Flash for ME super

Hi,

I'm after a cheap and cheerful flash to go on an ME super.

What are some options?

I'm just learning so it doesn't need to be great. Just some light and straight forward to use

Mangetout

La Poder

I believe I have a 280T from Pentax which I picked up cheaply. It doesn't do P-TTL, but it does do TTL on the LX as well.

I'm pretty certain that all a 'Pentax' specific flash does on an ME Super is make certain the shutter speed stays at the sync speed, and a little indicator light goes on when the dedicated flash is charged. I'd be happy to lose such niceties in exchange for a typical automatic flash Sunpak, Vivitar, Metz, Nikon... no need to use a Pentax-dedicated unit.

I even picked up a dedicated Sunpak (266?) at a Ritz camera dumping ground and decided that I don't like the connection. It locked the shutter at 1/125, and I usually want ambient light, meaning slower speeds.
--
Dan Daniel
http://dandaniel.zenfolio.com/
WSSA #180PX

ddan daniel said:

I even picked up a dedicated Sunpak (266?) at a Ritz camera dumping ground and decided that I don't like the connection. It locked the hsutter at 1/125, and I usually want ambientl ight, meaning lsower speeds.

Click to expand...

Locked at 1/125 even if you set the camera to manual mode?

Just checked the 266 on my ME Super to see if I remembered correctly, and yes, the dedicated flash locks the shutter at 1/125. No manual adjustment of shutter speed possible.

cr0100 said:

ddan daniel said:

I even picked up a dedicated Sunpak (266?) at a Ritz camera dumping ground and decided that I don't like the connection. It locked the hsutter at 1/125, and I usually want ambientl ight, meaning lsower speeds.

Click to expand...

Locked at 1/125 even if you set the camera to manual mode?

Click to expand...

--
Dan Daniel
http://dandaniel.zenfolio.com/
WSSA #180PX

Are you saying that using any flash at all with an ME super means that I can only use a shutter speed of 1/125?

can the light intensity of the flash be altered manually?

La Poder said:

Are you saying that using any flash at all with an ME super means that I can only use a shutter speed of 1/125?

can the light intensity of the flash be altered manually?

Click to expand...

No, nope, not saying that!! With flashes that are NOT dedicated to Pentax cameras, this will not be an issue.

It is the early dedicated flashes that will have this problem. Like the Sunpak 266 I picked up recently. And Pentax brand flashes from this era.

I just tried a recent dedicated flash unit, a Promaster 7500EDF designed for P-TTL on recent digital cameras, and it DID NOT lock the speed at 1/125 on an ME Super.

So I would suggest that you avoid early Pentax flashes designed for the ME Super. Anything else should work and give you nice options. The '70s had a series of strange flash systems as the camera world adopted to the possibilities. Pentax probably thought it was doing everyone a favor by locking the shutter speed?

I was just looking at a simple rangefinder that has a PC socket but if you plug anything in to it, the shutter is locked at 1/30. This is with a LEAF shutter that can sync up to 1/500!! The whole beauty of leaf shutters is being able to use fill flash with ease in daylight, and they went and killed it.....

--
Dan Daniel
http://dandaniel.zenfolio.com/
WSSA #180PX

Any old auto flash with swivel and tilt and preferably with a zoom head (manual, mind it ).

I have an old Soligor - tilt/swivel, 4 zoom positions (28, 35, 50 and 85 if I'm not wrong), auto, manula full, manual 1/4. The only thing I did, wrote and taped on the top a 2x4 table, guide numbers for 100 and 200 ISO for the four different zoom positions. It takes thinking fast on your feet, dividing the GN by the distance and then anoother couple steps if you want to control shadows outdoor; indoor is usually not a problem just using the auto settings. With some practice you resulats are very stable and nice.
Good luck, it's a beauty of full manual control...

Let me clear a few things here:

1. You can use ANY flash with standard hot shoe with ME Super.
2. There is no flash automation (TTL or P-TTL) with ME Super.
3. The only extra pin on ME Super is "Ready", which allows flash to signal the body when flash is fully charged to allow taking next shot. However, if you mount a flash without the Ready signal all you need to do is to make sure flash is recharged before taking a shot. ("Ready" signal is useful mainly for taking pictures with flash in rapid succession or with motor drive. If you are planing to take a shot every 30 seconds or every 3 minutes there is no difference in shutter release response.)
4. In flash sync position 100X shutter is locked at 1/100s (some tests indicate it is in fact closer to 1/90s). It is good thing to know however that ME and ME Super can operate without batteries at 100X position. If you know the Sunny 16 Rule it may save the day!
5. There is no way to control flash from the camera, so you must use table printed on a flash to set aperture required for given ISO and flash to subject distance.
6. Finally, many flash units have Auto (A) mode (a photocell in flash itself) but I would not rely on in-flash only automation. Modern flash units AF360/540 would work as well, no TTL/P-TTL though (only A and M modes).

If you are looking for Pentax flash, something like this would do (AF-201):



Note the table on the back, and here is how to use it: if for example you are using ISO 200 film and your subject is at approximately 5m/16ft you need to set aperture to f/5.6. That's it!

--
http://www.ivanglisin.com

If you want something from the same vintage try a Vivitar 2500 or 3500. They are not too big and have an Auto mode with two options.

Or go for the big daddy of the time and get a Vivitar 283. Lots of power. There is always the Metz 45CT4 if you fancy a hammerhead type and even more power and flexibility.

Ebay turns up plenty of flashes at low prices but you will need good fresh batteries to get an old flash to start up, it can take a while before the capacitor "forms" and gets to a useable charge. Old flashes should be powered up and test fired every month just to keep them alive.

--
Steve

http://www.pbase.com/steephill

Hi La Poder,

I have a Pentax AF200S flash you can have that works fine on an ME Super (it was the flash I used on my ME Super). You would have to pay for the shipping.

La Poder said:

Hi,

I'm after a cheap and cheerful flash to go on an ME super.

What are some options?

I'm just learning so it doesn't need to be great. Just some light and straight forward to use

Mangetout

La Poder

Click to expand...

--
Lance B
http://www.pbase.com/lance_b

Lance B said:

Hi La Poder,

I have a Pentax AF200S flash you can have that works fine on an ME Super (it was the flash I used on my ME Super). You would have to pay for the shipping.

Click to expand...

This model is specifically recommended in the ME Super manual. But does that mean that it will lock the shutter at 1/125 no matter?

--
Dan Daniel
http://dandaniel.zenfolio.com/
WSSA #180PX

Thankyou very much indeed for all the helpful replies. Much appreciated.

Lance, That is a very kind and thoughtful offer. I would be glad to pay the shipping costs and maybe a little something for your generosity. Something tells me you live down under? Won't the shipping costs be horrendous over to the UK?

Do you have any experience or knowledge of shipping goods back to blighty?

Thanks

La Poder

La Poder said:

Thankyou very much indeed for all the helpful replies. Much appreciated.

Lance, That is a very kind and thoughtful offer. I would be glad to pay the shipping costs and maybe a little something for your generosity.

Click to expand...

No problems.

La Poder said:

Something tells me you live down under? Won't the shipping costs be horrendous over to the UK?

Do you have any experience or knowledge of shipping goods back to blighty?

Click to expand...

I really do not know how much it will cost, but I guess it depends on the speed at which you want it sent back and whether you want insurance. The best I can do is pack it up and see. I guess the only proviso is that the freight may cost more than a locally purchased second hand unit? Anyway, let me see what the postage will be.

La Poder said:

Thanks

La Poder

Click to expand...

--
Lance B
http://www.pbase.com/lance_b

Hi again,

Looks like I could send a small parcel to oz for about £4 without insurance. So that's roughly $10 aud I imagine. Is it roughly the same vice versa?

Cheers

La Poder

cool. no worries.

Just had a quick look on ebay and they go for about £20 so you might be right about it being cheaper just to buy one here. I'll wait to hear back from you.

I'm in no rush at all really so if it does work out cheaper and you have no use for the flash it would be hugely appreciated.

Thanks again for your thoughtfulness.

La Poder