BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

Do you think though that, much like the maniacal arms race of the Cold War, flash manufacturers ran rampant trying to come with the most powerful flash with no regard for the consequences. And either batch control was sloppy or QC was out to lunch when you have the same model (Vivitar 283) that ran the gamut from 6 to 600 Volts.

joer Loc: Colorado/Illinois

I bought one but it didn't fire the Sunpaks. What brand did you get?

whitewolfowner

Earlier cameras could handle the greater voltages, it wasn't an issue. I brought this issue up in Popular Photography over a decade ago, starting the warnings to go out about this.

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

Great imagination, but your conclusions are pure nonsense.

Vivitar sold a model 283 flash over a period of more than three decades, starting in 1970. It was at least manufactured in Japan, Korea and China. We know positively the actual design changed several times over the years.

What you claim is sloppy work was actually good business management securing improvements as time went on. You wouldn't expect them to use the same circuit, the same parts, or the same manufacturing processes for the entire life of a product like that, would you?

They produced millions of units with the first generation design in the early 1970s, when a device like that, which cost $70 at the time, would have been virtually impossible to design with a low trigger voltage! Units produced in the late 70s did have a low trigger voltage. Not because of any sloppy QC, but because high voltage solid state electronics had become available.

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

Trigger voltage was a problem for at least some cameras even in the late 1980's, almost 3 decades ago.

I'm not sure about the internals, but the User Manual for the 1988 Nikon F4 warns about speedlight voltages. I assume it had an electronic trigger switch.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Most modern DSLRs are rated to handle 250 volts. I bet the D7000 is and Nikon can confirm.

Flash trigger voltage was more of a concern in the past, with later film and early DSLR cameras, that were designed and rated for much less voltage.

Without knowing the specific flash, it's hard to say. Even many old ones had less than 250 trigger volts. But a few had excessive trigger voltage, because there simply wasn't much concern about the voltage with older, mechanical cameras, most of which had minimal electronics and more robust circuitry. The first electronically controlled cameras started to appear in the early 1980s. And as they got more an more elaborate with complex internal circuitry, they became more sensitive to any sort of external electrical charge such as flash trigger voltage. I know, for example, for a while the specifications only called for cameras to be able to handle 24 volts

Certain older Vivitar (283, 285), for example, had trigger voltage as high as 400V. Some other flash were similar.

To safely use those on-camera (in or connected to the hot shoe with modern electronic cameras, a Wein SafeSync or similar can be used to protect the camera.

Off-camera (not connected to the camera at all) is the safest and the flash can be triggered optically or with radio triggers. The Wein Peanut is one reliable optical trigger. There are many others and some flashes have those built-in. Radio triggers are electronic and will probably have their own trigger voltage limits, which should be checked.

Camera, radio trigger and flash manufacturers can provided trigger voltage info which is likely to be reliable. Also, a Google search will find a lot of info. I know there's a website that compiled tested trigger voltages of vintage flash. But, there you are relying on the accuracy of testing and reports from who-knows-who.

BebuLamar

It's not fair to say that they make powerful flashes with no regard for consequences. They didn't know what future cameras will be like. The cameras that were available in that time worked fine with them. Also as Apaflo pointed out it was difficult to make flash with high power and low trigger voltage. Do you say the same thing for camera manufacturers that used mercury cells?

Bobspez Loc: Southern NJ, USA

I use a speedlight on a bracket on the side of the camera. The bracket attaches to the camera's tripod socket. The speedlight is triggered by the camera flash. It's not attached to the camera hot shoe, and is independently set.