Vivitar 285hv on mamiya 645afd

[lauren_frazier]

<p>I have a question about using flash with my mamiya 645afd... I have used my 645 98% outdoors, and have never really gotten the hang of using flash with it. I usually never really bothered with it, because I normally just used my 35mm with flash. My question is, in the manual, the 645 says it's compatible with the metz flashes, but the flash I have is the vivitar 285hv. If I'm wanting to use the flash on camera, can I not put it right in the hotshoe? Do I need to mount it differently, do I need to use a cord? I haven't ever been able to get great shots with the camera and flash together, and all I did was mount it on the hotshoe, set the flash, set the camera, and shoot. Am I missing something? I'm really wanting to branch out with my medium format, but trying to get the flash down is killing me!</p>

[steve_parrott]

<p>I have your EXACT same gear, a Mamiya 645AFD and the Vivitar 285HV. I have used the flash in the hot shoe and had no problems. Just be sure you set your camera to manual settings. The max sync speed on that camera is 1/125. Be sure your shutter is not set any faster than that. Setting a slower speed is fine if you want to capture more ambient light in the photo. The rest is a simple matter of setting the auto range on the flash and the matching f stop on the camera. Really study your manual for the flash carefully. I have found the flash to be very accurate as to it's auto settings.<p>Now, keep in mind, using the flash "straight on" is going to give some pretty harshly lit photos. I have used a Sto Fen Omnibounce on the flash to help with this somewhat, but then you have to either set a flash auto range one stop larger and or open your aperture one stop more to compensate for the Sto Fen and bounced flash orientation. Still, your flash photos with this set up are never going to be really nice.<p>What I use when I can is my Canon 580EX flash set on manual mode. This mounts into the hotshoe of the Mamiya and works fine. I use my hand held light meter which also reads flash output to tell me where to set my aperture. I use a Gary Fong Lightsphere on the Canon flash and can get very nice looking flash shots with this setup.<p>But back to your Vivitar, it should fire and work fine mounted in the hot shoe, no need for a cord. Just be sure your shutter is not over max sync speed and your flash auto setting and camera aperture setting match.</p>

[lauren_frazier]

<p>Thanks for the feedback! One other question, other than to manually change the sync speed, what are the advantages of shooting in manual mode than shooting in x?</p>

[larry_s1]

<p>I would consider using a safe sync to protect your camera. Some flashes, especially older ones can have a high trigger voltage than can hurt your camera.</p>