ancient flash questions

[chesters1]

as everyone knows i'm stupid on AN i have no problems posting stupid questions ,

i have an elderly flash (car boot find) a Philips P546G thyristor CL???? X???

i have played with flashes before but this one has a slider and set of lights not encountered before can our respected host enlighten to me their function

 

cannot find any reference to this flash on philips vast and disjointed website

Edited December 28, 2005 by chesters1

[ayjay]

I'd hazard a guess that the controls indicated are to vary the power of the flash, but I assume you would have thought of that and investigated accordingly.

[Steve Randles]

I've not used an external flash before but I did read something about using one the other day that may help you understand whats going on, the folowing is quoted from another place.

 

"Guide Numbers and sync speed in flash.

 

These are an indicator of power. High numbers = more power. More power = more reach.

 

With flash exposure is calculated based on flash to subject distance not camera to subject distance.

 

If the guide number is known ( usually stated in Metres at ASA / ISO 100 ) then aperture can be manually calculated by dividing the guide number by the distance in metres. You can therefore, as long as you know the guide number of your flash work out its reach within the limits of your lens.

 

Sync speed is the MAXIMUM speed that the shutter can run when using flash. At this speed or lower the shutter curtain on an SLR will be fully open when the flash fires. The actual duration of the flash is very short - thousanths of a second. Cameras with high sync speeds can cope with a wider range of subject matter when balancing daylight and flash."

 

I can make a guess that the button at the bottom near the "test" is for diffusion purposes. Hope that helps a little.

[chesters1]

that was quick but i did mention being stupid ,i can understand the pre dialing of the ASA number (film speed) and the slider above the ASA converting the apature to the metres the flash is best at? .

the ESS lights may? indicate the state of charge (they light up sequencially)

the slider with the numbers seem to dictate how bright the flash is (playing with it) 1 seems to be full flash and the flash has to recharge ,1/64 seems to make the flash give a continual smaller flash which has recharged instantly

(my appologies if you said that already ) so in closeup or multi picture taking i surmise the latter is usefull for "press" type grabbing pics of celebrities etc where many photo's (and flashes are needed) , seems strange (and will be forgotten instantly) that you have to remember to leave the setting at 1 for ordinary photo's ,but i suspect the TTL setting lets the camera tell the flash by its apature and distance of focus the power needed unfortunatley my ancient spotmatic2 only has the flash connection not (i presume by the 3 pin socket on the flash) the cleverness of newer (i.e not from an arc) ones ,still oneday i could find a newer one at a carboot

the spotmatic is one i drooled over in the 60's but shallow pockets made the zenith just affordable,got the spotmatic and its standard and a pentax 35mm for £8 from a car boot so it was now mine after all these years,now for the bulover acutron watch

i also have (probably in the far reaches of the loft) another flash with a removable thyristor (i presume) i had hoped this feature would enable it to be used as a slave (using the remote thyristor as a switch) unfortunatly i cannot get this to work and surmise its just the same as an inbuilt one to let the flash adjust the flash to the reflected flash's light back to it??? (err i think thats what thyristors do)

Edited December 28, 2005 by chesters1

[fisherking]

Be carefull using an external flash on a digi camas if the voltage is too high then bye bye camera

[chesters1]

unfortunatly (which is a shame) my digi hasent any form of external flash use