P880 - Vivitar Flash?

Just received my P880 yesterday. The Kodak website indicates any standard flash can be used as long as the voltage is under 500v. I'd like to use a Vivitar 2800 flash via the hot shoe. I understand I'd lose the TTL features but am mostly concerned about potential damage to the camera.

Am I safe to use the Vivitar 2800 on my P880?

Roger

I don't know about the 2800 - I have the ancient 283 circa 1980 and it works fine, as does several other 1980s units.

I tried looking at http://www.vivitar.com but the website does not list flash units. Amazon does

http://www.amazon.com/Vivitar-2800-Automatic-Electronic-Flash/dp/tech-data/B00004TVSQ/ref=de_a_smtd/102-6101011-2599327?ie=UTF8

but it does not give info on voltages.

The unit does not appear to use TTL sensing?

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Ancora Imparo - abbiamo tutti qualcosa da imparare
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Found the following discussion:

http://photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=005WdR

(The Kodak manual I read says the P880 can take up to 500v)

and a gadget that is supposed to reduce risk:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&A=details&Q=&sku=245292&is=REG

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Ancora Imparo - abbiamo tutti qualcosa da imparare
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I think it is safe. The capacitors in such flashes are limited by 500V or even 300V and very unlikely to be of higher voltage. So there is no source of the higher voltage on the hot shoe.

http://www.botzilla.com/photo/strobeVolts.html

This is always a useful site for these flash trigger voltage questions.

Hope it re-assures you.

I've seen the information on the websites regarding voltages, etc. Just wondered if anyone had been using a similar setup with their P880. If it will handle the 283 (I loved that unit back in the 70's and 80's) it should have no difficulty with the 2800. I'll just need to play with my settings to get familiar with exposures, lighting direction, etc.

Thanks for the info, guys!

Roger

I'm pretty sure you can use any commercial flash safely with either the hot shoe or the external flash connector (I know that isn't good enough, maybe Mike will chime in).

However, TTL flash output controlled by the camera, with manual EV flash adjustment is a wonderful thing, especially for close subjects in mixed lighting. I had a TTL flash when working with film but didn't use it much because of the cost and delayed results of working with film. With digital cameras you get instant feedback (at zero cost) so the learning curve is very fast. I'm totally sold on TTL flash now, I just wish there was a way to maintain TTL control with the P20 flash mounted away from the camera.

Roger,

The 2800 will be fine, you'll just need to have the cam in Aperture or Manual mode so you can set the lens as the flash dictates on it's display panel or dial (don't know which it has).

Nice thing about the P series is that since they are leaf shutter cameras, they'll sync at any speed up to 1/500. They would sync at 1/1000 too, but some flashes have a max duration longer than that so 1/500 is usually the max speed that will work.
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Mike O'Brien
Eastman Kodak Company