MX & off camera flash...help...

Hi,

I've been shooting for a while on a Yashica T5. Wonderfully simple, but a few months ago decided to start using the MX, so I could operate manually and learn how to actually shoot film, rather than just trust the camera.

Until now I've been shooting with natural light, but would like to start doing some portrait photography with off camera flash.

Can anyone offer some advise on getting my old MX to work with some off camera flash.

For example can I work with radio triggers, eg on the bowers, just from the MX hotshoe? If so what accessories do I need?

Or if I use an older flash with cable trigger what hot shoe connection do I need?

How do I sync the shutter to a flash?

Any help much appreciated.

The synch speed of the MX is 1/60sec, so no faster than that. Just use a cable with a standard flash connection and attach it to the X socket of the camera.

Alternatively, with studio flash an IR or radio trigger could be used. It just fits into the camera hotshoe.

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Best regards, John

Hey MXplorer,

I recently got myself a manual flash unit from Metz AF60 M1.
It's pretty decent, and actually I am still expoloring it myself.
And as pointed out by Mr. John Riley above, the flash won't work if the speed is above 1/60sec. (this also made me wonder why at the first place)

Anyway, if you found something to try just post it here. I will be checking this thread more frequently as it seems we have the same "issue" here. LOL!

Good luck!

btw, I am using Pentax ZX-5 (I dont know if this is similar to yours)

Thanks John, and joy8 for the help.

I think it's just a case of getting hands on and working through it. A friend is giving me some old Hensel's so looking forward to getting them in a couple of weeks.

Interesting that the sync speed is only 1/60. Should be fine for some I Irish portraits, but a bit limiting longer term.

Cheers

I wouldn't worry about the shutter synch speed too much. The effective speed of the exposure is the speed of the flash which will be around 1/1000sec or even faster, so is quite adequate for freezing any movement. Also as you are exposing expressly for the light from the flash any ambient light will be at too low a level at 1/60th sec to affect the final image unless you are using an even slower shutter speed for a particular effect.

The 1/60 second sync speed does make fill flash outdoors difficult, since ghost images may well be evident. Using neutral density filters or a really slow film might be a solution.

I've used some cheap-ish radio triggers compatible with Canon SLRs on my LX and SuperA's with great success.
However, 1/60 is a little slow for me. I'd try and use a camera with at least 1/125 flash sync speed.

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My reality isn't necessarily your reality, so I take pictures.

Super-A, LX, K100d