Minolta 9000 and Vivitar 283

I would just like to know if microcontroller driven camera like Minolta 9000 can deal with the very high trigger voltage of Vivitar 283.

I have heard the Vivitar 283's trigger voltage can fry Digital Cameras, so would like to be a bit more careful before lending my 283 to a friend.

I found it strange that the digiSLR of today don't even bother to stick a 5 cent reed switch for the flash trigger circuitry, it is not even difficult to implement.

If the 283 is older it may just fry the camera. They changed the circuitry and now use a lower voltage. I think the only way to know would be to meter the contacts in the shoe.

Just paranoa in my opinion. Before digital, nobody ever thought about trigger voltages being too high for cameras.

I think the main worry camera manufacturers have is if a charged flash is put into the hot shoe and the centre pin momentarily comes into contact with one of the other contacts (which is just about impossible anyway).

A modern camera will have an opto-triac to trigger the flash and you would have no luck trying to find one which is only rated at six volts (the common mythical 'safe' voltage).

On top of that, why would you bother designing a camera which could be destroyed by a high voltage flash when the circuitry required to prevent it costs almost nothing?

The safest thing to do is find a manual and read its specifications. When the Minolta 9000 was new, high voltage triggered flashes were in common use and I would be very surprised if the camera could not handle them.



Steve.

Have no fear. I use my Minolta 9000's with my 1980's Balcar flash units all the time. The Balcar is know to have a very high trigger voltage.