My Mamiya 7 has a manual film advance, and since I've been using that camera, I feel like I'm back to where I started! I love it! Very straight forward manual camera. My 35mm equipment lately is so computerized, the F100 is great, but somehow, my 25year old Nikkormat sitting at the back of the closet has been calling.
I also use a separate slave sensor with PC socket, with several Metz 45s. It works fine even off the pop up flash from a compact and cost next to nothing.
Can someone tell me more about these safe-syncs? I have never heard of them, but they sound like a good idea.
What loss do I lament? Two things: long bellows, 11x14 glass plates, and flash powder. Oops, that was three. Oh, and a dark tent. Darn, four. Better stop while I'm behind.
On that hotshoe-to-PC adapter, my impression is that almost everyone conforms to the standard use of the primary two pins, but use of the additional pins varies widely. I'd bet it was the polarity of the circuit that was the problem with the Rebel. If the sync cord has a pigtail with a household AC connector, try flipping it around. Use of a SafeSync-like adapter, as noted, with older flash units is also a good idea, as trigger voltages vary.
I've just started playing with a Minota 450 si and have a 430 si coming from an Ebay purchase...
Neither allow me to manually set the filmspeed. They read dx encoding of default to a prest if no code is detected. So, loading my own film becomes a problem unless I buy encoded cassettes or some silly stickers. Has anyone tried to find 50 iso encoded reloadable canisters???
Since the rebel has built in flash, grab a peice of fully fogged negative and tape it over the onboard flash.. It wont show up on the image, but it will trigger the wein slave.