I have rarely used my FT-1 for flash pictures, relying on my trust Olympus Stylus instead. I have inherited a Vivitar Auto Thyristor SMS20D flash unit and was wondering if anyone had any experience with this or siimilar units. 1. Can I use this with AE? 2. On the back of the flash are 3 selections, M, A1, A2. I am reasonably sure that these settings only impact the informational windows on the flash unit and do not interface with the camera. Is that correct? Any info would be appreciated.

-- Anonymous, December 06, 2000

Answers

Vivitar Flash

Bob,

Dedicated flash units have additional contacts, most often in the hot shoe, that pass information to the camera. In the case of the F series Konicas, two additional contacts set the camera to flash mode,and place flash status in the viewfinder. Some Sunpak models have a module that simulates some of this function. With any other flash, you will have to set the shutter to it's X-synch speed (the orange 60 on your FT-1 dial, though 125 works with many flashes, except some auto-thrystor units that quench the light in <1/10,000 sec. You must also set the lens to the appropriate f-stop depending on the flash's mode. I have a Vivitar that gives a choice of four f-stops. If you use the flash in AE mode, the most likely result will be an incorrectle exposed and possibly partly cutoff image.

-jwk-

-- Anonymous, December 06, 2000