courtenay photonics sola2MK111

[mark_smart]

<p>I have a very old sola2mk111 studio flash which I used with my old film camera many years ago. I now have an olympus e510 and was asked to photograph some jewellery so I dug out the studio flash and connected it up with a sync cable. After some messing around with the settings and getting the sync speed correct everything was working wonderfully. Of course it didn't have all the bells and whistles of modern flashes but the results were good. I go to the job and cannot get the thing to work at all. The flash is fine and the sync cable is fine but the camera will not trigger it. Looking for an answer on this site I find some advice suggesting it is a bad idea to connect old flashes to modern cameras as you don't know what the trigger voltage is and it might damage the camera. I could probably find out what the trigger voltage is on the flash but I can't find any documentation saying what the camera will cope with. I would really appreciate any help. I have just lost my job so I can't afford to buy another flash.</p>

[ray_rosher]

<p>Hi Mark<br>

Don't want to be an alarmist but sounds like you have fried something in your camera from what I rememeber the old courtney series 2000 which i think mine is,<br>

puts out a lot of voltage ie thousands of volts against the 12- 25 volts the my Nikon d2 and d1 series can handle<br>

nearly all digital cameras cannot handle anything near the voltage that these old flash heads put out I bought of off ebay a remote wirelss flash receiver and transmitter. a cheapo one with 3 receivers and one transmitter this cut out the chance of any damage to my camera I'm sure i can find the link if you want it, See if you try your camera flash with another flash head i think that you will find that your synch is not working or even that the flash itself dosent work if this is the case then it's an ebay get rid and look for a new camera as most of the time they are to expensive to repair. Sorry to be the barer of doom amd gollm<br>

Ray:)</p>

[mark_smart]

<p>Thanks Ray, I was starting to fear the worse. I checked olympus faq and the olympus will only accept 6vdc. The flash is kicking out 12vdc. So I probably have fried something but I will find somebody with an external flash and check. The flash is fine. If you could dig out the link for the remote I would be very grateful (if my camera still accepts a hot shoe fitting). I find it really annoying that the manual for the camera doesn't mention anything about differing voltages. I naively thought that a hot shoe fitting was pretty much universal. We live and learn.<br>

Mark</p>

[ray_rosher]

<p><br />Hi Mark heres a link to the triggers I used also too the other stuff he sells Ive bn using this for at least a yaert now amd I'm still on the same batteries.<br />Don't worrie if thes look cheap and nasty their not i bought this after I saw a fashion photographer using this exact system on fashion tv on sky it was one of the photographer profile shows, when asked what cameras and accessories he used he commented on the nikon and prime lenses but that his other stuff if wireless remot flash units were cheapos as even the expensive ones didn't last that long<br>

<a href="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Blazzeo-16-Channels-Trigger-for-Studio-2-Receiver-T3H_W0QQitemZ200300005670QQihZ010QQcategoryZ3860QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262QQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262">http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Blazzeo-16-Channels-Trigger-for-Studio-2-Receiver-T3H_W0QQitemZ200300005670QQihZ010QQcategoryZ3860QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262QQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262</a><br>

<br /><a href="http://stores.ebay.co.uk/LinkDelight-Photography-Shop_Studio-Lighting-Systems_Trigger-Receiver_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ7196662QQftidZ2QQtZkm">http://stores.ebay.co.uk/LinkDelight-Photography-Shop_Studio-Lighting-Systems_Trigger-Receiver_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ7196662QQftidZ2QQtZkm</a><br>

<br /><a href="http://stores.ebay.co.uk/LinkDelight-Photography-Shop">http://stores.ebay.co.uk/LinkDelight-Photography-Shop</a><br>

The users name is link-delight their in china <br />Iv'e just visited the site and theirs a ton of cool new stuff on it.<br>

Ray:)</p>

[mark_smart]

<p>Thanks again Ray, the good news is I got away with it and the camera is working fine with an external flash. Just got to link it up to the studio flash now.<br>

Mark (very relieved)</p>