Godfrey, Thanks - I was able to borrow a tester from a colleague and from what I can see (I'm an electrical novice) the flash was registering about 8.2 with a high of about 8.6 on a recycle.
A little higher than the 6 allowed -- do I go and spend the money on the Wein Safe Sync? Thank you. Ed On 6/1/07, Godfrey DiGiorgi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Ed, > > Just measure the 285HV trigger voltage to ensure safety. It's easy: > > - off camera, power up the flash unit > - use a Volt-Ohm-Meter (VOM), set it to DC Volts, auto or high scale > - measure voltage between side and center terminal on the flash foot > > If you see greater than 10V (positive or negative) on the VOM, don't > use the flash on the camera without a Wein Safe Sync to insulate it > from the camera. Current production Vivitar 285HV units should show > about 6V trigger voltage. Older Vivitar 285s could show up to 200V or > so. > > If you don't own a VOM, you can get a small digital VOM from Radio > Shack or similar for under $12. A very useful tool to have... > > Godfrey > > > On Jun 1, 2007, at 7:42 AM, Ed Keeney wrote: > > > Excellent resources all -- thanks for saving me the time to look them > > up. The 'Stobist' site has a ton of information, it'll take a long > > time to get through it all. > > > > I've always been hesitant with my external flash - but now with > > digital and instant review of the shot, I think its time to pull the > > flash out of the bag. > > > > Now I just need to confirm that I won't destroy my K100D with my 285HV > > (testing this weekend). > > > > Thanks again! > >>> > >>> Somebody posted a link to their "Idiot's Guide to Manual Flash" > >>> some years > >>> ago. Not sure who or when (certainly more than five years ago) > >>> but you > >>> could try searching the mailarchive.com pentax-discuss archive > >> > >> That was Mafud, or Matt Greene, who knows.... > >> Anyway, I quoted it into the archives a while back: > >> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg173247.html > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > -- Thanks! Ed -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net

