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GX100 old flash safe?

jesito

jesito

New Member
Hi everybody!
I'm the proud owner of a nice GX100, and I was looking for an external flash to increase the covering range. I own two old flashesm one is a Panasonic PE-201C,, and the other one is a Sunpak Softlite 1600A. I was told to be carefuld with old flashes, because they can present high voltages on the hotshoe and then damage the camera.
SInce I like to play safe, I measured the voltage on both, and I got 148Volt for the Panasonic and 208V for the Sunpak. So I didn't dare to plug any of those on the GX100, for the sake of safeness.
Imagine my surprise seeing THE SAME Sunpak flash plugged onto Odklizec's GX8 camera!!!
I know that Canon has a standard of 6Volt for it's cameras hotshoes. But no references to the same for the GX100...
So
Do you have information on the hotshoe capabilities of the RICOH cameras?
Are you aware of the danger?.
Thanks in advance.
Jes.
 
Yes, I've used sunpak 1600 with GX8. But to be honest, it was just my luck it worked OK and did not smashed my camera ;) I did not have any clue about the possible problems with voltage. Probably fool's luck? ;) I would suggest you to ask Ricoh if it's safe to use these old flashes?
 
odklizec":b7d07 said:
Yes, I've used sunpak 1600 with GX8. But to be honest, it was just my luck it worked OK and did not smashed my camera ;) I did not have any clue about the possible problems with voltage. Probably fool's luck? ;) I would suggest you to ask Ricoh if it's safe to use these old flashes?
Click to expand...

After what I've seen in other places, the answer is definitely not...
However, I've found a circuit to isolate old flashes. I was wondering just if I could avoid to build it...
Thanks!
Jes.
 
As far as I know, there are some specifications in the camera´s manual for the hotshoe. Normally all new cameras use low voltage. I´m using a Metz 32 Z-2 on my GRD without any problems. I have also a Pentax... I think its AF-200, which also uses the low voltage, but you should be careful with other old Pentax flash units.
Here is a database of flashes and the voltages used:
http://www.botzilla.com/photo/strobeVolts.html
 
Just to be sure, I contacted the Ricoh support people:

"Thank you for contacting Ricoh Support Team.
The maximum voltage level that is supported on the flash hotshoe
in the camera is till max 12Volt.


Hope this info will do for you.

If you still have any further questions please do not hesitate
but contact us.


Best regards,

RICOH Service Team
Massachusetts Avenue 4600
66953 Pirmasens, RP (Germany)"

Regards,
Jes.
 
Thanks for info! Very useful. Does anyone know about very small flash with swiveling head? Unfortunately, most flashes with swiveling head are simply too big to be carried with GRD/GX100. The sunpak 1600 was ideal for this. Too bad it's high voltage one :(
 
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