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08-28-2020, 03:29 AM   #7006
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QuoteOriginally posted by TwoUptons Quote
They made a number of adapter plates for the Sunpak "potato mashers".
I had one that fit my Hasselblad and Yashicamat; it was very secure.
I don't recall if there was a 6x7 adapter, but it wouldn't surprise me.
-Eric
I found the Sunpak 4205 instruction manual online and there was quite a range of accessories, including what is described as a 6x6 bracket (No 9 here) which has a square-ish platform instead of the thinner bar that I have (No 10). There was an optional belt-carried 510v battery pack (No 1 & 2). It would be hard to find these accessories today. The trouble with a normal flash bracket on the 6x7 is that the main "tripod" screw socket is forward under the mirror box (where the centre of gravity is) rather than under the main body, so there is less area for the flash bar to grip. There was a special bracket to fit the Pentax AF400T to the 6x7 I believe.



There was also a Sunpak G4500DX (555 in America?) which looked very similar, had a slightly higher GN of 45, and had optional modules that fitted in the camera hotshoe and added a TTL mode if the camera supported it. I guess the 4500 was a later model. Those modules (especially Pentax ones) are rare on Ebay. I believe these two units shared many of those accessories. There was also a monster 622 with a GN of 60. The 4xxx series look designed by the same committee as did the Pentax AF400T. I read once that the Pentax flash units of the 1980s were in fact made for them by Sunpak - does anyone know if this is true?

I like hammerhead units, especially as there have been questions about the strength of DSLR pentaprism housings, but they seem to have gone out of fashion - do only Metz make them now? I got my 4205 from Ebay at the ridiculous price of £10, I felt like a thief : I don't think the seller knew the first thing about it as they packaged it as the complete "L" shape without taking it into its two parts!

08-28-2020, 04:15 AM   #7007
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I have two 522 Sunpak potato-masher units, together with many of the accessories including a 510V power pack, originally used on a Sunpak 444 that went condenser-dead*. The battery still takes a charge and recharges the 6** units very fast, many times. I generally use the units on manual, mounted on a studio stand, fired by a tiny radio unit when there is a set-up, for example, photographing birds, especially hummingbirds coming to a feeder.

*After typing this I thought "Did I throw out that dud?" Answer, no, so for the devil of it, I hunted it up and plugged connected it via the AC adapter, and it charged up! Tested with four AA's, and it charged and fired OK, albeit slowly if it was discharging a full pop.

Last edited by WPRESTO; 08-29-2020 at 01:30 PM.
08-28-2020, 10:37 AM - 1 Like   #7008
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I have the 555 with Pentax dedicated module PT-2D. Great flash unit. I still use it from time to time as a standard auto-flash with my digital bodies. The sensor built into the module works very well. With film bodies and the *1st D, the TTL was spot on. I bought mine new from B&H back in the summer of 1993. The best flash unit I’ve ever owned.
PS- The PT-2D module also fit the shoe mount 444D Sunpak. I had that flash too, and burned it up with a Quantum Turbo Battery.
08-28-2020, 12:25 PM   #7009
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I've become a collector of potato masher style flashes -- unintentional, but that's the way it worked out. I have a Metz 60 series, two 45 series, three Braun F900s, and a Sunpak 622. They all work, but the Metz 60 and the Brauns need battery packs.

I used to bounce the Brauns and the big Metz out of umbrellas for studio work. With GNs of 200+ (feet) they had plenty of >oomf< for umbrella work.

08-28-2020, 01:42 PM - 3 Likes   #7010
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My first Nikon F2A. I used to have a Nikon FTN but sold it many years ago. I've always admired the F2 and now it easier to find at a better price. I paid $142 for this one. The camera battery socket had a broken negative terminal so I epoxyed it back into position and it's working fine now.

08-28-2020, 06:27 PM   #7011
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AI lens?

Nice looking F2, is the Ai lens correct for the F2?
08-28-2020, 08:58 PM - 1 Like   #7012
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QuoteOriginally posted by Azpentax Quote
Nice looking F2, is the Ai lens correct for the F2?
I'm not a Nikon guy, but am pretty sure the F2A requires Ai lenses for open-aperture metering.


Steve

08-28-2020, 09:00 PM - 2 Likes   #7013
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Pentax AF400T flash with battery pack extension. It's making the Pentax 6x7 look a little smaller. The included lenses are the 90mm LS and 165mm LS.




A dated example of using the AF400T on the Pentax 6x7. You get cold, hard, off-center light. The flash still works and it's been a long, long time since I've used it.

Plus-X, PXP 6057



Last edited by tuco; 08-29-2020 at 09:19 AM. Reason: Link
08-29-2020, 01:16 AM   #7014
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QuoteOriginally posted by cooltouch Quote
'I've become a collector of potato masher style flashes.'
I had a Vivitar one of those back in the early 1980s. I don't remember the number but the 'shoulder-bag' style battery pack took eight 'C'-cells. The flash handle was pretty much a black plastic-covered tubular capacitor. It was powerful enough to illuminate one side of a roller skating rink from the other side and still maintain a smallish aperture!
08-29-2020, 01:47 AM   #7015
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QuoteOriginally posted by tonyzoc Quote
My first Nikon F2A
Looking at that metering head, it seems that the top dial is for ASA and the shutter speed is set by the lower dial, accessible only by its knurled edge with the metering head is fitted. Am I right? How easy is it to change the shutter speed if that is the case? Having only seen these things from a distance before I had thought that the top dial passed straight through to the shutter speed dial, repeating the shutter speed engravings like the 6x7 metering head does.
08-29-2020, 01:50 AM   #7016
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QuoteOriginally posted by Russell W. Barnes Quote
I had a Vivitar one of those back in the early 1980s. I don't remember the number but the 'shoulder-bag' style battery pack took eight 'C'-cells. The flash handle was pretty much a black plastic-covered tubular capacitor. It was powerful enough to illuminate one side of a roller skating rink from the other side and still maintain a smallish aperture!
With my old 544, I would occasionally shoot photos of houses from the street at night...

And if you fired it at a high power setting near exposed skin, you could feel it...

Some of the harshness and off-center nature of a flash like that could be avoided by bouncing it off the ceiling.
With as much power as it had, that worked pretty well in any normal household room...

-Eric
08-29-2020, 03:29 AM   #7017
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QuoteOriginally posted by Azpentax Quote
Nice looking F2, is the Ai lens correct for the F2?
I'm not a Nikon connoisseur either, but the F2 uses the fork as aperture coupling, so it does not need the lens to be an Ai.
08-29-2020, 05:43 AM   #7018
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QuoteOriginally posted by stevebrot Quote
I'm not a Nikon guy, but am pretty sure the F2A requires Ai lenses for open-aperture metering.


Steve
Yes the DP-11(A) and DP-12(AS) work with AI lenses. The earlier photomic finders DP-1, 2 and 3 work with the non-AI type. I found this site was very useful
https://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/f2.htm



---------- Post added 08-29-20 at 05:46 AM ----------

QuoteOriginally posted by Lord Lucan Quote
Looking at that metering head, it seems that the top dial is for ASA and the shutter speed is set by the lower dial, accessible only by its knurled edge with the metering head is fitted. Am I right? How easy is it to change the shutter speed if that is the case? Having only seen these things from a distance before I had thought that the top dial passed straight through to the shutter speed dial, repeating the shutter speed engravings like the 6x7 metering head does.
No, the top dial is coupled to the shutter speed dial, similar to the Pentax prism meter attachments. To change the ASA you have to pull up on the dial and turn.

---------- Post added 08-29-20 at 06:01 AM ----------

QuoteOriginally posted by Praktica*ist Quote
I'm not a Nikon connoisseur either, but the F2 uses the fork as aperture coupling, so it does not need the lens to be an Ai.
All the non-AI and AI/AIS lenses work but open aperture metering for non-AI used DP-1,2,3 finders and AI uses DP-11,12 finders. Many of the Nikkor AI lenses have the coupler for the DP-1,2 or 3 finders. So, the 50/1.8 I have would work for any finder. The DP-12 (AS) seems to be the best for sensitivity and it expensive. Also the plain prism DE-1, which is like to have, is surprisingly in high demand and expensive...like $150 and up.
08-29-2020, 06:26 AM   #7019
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QuoteOriginally posted by Russell W. Barnes Quote
I had a Vivitar one of those back in the early 1980s. I don't remember the number but the 'shoulder-bag' style battery pack took eight 'C'-cells. The flash handle was pretty much a black plastic-covered tubular capacitor. It was powerful enough to illuminate one side of a roller skating rink from the other side and still maintain a smallish aperture!
I don't know what powers them, but Vivitar made 352 and 3900 handle-mount flashes. They also made a 365 that looks like a 285 mounted to a handle, which does use a battery pack of some sort. Plus, Vivitar made an ergonomic flash handle, complete with cable, that can be used with many flashes. I have one of these, in addition to all the potato mashers, that I use with my Vivitar 283 and other traditional-mount flashes. (Canon 199A, Pentax AF280T, etc.) -- if I feel the need for a handle. Often it's the camera I'm using, like my original Canon F-1s or my Pentax 67.
08-29-2020, 08:17 AM   #7020
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QuoteOriginally posted by cooltouch Quote
I don't know what powers them, but Vivitar made 352 and 3900 handle-mount flashes. They also made a 365 that looks like a 285 mounted to a handle, which does use a battery pack of some sort. Plus, Vivitar made an ergonomic flash handle, complete with cable, that can be used with many flashes. I have one of these, in addition to all the potato mashers, that I use with my Vivitar 283 and other traditional-mount flashes. (Canon 199A, Pentax AF280T, etc.) -- if I feel the need for a handle. Often it's the camera I'm using, like my original Canon F-1s or my Pentax 67.
Was that Vivitar molded handle the one that took a cable release as well?
I remember someone made a grip with a hot shoe and a pass-through for a cable release so you could shoot from the grip...
I tried one once and it completely ruined the balance of the camera, but not everyone used a Super Program at the time...

-Eric
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