Does anyone know what flash unit I can use with a Canon FT-QL? I was using an old Vivitar one that bit the dust and would like to replace it with a Canon brand.

-- Eileen Wong (eileen.wong@unh.edu), January 14, 2002

Answers

Eileen,

I'm assuming UNH stands for University of New Hampshire. Since the FT doesn't have a hot shoe you need to find a flash that has a sync cord. Another bet is to go to a camera shop and get a hotshoe adapter. It's a simple flash foot with hot shoe and sync cord. That will broaden the range of flash units you can use. There is a Vivitar 2000 for about $20 at Wal Mart. I don't know of a currently available Canon flash that would work with your FT.

Bill

-- Bill Salati (wsalati@hotmail.com), January 14, 2002.

I still have a Canon FT-QL, but don't use it much anymore. However, any flash with a PC cord that can fit into the canera's PC male end (just below the mirror lockup lever to the left side of the lens) will work. I recently received some Sunpak strobes (large, "potato masher" strobe units with an adapter plate which mounts onto the bottom of the camera and with their thrystor attachment which sits in the shoe). I set this strobe (Auto 611 Thyristor) on the FT-QL, and it has a cord which attaches into the PC outlet. It seemed to work very well. I have also used 199A strobe, with a special adaptor cord Canon used to make for it to plug in to the PC outlet. Good luck, but this should not be difficult. By the way, I once had a camera repair person tell me never to get rid of my FT-QL, as all the internal parts are solid brass; it's a lower-priced take-off of the older version of the Canon F-1, and is almost indestructable. A number of people like to use it for time-lapse photography, as it has a mirror lockup feature most modern camer

-- John C. Ratliff (cratliff@easystreet.com), February 04, 2002.