Quantaray Strobe with Nikon D3400: A friend of mine has an old Quantaray QTB 5000AF strobe and would like to use it with his Nikon D3400. I am afraid that his camera could be damaged...

Carl rl Loc: Lutz, FL

A friend of mine has an old Quantaray QTB 5000AF strobe and would like to use it with his Nikon D3400. I am afraid that his camera could be damaged if he attempts to use it with the digital camera. Does anyone have any ideas if it will work and/or cause any damage trying to use it? Thanks,

nikon_jon Loc: Northeast Arkansas

The triggering circuit in older strobes from the film era can be higher in voltage and I have been told they can damage digital cameras. If you have access to a knowledgeable Nikon dealer, or perhaps call Nikon repair, you might find an answer to your question.

Los-Angeles-Shooter Loc: Los Angeles

why not use a radio slave?

Designdweeb Loc: Metro NYC & East Stroudsburg, PA

The 3400 doesn’t have a hotshoe, iirc, and you need a hotshoe to mount the little AS-15 adapter that protects the camera from too much voltage and provides a pc socket for the external flash's sync cord. The 3500 is outfitted with a hot-shoe.
The only workaround would be to turning off the lights, opening the shutter on B, firing the flashes, closing the shutter. Totally old school studio still-life style.

BebuLamar

It won't damage your camera but it may not work. Chances that you can get it to work on your D3500 is slimmer than an old flash like Vivitar 283 (which you may need a safe sync).

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Designdweeb wrote:

The 3400 doesn’t have a hotshoe...

This one does.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Carl rl wrote:

A friend of mine has an old Quantaray QTB 5000AF strobe and would like to use it with his Nikon D3400. I am afraid that his camera could be damaged if he attempts to use it with the digital camera. Does anyone have any ideas if it will work and/or cause any damage trying to use it? Thanks,

Your best bet is to use a trigger. You can find many types and prices online. I bought a set of Cowboy Studios triggers years ago for $21, and they work fine.

https://smile.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=flash+trigger

Also -
http://www.botzilla.com/photo/strobeVolts.html
http://www.shutterbug.com/content/using-older-electronic-flash-digital-cameras-what-works%E2%80%94what-doesn%E2%80%99t#e0r5XD1ycZcdFdfF.97
http://www.instructables.com/id/Use-old-flashes-on-new-DSLR-cameras./

Designdweeb Loc: Metro NYC & East Stroudsburg, PA

jerryc41 wrote:

This one does.

Wow, the picture and specs on the one I googled did not. I stand corrected!

BebuLamar

The flash was relatively new I think it's made in the early 2000's. So its trigger voltage is low and safe. However it's actually a TTL unit and because of that when mounted on a camera that is not compatible it wouldn't work or wouldn't work right. The camera could recognize the flash but it refuses to fire or fire but controls the output erratically.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Designdweeb wrote:

Wow, the picture and specs on the one I googled did not. I stand corrected!

Well, Nikon does have a habit of removing features from new models, so I thought that might be true.

Cyberkinesis70 Loc: Northern Colorado

Designdweeb wrote:

The 3400 doesn’t have a hotshoe, iirc, and you need a hotshoe to mount the little AS-15 adapter that protects the camera from too much voltage and provides a pc socket for the external flash's sync cord. The 3500 is outfitted with a hot-shoe.
The only workaround would be to turning off the lights, opening the shutter on B, firing the flashes, closing the shutter. Totally old school studio still-life style.

My D3400 has a hotshoe. I've used a Sunpak flash on it many times. Maybe mine is different from yours.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

Designdweeb wrote:

Wow, the picture and specs on the one I googled did not. I stand corrected!

Now about that AS-15....
That doesn't protect from high trigger voltage.
It just converts a hot shoe to a PC outlet.

From the website link above:
"Note: This does not provide high-voltage sync protection, and is not recommended for flash units that have more than 6v."

From Nikon Support concerning flash trigger voltage on the camera:
"Warning: Negative voltages or voltages over 250 V applied to the camera's sync terminal could not only prevent normal operation, but may damage the sync circuit of the camera or flash. Check with the strobe manufacturer for voltage specifications."

I've not found the trigger voltage for that particular Quantray model listed anywhere.
Not even Botzilla.

Polock

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

agillot

if you want to know , turn flash on , and measure voltage between the center pin and metal base of flash mount , it should be around 5 volt DC , if it is 100 or so volts dont use it . a basic voltmeter will cost you around $ 8.oo .i use 2 older flash on a D300 . the beauty of non dedicated flash , the one that is only a center pin , is that it will fire at any speed , so , i can shoot at 1/400 with no issue , and 1/500 with a small band in picture that i crop away . i use the flash power output slider to control the lite .also with the better beamer attached for bird pictures in low lite .