Connected my Old Vivatar 283

[Not4wood]

I can't get over this.

I just purchased a "Hotshoe to Hotshoe Syn Protection to connect my 283 to my Nikon D80 and took a fast couple of test shots and now I cant find my old Flash Bracket. I had just seen it and tried it on my Nikon a couple of days ago, it fit so I put it away till I was able to use my 283. Duh......... still looking.

It took me a while to figure out how to get my camera working with the 283 but it seems all is well now. I set my camera on manual for f:8 and 60 of a second to see and it looks ok. I have to play around since these new techie cameras can sync a lot faster. At least this will hold me till I get the SB600.

Also, I found that I had to take the camera out of the Auto ISO settings and set it for 100 manually.

[Chuck S.]

Mark, could you give me a reference for the sync protection device you bought? I, too, have a 283 with the bracket, coiled cord, etc., and may want to play around with just for old times sake...

[mrod]

I'd be interested, also. I have a Vivitar 2600-D, and am a little nervous about putting it on my D80, considering the voltage issue...

Mike

[buckstop39]

Hi,

I use the Wein Flash Adapter on the E-300 and E-330 with an old Sunpak Auto 411 flash. I get great results with the 411 alone or sometimes with the onboard flash...I set the Sunpak in one of the 4 auto positions...then shoot away....the flash is mounted on an old Camcorder light weight L bracket with the camera..I can carry this around at parties or shooting events easily...The reason I like the Auto 411 is the head rotates many different ways...and bounce can be easy to do...One caution, I just looked and did not find the model of Wein adapter that I have...The Auto 411 has a 200v kick back so you have to have a filtering adapter for your camera to protect it with many old flashes...Sorry I could not find the place where these are..I did get mine from BHPhotovideo a little over 2 years ago...for 49.00 and it works well on that 25+ year old flash unit. That is if you do not mind manual mode for shooting...
Mike

[Not4wood]

Its a Wein Hot Shoe to Hot Shoe Safe Sync [HSHSB] and it costs me $9.88 plus tax amongst the other 2 things I got from Ken Mar Camera.

The HoT Shoe Adapter is a must, Kenny the owner said that the older strobes have 100 volts, can't be Watts could it LOL to fry these new PC Camera's. (He did say over 100, LOL can't remember now).

The only problem I had was I had the Shoe on backwards and the strobe wasn't firing. Once I turned the hot shoe so the sync chord is facing the front (of my camera) my 283 works fine. Now I have to make some tests to look at the exposures and see what happens and what settings I need to use it for fill. I can't believe its been so long since I've used this strobe that I can't remember what the *^&# I used to use for what situations. I've torn the apartment upside down and I still can't find my bracket, I just put it away on Wednesday when we got delivery of the new fridge and stove.

I also bought the IOne Display LT Calibration tool for my monitor. Works pretty easy, took a little bit of time the first time out this morning. The only thing that didn't work was the Contrast hunt. For some reason it looks like its hanging and not doing anything. It asks me to put the Contrast ratio to 100% and then it stays there. The brightness starts out asking me to set it to full, then to zero then it keeps on and doesn't stop.

BTW, I also purchased the Ilford Galerie Smooth Pearl paper, downloaded and installed the ICC profile (from www.Ilford.com and made my first print. Very nice, its drying now. Seems that some people have been complaining that it takes a little bit too long to dry and I think its an RC paper to boot. LOL I remember the old RC Ilford papers from the hey days.........

[Chuck S.]

Mark, thanks for the info!

[Not4wood]

Your Velcome!!

[lexcell]

I agree with Kenny about using a safe sync. They ar einexpensive and will prevent feedback which can damage your camera costing s significant amount to repair.

The EyeOne Display is an excellent calibration system. If I understand your problem with it hanging, I believe it is waiting for input from you...it wants you to adjust the contrast to fit within a scale that should be displayed on the screen. Once you hae that dialed in it will proceed to the next step. (This is if you are doing the advanced calibration)

[Not4wood]

Hmmm, thats interesting.

I did change the percentage to what the IOne Program asked me but it did nothing and I did wait a long time.

I will try it again and give it more time.

You are correct though, its a great program and hardware. It gave my monitor a very good skin color for some things I did look at it to see. Now I have to go in and really start to color correct and play with PE5.

Changing the subject very fast....

I have seen an offering for a New version of the Thyristor for my 283 that would give me more choices in setting the power levels. I have been testing my old flash and the f: stop per exposure is slightly more powerful than I remember it from my old film camera using the same settings. I had my D80 set on manual with ISO set at 100, and my exposure was f:8 at 60 of a second.

I will try and set the shutter speed faster since this camera can sync up to 200th of a second. I think that might ease up on the exposure enough to bring it back in. Either that or I will start to bracket and look for the best exposure. Is it possible after all these years that my power output in the flash has changed??? Funny thing is the test shots are all very hot or very over exposed. So I'm not sure whats going on. The shots look as though I was right on top of my subject but I was at least 6-8 feet away if not more.

[lexcell]

Mark,
Are you sure the thyristor is for the 283...the 285 has a replaceable one.

You also might want to try a light modifier...softbox, diffuser, etc to soften the light.