Minolta Autocord Hot Shoe

[andipopescustudio]

Hi all. I intend on buying a Minolta Autocord, mostly because I intend to stay faithful to the Minolta brand and

also because I like this particular camera. Now, I attached 2 pictures of my "Made in China" triggers and my

question is:

Can you use these triggers with this particular camera?

 

P.S. The triggers worked on every other digital or film camera I tried.

 

Thanks, Andi.<div></div>

[andipopescustudio]

It seems I can attach only one picture..

[John Seaman]

The Autocord does not have a hot shoe as such. The flash shoe has what looks like an electrical contact, in fact this

is just a mechanical feature to help retain the flashgun on the shoe (at least it is on my camera). It does have a

standard PC flash terminal which should be connectable to the flash trigger.

 

There is a thread in the Medium Format forum from a couple of days ago where I replied to a similar query which may

be relevant.

[john clark]

I wonder whether the Autocord is a sensible choice of camera if flash photography is your goal. I had one, and it was a fine camera, but as John says, it's a very basic camera and flash photography is going to involve a fair amount of trial and error.

[andipopescustudio]

Why would there be a difference between let's say a Hasselblad and the Autocord, concerning flash photography?

The trigger has only one "connection" to any camera, to be more specific, in the middle as in the link-photo shown below.

 

http://www.4shared.com/file/69284779/c3058b5a/IMG_5050.html

 

Andi.

[chuck_foreman1]

I may be missing something here?!? Trigger??!! Not all cameras have a "hot" shoe. Here in Europe you can still find

a "Hama" piece that will fit in the shoe with a so called pc cord to connect to the lens or where ever the flash

"connection" is. It's only been in the last 40 or 50 years that most flash "shoes" are "hot" The Autocord is a TLR

right? My Yashica has a shoe on the body, but the "flash" connection

is elsewhere on the body. I suspect the Autocord may be similar<div></div>

[John Seaman]

The trigger in the picture will not work directly with the Autocord as it is made to fit on a hot shoe, i.e. a flash shoe with an electrical contact. To connect it to the flash terminal of the camera you need one of these: http://www.flashzebra.com/hotshoes-shoes/0069.shtml (from the Medium Format forum thread I mentioned).

 

I wouldn't like to get drawn into an Autocord vs Hasselblad debate but the Autocord is a very good TLR with a nice Rokkor lens and the leaf shutter will synchronise with the flash at all shutter speeds.

[andipopescustudio]

I am far away from wanting to go in a Autocord/Hassy battle!

Hassy is by far the best at film and digital in the world, no doubt about that.

 

My question was, why should the flash trial and error be more complicated with a Autocord then with any other medium format film camera, may it be Hassy, Mamiya, or anything else?!

 

John, thank you for the link, I presume that specific cable is somewhat unexpensive.

 

Chuck, thanks for the photo and explanation.

 

Andi.

[richard_oleson]

I'm with Andrei, I can't see why flash photography would be more trial-and-error with one camera than another. You open the shutter, the flash fires, you close it. It's the flash, not the camera, that controls the exposure, whether it's a Hasselblad or an Autocord or whatever else.

[greg_nixon2]

Well, Its almost that easy.

 

There are broadly two types of electronic flashes, old ones with high voltage triggering, and newer ones with low voltage triggering. Both types will work on older cameras, but don't use a high voltage flash on a newer camera.

 

There are broadly two types of trigger outputs on older cameras. delayed shutter and not delayed. The shutter delay was to cater for flash bulbs that took a little time to get up to peak brightness. Electronic flash doesn't give good results if fired before the shutter opens.

 

On your Autocord, check that the flash sync is set to X.

 

Good luck.

 

Greg

[andipopescustudio]

I want to use the Autocord and the triggers with 2 Wallimex 500W flashes.

 

The flash constancy varies from 1/1000

~ 1/600 seconds.

 

I think even with the delayed shutter it should work.

 

Any thoughts?

 

Andi.

[John Seaman]

I'm sure the Autocord will be fine with the setup you describe. You will just need to set the selector for electronic flash, that is the lightning symbol on the little lever below the lower lens. The other position with the bulb symbol is for bulbs which as stated require a slight delay to reach full brightness.

 

Here is a shot of my camera showing the lever set for electronic flash.

[John Seaman]

Sorry I'll try again with the picture:<div></div>

[andipopescustudio]

Doesn't work John, though I'm quite curios.

 

While you're at it.. can you tell what's your personal opinion on the Autocord? (this goes for anyone who know the Autocord)

 

Andi.

[andipopescustudio]

I can see it now...

 

Thanks.

 

Andi

[John Seaman]

Here is a shot of the flash shoe, of which the central metal part is just a mechanical feature not an electrical contact. There may of course be variations between models.<div></div>

[andipopescustudio]

You can connect it to flashes with a PC connector like you said, I understand. :)

 

What's your opinion on the camera?

 

Andi.

[John Seaman]

Andi as far as your question about what I think of the Autocord, I've got a number of TLR's which I enjoy a lot. I too like Minolta and I think the Autocord is one of the best. What's most important is to get one in good working condition - one of the common faults is that the focussing lever becomes stiff and can break off in some cases. Luckily mine is fine in this respect. One advantage is that the film winds downwards in the Autocord. In most TLR's it winds upwards which means that the 90 degree bend in the film path can affect film flatness. You probably won't see what I mean until you get the camera.

[andipopescustudio]

I'm interested in overall handling and sharpness also!

 

Maybe you can spare some samples if it's not much of a trouble.

 

Thank you!

 

Andi.

[stan_noreika]

Andrei, I know this response is a little late, but I have two Autocords. I love 'em. In fact, I was out shooting with one

today.

I feel they are easy to handle, take VERY sharp pictures, and work great for flash photography also.

 

My one suggestion, though, would be get either a handle mounted flash, or a flash bracket. Overall it makes the

camera easier to handle with a flash attached.

[andipopescustudio]

Can you show me some samples with flash Stan?

 

Thanks.

[stan_noreika]

Andrei, give me a day or two. I don't have any digital files from the 'cord, and I don't have a scanner hooked up.

[andipopescustudio]

Will do, Stan, will do! :)

 

Thank you for the effort.

 

Andi.

[stan_noreika]

Andrei,

 

Quick bit of info - this is a print I did in my darkroom. Believe me, the original is much better than the scan. This is all I can dig up for now, until I get my darkroom set up again. I don't have a negative scanner.

[stan_noreika]

And let me throw in another pic - a bit unusual to use an Autocord for action.I intentionally used a slow shutter speed and panned the shot. Again, original is better.<div></div>