LX5 and old Vivitar flash or Nikon SB600 flash?

I just ordered an LX5 and I have a 1980s vintage Vivitar external flash. The flash was designed to work with Pentax/Olympus/Minolta cameras. The flash still works fine. Would putting this flash into the hotshoot of the LX5 likely casue any problems for the LX5? While the flash has TTL capability I wouldn't expect that to work with a modern camera but I expect I would have to set the flash power manually. What I don't want to do is end up cooking the LX5 by trying out the flash on it.

Likewise, I have a Nikon SB600 flash so I have the same question about it. Would attaching this flash to an LX5 cause problems for either the camera or the flash?

Hi

You can use the old flash units in manual mode. The important thing is the trigger voltage. If its too high - there's a risk of damaging the camera. You can check the flash unit's trigger voltage with a voltmeter / multimeter. Also, here's a site that tells you what flash units are safe to use with digital cameras.
Click: http://www.botzilla.com/photo/strobeVolts.html

Go down the page and see if you can find your Vivitar model number - if its not listed you need to test it with a meter.

Rick

burnttoast said:

I just ordered an LX5 and I have a 1980s vintage Vivitar external flash. The flash was designed to work with Pentax/Olympus/Minolta cameras. The flash still works fine. Would putting this flash into the hotshoot of the LX5 likely casue any problems for the LX5? While the flash has TTL capability I wouldn't expect that to work with a modern camera but I expect I would have to set the flash power manually. What I don't want to do is end up cooking the LX5 by trying out the flash on it.

Likewise, I have a Nikon SB600 flash so I have the same question about it. Would attaching this flash to an LX5 cause problems for either the camera or the flash?

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I don't think you're going to get ttl with either. There is an aftermarket flash (I forget which manufacturer) that will work with the Panasonic.
--
'Nice pen, bet you write good stories with it.'

Thanks for the link. I looked up the flash (550FD) and it lists approx 8 volts which is what I measured on the flash. Now I have to find out what the LX5 can live with.

burnttoast said:

I just ordered an LX5 and I have a 1980s vintage Vivitar external flash. The flash was designed to work with Pentax/Olympus/Minolta cameras. The flash still works fine. Would putting this flash into the hotshoot of the LX5 likely casue any problems for the LX5? While the flash has TTL capability I wouldn't expect that to work with a modern camera but I expect I would have to set the flash power manually. What I don't want to do is end up cooking the LX5 by trying out the flash on it.

Likewise, I have a Nikon SB600 flash so I have the same question about it. Would attaching this flash to an LX5 cause problems for either the camera or the flash?

Click to expand...

My page at http://homepages.tig.com.au/~parsog/panasonic/11-flash.html shows the flashes that have been used by people on this forum on LX3 which of course has the same flash logic as LX5 and M4/3. The TTL is peculiar to modern digital Panasonic and Olympus (and Leica) cameras and that means that Nikon flashes will not TTL but they do the even better thing.... they work in self auto mode where you need to match flash and camera settings and fine tune with a couple of test shots. After that the flash is better than TTL in that there is no blink-inducing double flash.

The 8 volts that you measured on that Vivitar puts it in the safe range. Other models are not so safe. The camera makers usually recommend to stay close to say 5 volts but my personal feelings are that something like 20 volts would even be safe.

Cameras and all electronic stuff needs to have safeguards against accidental static electricity discharge so typically static high voltage zaps would be safe, but I definitely would not try a flash with a high voltage like 250 volts as the repeated exposure to the zap would eventually kill it.

Regards....... Guy

you could just get an optical slave and use your flash off camera. Simply trigger it with the onboard flash or get a trigger . cheers Paul UK
--
new to technology,always learning

Thanks for the info. I tried the flash out on the LX5 and it works great. I will likely take Paul's advice and buy an optical slave for the flash so I can move it off camera, both for versatility and so I can use the view finder.

So far, with a solid hour of using the LX5, I'm happy with it.

My old Vivitar 730AFC and Minolta Maxxum 3200i work well with my FZ100. I have to buy an adapter for the Maxxum to work on the FZ100. I assume the Vivitar should work also with your LX5. Better check first though.

So you manage to fire both your on Lx5 on board flash and your SB600 (on flash cable)?

I should have been more clear. The Vivitar 550FD worked for me on the hot shoe. I haven't tried the SB600.

Alvinyqf said:

So you manage to fire both your on Lx5 on board flash and your SB600 (on flash cable)?

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The SB-600 will work as a self-auto flash as per my list. http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~parsog/panasonic/11-flash.html#flashlist

I've never ever even tried to use pop-up with a hot-shoe flash, I think the book says not to do it.

One reason with the SB-600 it won't do anything useful. The pop-up uses TTL so fires two flashes (130millseconds apart on my LX3, don't know about LX5 timing) but the SB-600 must be used in self auto mode and always triggers off the first flash signal, so the actual exposure flash may now be muddled with the first test flash of the pop-up and thus deliver a wrong exposure, or total confusion to the camera, who knows?

Way better to use the SB-600 as the forward flash, even if it is bent for bounce. Just add a forward reflector out of white plastic or cardboard if it does not have a pull-out forward reflector like my old SB-26 has.

The forward flash being much further from the lens ensures no red-eye, which the pop-up provides in bucketfuls.

Regards........... Guy

Guy Parsons said:

The SB-600 will work as a self-auto flash as per my list. http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~parsog/panasonic/11-flash.html#flashlist

I've never ever even tried to use pop-up with a hot-shoe flash, I think the book says not to do it.

One reason with the SB-600 it won't do anything useful. The pop-up uses TTL so fires two flashes (130millseconds apart on my LX3, don't know about LX5 timing) but the SB-600 must be used in self auto mode and always triggers off the first flash signal, so the actual exposure flash may now be muddled with the first test flash of the pop-up and thus deliver a wrong exposure, or total confusion to the camera, who knows?

Way better to use the SB-600 as the forward flash, even if it is bent for bounce. Just add a forward reflector out of white plastic or cardboard if it does not have a pull-out forward reflector like my old SB-26 has.

The forward flash being much further from the lens ensures no red-eye, which the pop-up provides in bucketfuls.

Regards........... Guy

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Thanks for the Guy for the advice.. I am trying to use this 2 flash combination while taking macros to get the lighting i want..

Alvinyqf said:

Thanks for the Guy for the advice.. I am trying to use this 2 flash combination while taking macros to get the lighting i want..

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Richard Beal sent me his method of macro lighting. I've tried similar using a flat piece of milky looking plastic cut from a juice bottle and it works pretty well to diffuse the light and avoid lens shadows. http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~parsog/panasonic/04-macro2.html

As for the pop-up plus flash method, you can only try it and see what happens, but both flashes would need to be TTL type as the exposure is only on the second flash and self-auto types like the SB-600 are always triggered by the first measuring flash.

I use a Wein Digital Trigger when playing with slaving regular flashes off a TTL flash. That ensures the flash fires off the second and exposing flash.

Regards....... Guy