hooking up this baby to a dSLR

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hooking up this baby to a dSLR

Postby dsc » Tue Jan 25, 2011 9:06 pm

Hi guys,

I'm not sure how many people on this fine forum do dSLR photography and got a bit of technical knowledge when it comes to flashguns, but I thought I'd ask anyway.

I picked up this flashgun on my recent trip back home:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tompjagiello/5387930989/

and I'd like to use it as a separate light source for portraits plus general still life photography. Seeing what can be done with it:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tompjagiello/5340736588/

it would be awesome to have the following:

- control the power somehow, not sure how though, is that done simply through limiting voltage? Putting a multimeter across the contacts in the hotshoe gives a reading of 177VDC:O way to fry a dSLR:) btw this is a 230VAC plugin flashgun.

- trigger it from a remote, currently I use the button on the back to flash it, but there's a short removable cable that can be used to fire it as well (simply a jack with a weird plug, but shortening the contacts on the plug fires the flash). This is doable, so I'm mostly worried about the power issue

Would appreciate any tips:) Dooooooom, are you around anywhere these days?:)

Cheers,
dsc.
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RE: hooking up this baby to a dSLR

Postby bruceb » Tue Jan 25, 2011 9:33 pm

Hi dsc, nice to see you around. Why not use a slave trigger? That way you don't need any cables or connections to the camera at all.

I have no idea how to control the power of the flash however.

As to the reflection in the wine glass, try a polarising filter. It might help.
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RE: hooking up this baby to a dSLR

Postby CakeBoy » Wed Jan 26, 2011 2:42 am

Hey dsc, good to see you. Was just thinking yesterday that you hadn't been on for a while.

We bought a flash a while back but it has a built in controller to reduce power. I'm not sure what you might use externally with yours. Dom has been travelling recently but will hopefully have some ideas when he sees the thread. I agree with Bruce about remote triggers.

Hope you are keeping well :D
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RE: hooking up this baby to a dSLR

Postby Glenn » Sat Jan 29, 2011 11:32 pm

Many of the triggers on the market would also be fried at this voltage
I believe a similar question was asked on http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums ... y.php?f=53

Might be worth doing a quick search there for a number of solutions

Hope this helps
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RE: hooking up this baby to a dSLR

Postby motoman » Tue Feb 01, 2011 12:20 pm

Try bouncing it, I also used a lot of different types of material or filters over the flash to soften or change the lighting
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Re: hooking up this baby to a dSLR

Postby z3t4 » Sat Feb 05, 2011 2:33 pm

dsc wrote:Hi guys,

...

- control the power somehow, not sure how though, is that done simply through limiting voltage? Putting a multimeter across the contacts in the hotshoe gives a reading of 177VDC:O way to fry a dSLR:) btw this is a 230VAC plugin flashgun.

- trigger it from a remote, currently I use the button on the back to flash it, but there's a short removable cable that can be used to fire it as well (simply a jack with a weird plug, but shortening the contacts on the plug fires the flash). This is doable, so I'm mostly worried about the power issue


It's a non-trivial exercise to adapt a fixed output gun to variable output.:(

You can buy adaptors that will switch a high voltage gun without frying your camera (or, better, your cheap chinese expendable slave receiver). I got some oldish Metz flashguns off german ebay to play with and also some others with variable output. The contact voltage on some of them is up to 265vdc, so be careful.
Also the strobist flickr group discussions are full of stuff about this.
Best search string is high voltage flash trigger
HTH

edit 1 : typo
Last edited by z3t4 on Thu Feb 10, 2011 3:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Regards,

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RE: Re: hooking up this baby to a dSLR

Postby dsc » Thu Feb 10, 2011 12:30 am

Hi guys,

sorry for such a late reply and thanks for a warm welcome-back:) It's been a while I know, but I'm still coffee-ing as a hobby, so it's not all bad;)

Bruce: Polarising filter? Yes, must try it, filters in general, I still want to shoot some long exposures during the day, so I reckon an N-grad filter is a must.

Cakes: can I ask where did you get the flash from?

Glenn: yeah that's what I was worried about. Will have a search through that website, cheers!

moto: that glass shot was 'bounced' (well the flash was under the background sheet), full power, no bounce means blinding brightness.

z3t4: I zapped myself with 170VDC from that flashgun:) don't try it. I will try to come up with a solution that limits the discharge rate of the capacitor inside the flash unit.

Thanks a lot guys!

Regards,
dsc.
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RE: Re: hooking up this baby to a dSLR

Postby motoman » Thu Feb 10, 2011 12:12 pm

Can I borrow that flash gun Tom, just getting over my second dose of swine flu this year and need a boost to my system.

I got my small mazzer hopper from Ivo van de.. sorry, brain still out to lunch. Anyway; Ivo sold me my Mazzer from Holland (same brain fog).

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RE: Re: hooking up this baby to a dSLR

Postby CakeBoy » Sun Feb 13, 2011 12:43 am

Hi dsc. Sorry for the delay in replying. We bought it used from a forum buy and sell section. It's an Oly specific unit, so the controller is optimised to work with Oly kit.
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