[acecoder]

I have two Pentax MX cameras, one bought new in 1978, and another of similar vintage bought just recently. I have a new Godox TT600 flash and XT2 trigger. Off camera the flash and trigger all work perfectly. However neither camera will trigger the flash from the camera's hot shoe. Same with the trigger, does not fire from the hot shoe of either camera. I am waiting for a PC Sync cable to arrive from B&H so I can see if the flash and the trigger will work from the X connector on the front of the cameras instead. Meanwhile, any ideas about my hot shoe problem would be most welcome.

[pschlute]

I have two Pentax MX cameras, one bought new in 1978, and another of similar vintage bought just recently. I have a new Godox TT600 flash and XT2 trigger. Off camera the flash and trigger all work perfectly. However neither camera will trigger the flash from the camera's hot shoe. Same with the trigger, does not fire from the hot shoe of either camera. I am waiting for a PC Sync cable to arrive from B&H so I can see if the flash and the trigger will work from the X connector on the front of the cameras instead. Meanwhile, any ideas about my hot shoe problem would be most welcome.

Are you setting the flash/trigger to manual operation ?

ps. welcome to the forums.

[Not a Number]

Check the dimensions on the flash foot. I had one flash that wouldn't work on my K1000. Turns out the distance from the front of the foot to the center pin was a bit to long. The pin was missing the center contact on the shoe. Worked fine on all my other cameras. I shaved down the foot a bit and problem solved.

[acecoder]

Are you setting the flash/trigger to manual operation ?

ps. welcome to the forums.

Yes, the TT600 is manual only, noTTL

[acecoder]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I did check the dimensions of the plates on the flash and the trigger vs the hotshoes, and the pin hits the dot dead center, so that's ok. I did clean the dot on the hotshoe of the recently bought MX, and that started working ok from the shutter button, but strangely enough not from the self timer. Wouldn't have thought they'd have different circuitry, oh well. My original MX, which I bought in 1978, still doesn't fire the flash from the shutter button. Since I had never used flash with it before, I suspect that there may be a contact somewhere which isn't closing due to ageing related surface crud, possibly one of the micro switches under the flanges on each side of the hotshoe.

[tromboads]

Well good luck with the Sync cable. I didn't realize those TT600's had a sync / pc port. Brilliant.

[acecoder]

I received my PC Sync cable from B&H. I had another go at cleaning the hotshoe contacts on both cameras. Now the TT600 and the X2T both work just fine from the hotshoe and the X connector on the newly purchased MX. Still no joy from my original MX, so that's clearly where the problem lies.