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Julie
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, May 29, 2004 - 04:03 pm: | 
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I recently acquired a Minolta XD 5 camera and a 280PX flash. The flash does not work on the camera. Question: are these two items compatible? SHOULD it work on this camera? I would greatly appreciate any advice on this matter, and thanks! |
M. Currie
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, June 01, 2004 - 10:16 pm: |
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As far as I can see, they should be compatible. Usually, any flash that has a manual or non-dedicated automatic function should work on any camera, but the 280PX is listed as for X series bodies anyway.
You need then to find out whether the flash or the camera is at fault. The simplest way to test this would be to find another camera, and set the flash to manual or automatic mode, and see if fires. If it does, the fault lies in the original camera. If not, it is in the flash.
If you have no other camera, and assuming you've already determined that the flash fires with its test button, you can test the hot shoe contacts with a piece of wire. The center contact in the base of the shoe is the trigger contact (all others are for dedicated functions) and if connected to the contact in the side of the base, it should fire the flash. Use insulated wire for this. Although most modern flashes use very low trigger voltages, some older ones can go over 200 volts, so why take chances? If the flash fires when the contacts are bridged, then the flash is all right and the problem is in the camera.
I should add that if the problem is in the flash, the capacitor in an electronic flash produces painful and even lethal high voltages, so repair is best left to professionals or those who are comfortable working with lethal high voltages. |
James Jones
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 11, 2004 - 02:28 pm: |
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Julie, the 280PX flash is a TTL flash dedicated for use with the X-700 and X-570. These cameras have a sensor built in that reads the light through the lens and off the film which tells the flash to shut down. Your XD doesn't have this feature so the only way the 280PX will work with it is in manual mode, where you would have to set the f/stop according to the distance from the subject. The 280PX is a TTL only flash because it has no light sensor built in. Look for a 200X, 220X, 132X, or something similar in the Minolta line for your XD. |
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