Older flash on K100D

Hi guys,

Just a quick question. Will an oldish Vivitar 2800-D flashgun work on the K100D? I have heard that older flashguns work at higher voltages and can fry the K100D's internal flash firing circuitry.

Thought I'd ask before I actually tried it!

It could be disastrous, so before you try it measure the trigger voltage of the flashgun.

You can do this with a meter, held across the flashgun contacts as you do a test fire.

We have measured some older guns at nearly 300V, which is far in excess of what modern DSLRs can handle. Under 10V should be fine.

Thanks for the info John,

Have just had a look on the site below and from what it says on there, I don't think I'll be trying it!

http://www.botzilla.com/photo/strobeVolts.html

Quick update.

After some googling it appears that the D on the flash model refers to its low trigger voltage of around 5v. To make sure I have contacted Vivitar to confirm this for me. Will give the meter a go too.

Right, took the plunge and put it on the camera, that is once I had tested it with the meter and got around a 6v figure.

Flash fires fine though always quite dimly, plus the camera doesn't seem to realise that the flash is there as it gives the same settings regardless of whether the flash is attached or not. Could this be lack of TTL support???

Think I'll probably just buy a newer flash!