Will a Vivitar 285HV fry my Canon EOS 40D? I'd like to experiment with a Vivitar 285HV as an on-camera hot shoe flash. However, I'm reluctant to proceed because of conflicting reports about voltage compatibility with DSLRs. Some say the "HV" designated models are DSLR-safe; others disagree. I'd appreciate getting a definitive answer from someone who's actually tried using the 285HV as an on-camera hot shoe flash with the 40D.

You have to measure the trigger voltage on the pins of the flash with a voltmeter to make sure it is at 8 volts. If it is higher, you will fry the Nikon. Use the center pin and the one at the edge of the shoe to measure the voltage.

It's your call. Take a look here.

it will work with your rebel t3 just set the flash on manual mode and adjust the desired flash power needed .

PCB???? Printed Circuit Board? Why do you feel the circuit board is at fault?

Did you set an "old" film flash in the hot shoe like a Vivitar 283? if so you fried the board's flash system.

Or does the pop up internal flash unit not pop up?

Did you attempt to install a large capacity SD card?

Did you fail to format a new card?

Are you getting an error code like "Error 99"?

Unless you fed power into the camera from an incorrect outside power source cable to 110 volt wall socket OR used an old film flash which generates up to 300 trigger volts, I would have some doubts of the Circuit Board being "faulty"

According to Vivitar, the 285HV has a trigger voltage of 12V, which should be safe for use with modern digital cameras.

Yes you can but it won't TTL and you will need to fire it from or with a slave/light cell. This will make your system more like a studio set up. You will need to increase/decrease the light intensity using different modifiers for special effects. My portable/location set up uses 2 Vivitar 283's, a Canon 533G, Nikon SB 15 and a Canon 420 EX all fired from little flash slaves. here is an e-Bay reference link

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Flash-Slave-Trigger-Hot-Shoe-Sync-Adapter-Sensor-US-/110405132832?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19b4a8a220

Hope this was a help

Yes, insert 285's cord into PC of camera.

[email protected]

I also own a Vivitar 285 that i used with my Canon F1 manual 35mm camera. Most older cameras before the advent of digital, had a hot shoe on top of the camera, or like in my case, the hot shoe went over the rewind knob. I also had to plug in a power cord from the 285 flash foot and the cameras PC connection in order for the flash to work on some other cameras. The Canon Rebel XTi has a TTL (through the lens) hot shoe usable with Canon's own EX flash units. You can buy a "hot shoe to PC connector" if the TTL camera hot shoe doesn't work, but be extremely careful, the only problem that exists with the older manual flash units was the trigger voltage is as high as 200+volts which would fry digital camera hot shoes. I tried my unit with a Wein flash trigger device on the PC cord of the flash and my Canon D60 with it's own flash. All shots were overexposed and washed out highlights.  Here's a copy of the hot-shoe review:h The EOS 400D's hot-shoe can be used with Canon and third party flashes (although sync only on most third party units). The hot-shoe is E-TTL II compatible. Compatible flashes include Speedlite 220EX, 380EX, 420EX, 430EX, 550EX, 580EX, Macro-Ring Lite, MR-14EX, Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX and Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2.  The Canon Rebel XTi doesn't have a PC socket to plug in a manual flash trigger cord which common sense tells me there is no provision to step up the voltage to trigger manual flashes - so my answer is this combination is not a good idea on a Canon Rebel XTi. Hope this helps.

Yes, you can use the flash if your camera has a PC connector.

Or, check the trigger voltage: under 7VDC = OK on hotshoe.


[email protected]

Using Vivitar 3200A flash gun on a DSLR is risky for the following reason. The trigger voltage of a DSLR at flash hot shoe that takes it to its TTL (through the lens) circuit is less than 10 volts, it is about 6 to 8 volts in the recent DSLRs. The trigger voltage generated by Vivitar 3200A at full charge flashing is around 180 volts (max). That is a fatal dose for a sensitive DSLR TTL circuit. This high voltage flash gun will work endlessly, the only damage is to the TTL flash circuit. When you attach a TTL flash to the DSLR after using Vivitar 3200A for sometime, your TTL flash will not communicate with your camera. It will be just another ordinary flash without any auto functions. There is a Wein adapter that you can fix b/w your cameral hot shoe and the vivitar flash gun that is said to reduce the trigger voltage that passes into the camera. Try it if you get it. Without this gadget it is better not to use non recommended and non TTL flashes on latest DSLRs.