taping over dedicated flash contacts

[woolly1]

Hi All,

 

I want to buy some cheap flash units (Vivitar 730AF, for example) to use on

some ebay optical triggers but the seller says when testing them he can only

get minimum flash power.

 

Is this because the dedicated terminals are shorting out on the optical trigger

metal shoe?

 

Is the main trigger contact the central one?

 

Will putting tape over the contacts except the central/main one allow the power

to be adjusted in manual form by using the distance slider on the flash body?

 

I will use the flash(es) in the studio as fill/rim/hair/accent lights.

 

 

Thanks

Clive

[cham]

it could be... you could try sticking some gaffer tape over it I always do this with the metal hot shoe adapters on my light stands. but there are plenty of plastic shoe'd optical slaves that might be worth a try.

 

the central pin is the one that fires off the flash... the others are usually for ttl etc...