At 22:45 2/22/03, you wrote:
Hi, Tom. Maybe John Lind will pop in on this one. He seems to know all
of the the Sunpak and Metz flashes. I don't know anything about the 821
but if it truly says "dedicated" then it must go TTL somehow. If it was
purely manual and auto it would only need one contact and wouldn't need to
be "dedicated" to any hotshoe form factor.
OK, Chuck, I just caught up with this thread . . .
Tom,
I've never used a Sunpak Auto 821, but based on several other dedicated
ones that have passed through my hands . . .
From what I was able to deduce with a little 'net searching, it is indeed
a "dedicated" flash with fixed head (no tilt or swivel) that was made in a
number of different variants to support TTL-Auto for several different
camera makers (Nikon, Pentax, Olympus, etc.). However, it doesn't have the
interchangeable foot (for OM Shoe 4 = OT-1D; now discontinued) found on the
120J Pro TTL, and used on the ends of cords with handle units such as the
555 and 622 Super Pro.
Regarding the two "auto" modes. One auto mode should use the sensor on the
front of the flash. The other should use TTL-Auto. I'm not surprised the
Ready LED doesn't blink in your viewfinder to signal an "OK" exposure after
you fire the flash. Both of my OT-1D feet will blink the viewfinder on one
of my bodies (IIRC OM-1n with flash in "Normal Auto" ???), but not the
others for some reason (OM-2S and OM-4). The "OK" light on the back of the
flash should still work though regardless of which auto mode you're in . .
. if the flash put out enough light.
You were doing your testing with an OM-2[n,S] or OM-4[T], right? From your
narrative (LOL) I'm concluding you tested it on an OM-2n. Just want to be
certain of this.
How I test TTL-Auto in these things (Sunpak and Metz stuff):
1. Scratch Roll of film in OM-2S or OM-4.
2. Set film speed to highest setting to guarantee I'll get enough light
without a full dump in the auto modes.
3. Go to *small* darkened room that pushes shutter speed to 1/30 or slower
(to force flash to fire). Not dark enough? Stop down lens until it does.
4. Turn on flash . . . verify "ready" illuminates in viewfinder and shutter
speed automagically switches to 1/60th.
5. Put flash in what is believed to be Normal Auto.
6. Trip shutter and look for flashing "ready" in viewfinder. If it doesn't
blink (it should with the Metz SCA-321 foot, but may or may not with a
Sunpak), wind on and trip shutter again looking at back of flash to see if
it indicates an "OK."
7. Wind on and trip shutter again with finger covering sensor on flash to
see if flash full dumps with *no* "OK" signal. If it's in Normal Auto, it
should full dump. If not, and it indicates an "OK" signal, put lens cap on
lens and repeat. If it full dumps with lens cap on, you guessed wrong in
step 5 and it's in TTL-Auto.
8. Put flash in the other Auto mode, and repeat step 6.
9. Repeat step 7. You should now get a full dump with the lens cap on if
you had a full dump covering the sensor before, or vice versa, compared to
step 7.
10. Put flash in Manual mode. You should get full dump regardless and no
"OK" indications in viewfinder or on back of flash.
Bottom line . . .
When I'm using the Sunpak units, I don't expect to see the viewfinder lamp
blink to indicate an "OK" condition, but look at the back of the flash at
the "OK" lamp there. I believe part of the issue with Sunpak units not
blinking the viewfinder ready LED is separate "Ready" and "OK" lamps on the
back of the flash, but the OM system uses the same LED for both functions.
An aside . . .
Your narrative parallels my latest adventure with what started out to be a
simple 20-minute task to replace the packing in a lavatory faucet. Five
hours later and 3 more trips to Lowe's, it was finally repaired. Ended up
having to turn off the water to the house and replace both shut-off valves
under the sink too. The standard version of those things with a tortured
variant of a gate valve are absolutely worthless. After being used twice
to shut of the supply, the packing around the valve stems starts leaking
(not small seepage either). Replaced them with 1/4-turn ball valves, and
then had to replace the supply tubes from the supply shut-off valves to the
sink faucet. Got to experience once again the joy of copper tubing
compression fittings.
-- John
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