20 Most Recent
Vivitar 283 Flash Questions & Answers
Vivitar 283 won't fire
Since the flash is working on test, it means the connection to the camera via the hotshoe is not working. With the flash on and ready light showing that the flash has charged, take a small thin copper wire and short between the the metal spring on the side of the hotshoe (in the slot) and the round metal contact tip of the hot shoe. This should cause the flash to fire if the internal connections to the shoe are working.
If the shoe is working then it must be the camera that is not working. Many modern digital cameras cannot fire older flashes directly, because the voltages on these older flashes are too high. This could damage the camera or if the camera has protection against the high voltage, that will make it impossible to fire the flash. In that case you need an adapter. These are available cheaply. You should try borrowing a modern flash to test that your camera is still working and has not been damaged, if it is a modern electronic camera.
Vivitar 283. I have 2 an both worked years ago.
If you don't use the flash for a very long time the flash capacitor can degrade and need reforming or even develop a short. In the cases the capacitors develops a short either in storage or on first "forming" charge up, after long storage, there is nothing you can do except replace the capacitor and the cost of doing that is prohibitive, even if the spare were available. The device that works partially after using the external high voltage power supply, sounds like the capacitor might be ok, except the low output may mean it is arcing internally and preventing the capacitor charging fully. If this happens you can usually hear the arcing as the capacitor arcs internally.
Do i need the battery adapter for my vivitar 283
The 283 and 285 require an adapter to hold the 4 AA batteries. This is because there is an available battery pack NC-3 (NiCad) that works with the Charge-15 rapid charger. Loose AA batteries cannot be used without the adapter known as AP-1. They are all over eBay and quite reasonably priced.
What coloured wires go to which contacts inside the hotshoe of a nissin di622 for nikon ?
Since the Vivitar 283 is a non-dedicated strobe, I believe the crux of your question is which wire goes to the central contact - the only one that will fire the flash. I can't tell you the color but perhaps this will be enough to get you started. Might I suggest that if you are inside the camera but not able to see the pentaprism shoe contacts, you might employ a low voltage tester or ohms meter connected to the central contact and various wires you can see on the ribbon cable or circuit board. An ohm meter between the shoe rails and the central contact should show slight needle deflection when the shutter actuates at a speed within the x-sync range. Digital meters likely cannot show the very fast make and break connection as well as analog meters.
[email protected] zoom is not working,the
You haven't supplied enough information as to first what camera are you using this flash on?
A few scenarios.
First the Vivitar 283 is an older flash meant for film cameras there is no way it's going to TTL. It has a manual exposure colour setting in purple, blue,red and yellow which is matched to your camera F/stop from F1.4 through F22 and you manually set the sensor at the front of the flash to the coinciding colour on the sensor (side).
If you have set your camera to TTL then that's all you have done the Vivitar 283 does not communicate with the camera other then to receive the contact to flash.
Another thing if you have that Vivitar 283 mounted to a digital camera then you have most likely burnt out the flash circuitry in the camera due to the extreme high trigger voltage of the Vivitar 283. Digital cameras can use voltages in the 6 volt area while the Vivitar kicks back 300 volts.
You don't have to understand how a few 1.5 batteries can produce this kind of voltage just be fully aware that this is what the Vivitar 283 puts out.
A Vivitar 283 and Digital Camera are a disaster waiting to happen.
Hi, I have an older
Replace the capacitor is all you can do if it doesn't hold any voltage
Better yet they are very cheap to purchase on on Ebay these days too
Where can I purchase a
Best place for finding Vivitar 283 anything is on e-Bay, I use a gang of them doing my location photography and have several holders preloaded with batteries so when the cycle time starts to get more then I can bare I just switch out the holders.
All my stuff came off e-Bay.
Won't turn on.
Soak the internal contacts of the battery holder with WD40 electrical spray and leave for a while say an hour it will not harm the electronics but wipe suplus off after giving further cleaning with fibre tipped pen available from most electronic firms the contacts have to be very clean as I found with my flash gun Vivitar 283 and I nearly give it up for lost after the above it is now working fine
The hotshoe foot on my Vivitar DF-383 flash unit
Don't buy anything before you shop the bay and craiglook.com (don't put in a zip code) for another flash. Often a used flash is reasonably close to the price of a new part. Your flash may be worth the repair, I am not looking at it so I can't say.
If you want to get a part, and if the flash is a few years old, there will be broken models for sale everywhere. And Photo.net has a forum for everything related to cameras. I often get parts sent to me free even though I am willing to pay for them. Someone will have the part you need.
Other than that you can call the maker and ask if they will send you a part free. I am amazed by how many companies are willing to send free parts on things that should not have broken. It never hurts to ask.
Best wishes.
The sync input on my vivitar 283 flash is not
This is more than likely a Manufacturing problem. A lot of Vivitar cameras have this problem as well as many others that are usually not the consumers fault. Just a glitch in the technology. I alone have gone through four Vivitar cameras in the last six months. The best thing to do is contact Vivitar directly. This is there website: www.vivitar.com It is best to see if you can find the number for technical support. To see if they can give you a refund or replace it for you. I hope this helps. -Richard
Can the Vivitar 283 be used safely on Nikon
I assume you're asking about the 283, not the DF-283 which is compatible with digital cameras.
As for the 283, yes, if you put an adapter such as the Wein Safe-Sync between the camera and the flash. Under no circumstances should the flash be mounted directly on the camera.
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