Different versions of the same flash unit can vary considerably
depending on where and when they were made. If you want to be on the
same side simply measure it with a voltmeter.
The center contact on the bottom of the flash's foot is usually
positive. The ground (negative) contact will be found inside the
grooves on the foot. If the volt meter is not auto ranging turn it to a
range higher than you expect to measure such as 500 volts. Turn on the
flash and connect the red lead on the volt meter to the center contact
on the foot and the black lead to the ground contact in the groove. If
the voltage measures low on the scale select a lower range so you can
read the value more acccurately. If it's under 250 volts you're OK.
Getting a contact from the black lead into the narrow groove of the
flash foot can sometimes be a problem. It may require using a pin or
straightened paper clip or some such attached to the black lead to get
into the narrow groove. If the volt meter lead has an alligator clip at
one end it's easy to attach something thin (like a straightened paper
clip) to reach into the groove.
If you don't have a volt meter the shop that has the 365 for sale may
have one. Alternatively you borrow one from a friend or buy one for
$10-15 from Radio Shack. You'll probably find lots of other uses for an
inexpensive volt meter once you have it.
Chuck Norcutt
Dan Mitchell wrote:
> According to the manual, "Some flashes available on the market operate
> with a synchro terminal with a voltage of 250 V or over. If one of these
> is used, it may damage the camera, and/or the camera may not function
> normally."
>
> Now, one of the local shops has a Vivitar 365 on sale cheaply, and I'm
> tempted -- as far as I can tell, that has a sync voltage of ~50V
> according to http://www.botzilla.com/photo/strobeVolts.html and
> http://groups.google.ca/group/rec.photo/msg/3a07860f30005c08?hl=en&;
> which would be fine.
>
> That said, just to be on the safe side, which other 3rd party flashes
> have people successfully used with their E-1s? I know the T32 is fine,
> but that's around 12v so that doesn't prove much.
>
> thanks,
>
> -- dan
==============================================
List usage info: http://www.zuikoholic.com
List nannies: olympusadmin@xxxxxxxxxx
==============================================
|