then measure the voltage between the hot-shoe contacts of the flash. Make sure though, you are using a digital voltmeter. Cheap analogue meters often have an internal impedance that is too low and will give a false (too low) reading.

Last edited by Thomas (2009-03-25 10:17:51)