Originally posted by jimrodman Question
From a newbee
I am wanting to get into digital photograph there are so many questions.
I have posted once before and one of our members had very good info, and was quit helpful.
The question this time is will an nondigital flash work on a digital camera.
This is a list of my equipment, (film equipment )
Will the flash that is listed work on a “D” type system?
Meaning ( Vivitar 285HV Zoom Thyrister Flash)
Jim from Ontario
My understanding is that the 285HV has a trigger voltage well within the acceptable range for Pentax DSLR cameras.
Your Vivitar is a non dedicated auto flash, so you will be using the camera in manual mode (set the shutter speed and aperture yourself), and then dial in the flash range to match the aperture (or vice versa).
As an example, (numbers are probably wrong, it's been a long time since I used a 285), you would set the ISO of the camera to 200, and set the flash to the "Red" range. Set the shutter speed to X or slower, and the F/stop to f/4.
In other words, you are using it the same way as how you use it on your Spotmatic.