HELP vivitar 600 m/p/o Flash

www.SGphoto.us

Hello everyone, im getting into the strobist thing, among other things, my setup includes 2 vivitar series 1 600 m/p/o flash guns. they are pretty powerful and have a GN of 120, i just cant figure out how to adjust the power manually. i am not using ttl for this setup.

the controls are similar to this except with a ttl option



it also has the little round auto exposure thingy in the front, idk how that works either.

can anyone help me?

Art Scott

another photo please
Please post a front shot of the flash so we can see it also.
Is the designation of the flash actually Vivitar series 1 600mpo .......I can't find any reference to a MPO flash of any sort......


Thanx.

ziggy53

Set your desired ISO and then move the "A1-A2-M" switch to the "M" position. I believe that the M/Ft scale will show the f-stop at different distances. I don't know if that flash has the ability to vary the manual output levels.

You might check this site to see if any other user manuals help with the Vivitar 600 controls:

http://www.butkus.org/chinon/vivitar_flashes/vivitar_flash_units.htm

The Vivitar 600 may be a little high for trigger voltage, but some cameras handle it no problem. See here for more information:

http://www.botzilla.com/photo/strobeVolts.html

www.SGphoto.us

thanx guys, i'm not mounting this to my camera, so i'm hot worried about trigger voltage.

here's a picture of all sides, you cant see the controls in high detailbut you should be able to tell what they are.



and M/P/O stands for minolta/pentax/olympus. the cameras this flash was designed for.

it would suck pretty bad 4 me if there was no manual way to set output but there's gotta be, why would it need the switches?

ziggy53 wrote:

Set your desired ISO and then move the "A1-A2-M" switch to the "M" position. I believe that the M/Ft scale will show the f-stop at different distances. I don't know if that flash has the ability to vary the manual output levels.

You might check this site to see if any other user manuals help with the Vivitar 600 controls:

http://www.butkus.org/chinon/vivitar_flashes/vivitar_flash_units.htm

The Vivitar 600 may be a little high for trigger voltage, but some cameras handle it no problem. See here for more information:

http://www.botzilla.com/photo/strobeVolts.html

ok so if i'm reading you correctly, the switches just show a scale for you to set your camera by?

www.SGphoto.us

ok, i found it in the manual. they call it the "CR" CR for Canon, N for Nikon and M/P/O for...

it looks like there is no manual adjust ability, its ttl, auto, or nothing. I should have held out for a 285 HV, oh well. i guess if i have a situation where its really critical to control output, i'll just be ghetto and stack paper in front of the flash, or just use the sb600. thanx 4 the help. any other suggestions/tips are welcome.

angevin1

www.SGphoto.us wrote:

ok, i found it in the manual. they call it the "CR" CR for Canon, N for Nikon and M/P/O for...

it looks like there is no manual adjust ability, its ttl, auto, or nothing. I should have held out for a 285 HV, oh well. i guess if i have a situation where its really critical to control output, i'll just be ghetto and stack paper in front of the flash, or just use the sb600. thanx 4 the help. any other suggestions/tips are welcome.

so how are you using them?

Off camera? how triggered?

ziggy53

Way back when "auto" flashes were more popular, I found that I could use the "auto" mode to provide some extra manual control. The trick is using the auto sensor to measure the flash, and not the scene. It involves using a reflector in front of the sensor, angled towards the flash head. If the reflector angle and reflector lightness/darkness is varied, the auto circuits compensate and throttle the light output. The concept is to allow the auto sensor to "see" some of the spill light from the flash head, instead of the subject.

With a little experimentation the results were predictable and repeatable.

www.SGphoto.us

^ I'll give it a try. how can that work tho, does it do the 2 flash thing like ittl?



the flashes are mounted to umbrella stands off camera, triggered by cheap ebay radio triggers.

ziggy53

www.SGphoto.us wrote:

^ I'll give it a try. how can that work tho, does it do the 2 flash thing like ittl?



the flashes are mounted to umbrella stands off camera, triggered by cheap ebay radio triggers.

An "auto" flash typically uses a thyristor to sense light output and then stop further illumination. There is no pre-flash and only one pulse of light.

You might be able to use the umbrella itself to sense the auto exposure if you don't need too much output. (No separate reflector needed like I mentioned before because the umbrella is a reflector.) If you need more illumination just cover some of the auto sensor.

www.SGphoto.us

hmmmi'll give it a shot, i will probibly need 2 get a 285 or another sb600 later on.

ziggy53

Also include the Sunpak 383 Super flash in your searches. The 383 has both tilt and swivel, as well as a little better manual output control compared to the Vivitar 285HV.

I use both the Vivitar and Sunpak flashes mentioned and they are both good for a "Strobist" setup. Some of the older Nikon and Canon flashes are good too.

www.SGphoto.us

im not worried about tilt and swivel, the sb600 is the only one getting mounted to my camera and it has those abilities. older nikon flashes arent really cost effective for my setup. i'll look into the sunpack thing tho.

Sloglass

I have a Vivitar 600 Series1. The the A1 and A2 positions (A1 being brighter and either making less light than M) do allow the flash intensity to change according to the front sensor. You will need to set your F-stop on the camera. I have never measured the shoe voltage, but have used it on my Pentax *ist DL and K-5 without any issues.