Sonys Syncterminal FA-ST1AM, does it work with the 5D?

Hi,

Just have one short question,
does the Sony sync terminal (FA-ST1AM)
work with my Minolta 5D?

Thanks!

It should, but wow, that's absurdly overpriced. Over $150?? You can get adapters for $15 or so on Ebay. I have an FS-1100 that has a PC sync terminal on the side. I can't find any evidence of KM every making one, so it may be a custom job. But it looks stock.

Greg

Gregory King said:

I have an FS-1100 that has a PC
sync terminal on the side. I can't find any evidence of KM every
making one, so it may be a custom job. But it looks stock.

Click to expand...

The Minolta USA service department modified a small number of FS-1100s with sync terminals by hand and sold them directly to people who knew to ask for them by the part number FS-PC back when they were located in Ramsey, NJ. I bought one to use with my 650si before I got the VC-600, which had a sync terminal on it. Note: It will not work with the 5D, or for that matter any KM or Sony camera introduced after the film 7.

Robert,

Interesting...thanks. You mean it won't work because it'll send out the pre-flash code and that will prematurely fire the PC-synced flash? Could it work with the 7D in manual mode in that case?

The 3600 and 5600 HS don't have PC sync ports anyways, right?

I'm not sure what all these people are doing with even the NORMAL FS-1100's...since they obviously will only mount non- P-TTL flashes to the hot shoe. I guess some people want to use older thyristor flashes?

Wonder if I should keep this for my 7...will probably never use it.

Greg

It won't work in that it won't fire any strobe connected to the sync port. Dedicated units still work fine. The flash shoe on Minolta/KM/Sony cameras still looks the same, but they are actually very different from the old days (xi/si models). They have essentially been turned into computer data ports with different voltage levels than before. That is why the new Sony adapter and the old KM PCT-100 adapter use a battery. The adapter electrically isolates the camera's flash shoe from the sync port. That does not mean that all of the cameras that Minolta made with the "smarter" flash interface can use the adapter. I tried a PCT-100 on a Minolta Maxxum 5 (film) camera. It simply refused to recognize that it was there and fire the strobe attached to the sync port. That is why the PCT-100 came with a CD to update the firmware of certain digital cameras that predated it so that they would recognize the adapter.

It should be less money.

Good stuff! Thanks!

Greg

Robert Lynch said:

It won't work in that it won't fire any strobe connected to the sync
port. Dedicated units still work fine. The flash shoe on
Minolta/KM/Sony cameras still looks the same, but they are actually
very different from the old days (xi/si models). They have
essentially been turned into computer data ports with different
voltage levels than before. That is why the new Sony adapter and the
old KM PCT-100 adapter use a battery. The adapter electrically
isolates the camera's flash shoe from the sync port. That does not
mean that all of the cameras that Minolta made with the "smarter"
flash interface can use the adapter. I tried a PCT-100 on a Minolta
Maxxum 5 (film) camera. It simply refused to recognize that it was
there and fire the strobe attached to the sync port. That is why the
PCT-100 came with a CD to update the firmware of certain digital
cameras that predated it so that they would recognize the adapter.

Click to expand...

Rob,

Confused a bit. in the old threads, I seemed to read that the FS-PC is similar to the third-party ones and that they will actually fire strobes. They just don't have voltage protection.

So it'll work, but is risky with certain flashes. Or you pay $50 for a Wein Safe Sync, right?

I see another thread here on a PCT-100 not working...

Greg

I haven't followed all of the threads on the FS-PC and the PCT-100, I just know how it was explained to me directly by Minolta back when I tried to get either the FS-PC or the PCT-100 to connect a Maxxum 5 to a studio strobe as a backup camera. They went through the changes in the flash interface that came out when the Maxxum 7 was introduced and the issue with the new voltage levels and communication protocol. It is not just a question of the strobe frying the camera, but the camera not even managing to close the circuit to fire the strobe. If there are some later bodies that the FS-PC might work with without electrically isolating the sync connection from the camera then it would be news to me, but anything is possible. It could vary depending on the sensitivity of the strobe trigger, also. Given that an actual FS-PC in the wild is a very rare thing, it is mostly a moot point. I refuse to sell mine, because if I ever wind up back in a studio shooting film for some reason, it will be with my 7 with the 650si as backup. More specifically, the 7 will have whichever color or B&W film I am supposed to be shooting, and the 650si will have whichever film I actually want to be shooting. The 650si (and the 5 I got rid of for this very reason) are the only cameras that I have ever had that did not have a sync connection.

I bought one like this one

http://cgi.ebay.com/Hot-shoe-adaptor-Minolta-Dynax-Sony-Alpha-A100-us_W0QQitemZ130158306323QQihZ003QQcategoryZ64354QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Works great.