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I have an olympus E-10 and have a question about using a strobe
from another manufacturer. I have a Minolta 35mm XD-11 and strobe. The
strobe is a very powerful one, and has extra connectors when using on the
XD-11.

Has anybody used strobe like this on the E-10, will it cause
problems since I suspect all the pinouts on the hot shoe are proprietary
and different for each manufacturer. Would it be best to use the sync cord
and have the flash mounted off the hotshoe?

Thanks,for your information I have been happy with the e-10 but
you cant use the builtin flash with the wide angle lense attached and its
not as powerful as an external strobe.

thanks please email any help to


__________________________________________________ ____________________

I have used a vivitar 285 flash unit in the hot shoe of my e10...no TTL but I
just adjust the image by taking a few shots and seeing where the exposure is
at. Hasn't zotzed the camera yet but I have been advised to look into the
Safe-Sync (?) from Wein which goes into the hot shoe between the camera and
flash and provides a buffer for the trigger voltage...it's priced at about
fifty bucks.
The e10 manual (just looked at it) has a section about using non OEM flashes
but doesn't say anything about potential damage from a higher trigger voltage.
I've also read this newgroup for a while and haven't seen any posts from people
bitching that a flash unit fried their e10...take that with a grain of salt.
Good luck getting any tech suppport from Olympus because they are remarkably
bad about answering ANY questions.
One line of logic is that the older the strobe, the higher the trigger
voltage...older SLR's with minimal electronics were at a low risk of frying
out, the newer auto everything ones were more delicate and required a lower
trigger voltage. The XD-11 was, if I recall, one of their pre-auto-everything
models and thus MAY have a higher trigger voltage...you'd have to look it up
somewhere...if you still have the manual, the data may be in there.
(sorry for the perhaps overlong answer)
I have worked around the problem in the past by putting a more powerful flash
unit in my stroboframe bracket and putting a hot shoe slave trigger on it...no
physical connection to the camera and when the itty-bitty on camera unit fires,
the slave makes the unit in the bracket go off. Again, you have to test this
method out and take a few shots to get the settings on the camera correct (I
use the camera in MANUAL mode for this)...but you've got "instant feedback" on
the lcd screen, so you got that goin' for ya.

best of luck

argon

"Argon3" <> wrote in message
news:...
> I have used a vivitar 285 flash unit in the hot shoe of my e10...no TTL
but I
> just adjust the image by taking a few shots and seeing where the exposure
is
> at. Hasn't zotzed the camera yet but I have been advised to look into the
> Safe-Sync (?) from Wein which goes into the hot shoe between the camera
and
> flash and provides a buffer for the trigger voltage...it's priced at about
> fifty bucks.

A 285 would have to be REEEEEAL old to have the higher triggering voltage.

Your cam needs under 10 to not get smoked.

Apparently your 285 is low volt otherwise.... you'd have smelled something
funny and expen$ive.

The way to check the triggering voltage on a strobe is to turn it on and
read the DC voltage on the contacts of the hot shoe.

I use a 20 year old flash with my E-20 on the shoe.

Set the cam to 80 iso and manual for the shut speed (125) and f-stop and set
whatever the f-stop on the flash recommends.

Your flash picts will look better if you put a white diffuser over the
flash.

An Ultrabounce ($16) from Lumiquest will adapt to almost every strobe made.

And if you get a different flash chances are it'll fit it too.

Have fun, Dan

"Dan Sullivan" <> writes:

> "Argon3" <> wrote in message
> news:...
> > I have used a vivitar 285 flash unit in the hot shoe of my e10...no TTL
> but I
> > just adjust the image by taking a few shots and seeing where the exposure
> is
> > at. Hasn't zotzed the camera yet but I have been advised to look into the
> > Safe-Sync (?) from Wein which goes into the hot shoe between the camera
> and
> > flash and provides a buffer for the trigger voltage...it's priced at about
> > fifty bucks.
>
> A 285 would have to be REEEEEAL old to have the higher triggering voltage.
>
> Your cam needs under 10 to not get smoked.

I believe Olympus claimed that the E-10 and E-20 had voltage protection built
in, so you may be safe on this model (but not any random camera model).
However, since I don't own an E-10/E-20 and don't speak for Olympus, take it
with a grain of salt.

--
Michael Meissner
email:
http://www.the-meissners.org

"Michael Meissner" <> wrote in message
news:...
> "Dan Sullivan" <> writes:
>
> > "Argon3" <> wrote in message
> > news:...
> > > I have used a vivitar 285 flash unit in the hot shoe of my e10...no
TTL
> > but I
> > > just adjust the image by taking a few shots and seeing where the
exposure
> > is
> > > at. Hasn't zotzed the camera yet but I have been advised to look into
the
> > > Safe-Sync (?) from Wein which goes into the hot shoe between the
camera
> > and
> > > flash and provides a buffer for the trigger voltage...it's priced at
about
> > > fifty bucks.
> >
> > A 285 would have to be REEEEEAL old to have the higher triggering
voltage.
> >
> > Your cam needs under 10 to not get smoked.
>
> I believe Olympus claimed that the E-10 and E-20 had voltage protection
built
> in, so you may be safe on this model (but not any random camera model).
> However, since I don't own an E-10/E-20 and don't speak for Olympus, take
it
> with a grain of salt.

I heard that too.

But why chance it?

Hi,

This is a quote straight from the Olympus support FAQ page:

22.) Should I be concerned about sync switching voltage from my studio
strobes or flash units

No, the E-10/20N has a built in filter that protects the camera from high
switching voltage.

Hope this helps.

D
"Michael Meissner" <> wrote in message
news:...
> "Dan Sullivan" <> writes:
>
> > "Argon3" <> wrote in message
> > news:...
> > > I have used a vivitar 285 flash unit in the hot shoe of my e10...no
TTL
> > but I
> > > just adjust the image by taking a few shots and seeing where the
exposure
> > is
> > > at. Hasn't zotzed the camera yet but I have been advised to look into
the
> > > Safe-Sync (?) from Wein which goes into the hot shoe between the
camera
> > and
> > > flash and provides a buffer for the trigger voltage...it's priced at
about
> > > fifty bucks.
> >
> > A 285 would have to be REEEEEAL old to have the higher triggering
voltage.
> >
> > Your cam needs under 10 to not get smoked.
>
> I believe Olympus claimed that the E-10 and E-20 had voltage protection
built
> in, so you may be safe on this model (but not any random camera model).
> However, since I don't own an E-10/E-20 and don't speak for Olympus, take
it
> with a grain of salt.
>
> --
> Michael Meissner
> email:
> http://www.the-meissners.org