Vivitar 283/285 Flash

[rodeo_joe1]

In case you can't tell from the picture, you move the sensor from the 283 to the adaptor, in the hot shoe on the camera.

I know. It's still not useful for controlling multiple flashes individually. Nor if the camera needs to be more than 4' from the light, which would be a common case with a 105mm portrait lens.

 

The only other UK colloquialism for 'umbrella' I know of is 'gamp'. The apparent origin of that is a Charles Dickens' character called Sarah Gamp who always carried a large umbrella. It's an old-fashioned term that's rapidly falling into disuse these days. (I had to look the origin up - one more piece of useless information to be stored away.)

 

“Bumbershoot” is a predominantly American nickname - according to Merriam-Webster.

[Robin Smith]

To be so down on the Vivitars implying they were bad when they come out is silly, If you wanted to swivel the head, you took it off camera with the extension cord and pointed it where you liked. Most flashes then did not have swivel heads and certainly not at that price. Back then, and probably still today, most amateurs are not using multiple flashes in a studio-like setting. They still work usefully today in a settings when activated by a cheap optical sensor. However, I would agree there is nothing special about them today, and I would certainly advise getting a cheap Asian brand with more features. But I still got mine and they still work.

[rodeo_joe1]

To be so down on the Vivitars implying they were bad when they come out is silly, If you wanted to swivel the head, you took it off camera with the extension cord and pointed it where you liked.

I never implied they were bad back in their day. They're certainly better made than the shoddy Hanimex and Cobra branded rubbish that flooded the bottom end of the UK market from the 1980s onward.

 

The thing is that back in the early 1970s, Vivitar flashes generally weren't even on the radar in the UK and Europe. They were almost exclusively a US phenomenon back then. It's only fairly recently that the rest of the world has heard their praises sung loud by the likes of Strobist Blog and discussion fora. The big question is why? Because they were outdated and superceded by the early 1980s. So it's about 45 years too late to be 'selling' their virtues.

 

My first electronic flash, in the mid 1960s, was a little Meccablitz hotshoe-mounted speedlight. It was bought used, and I was only earning pocket-change then, so it couldn't have been that expensive, but its build quality was really good. A few years later it was replaced by another used Metz, a more powerful hammerhead. Again it didn't cost a lot and continued to work for the next 20 years until replacement 'Dryfit' cells became difficult to source.

In the meantime I had Toshiba, Osram and Sunpak hammerheads pass through my hands. All quite affordable and more powerful and flexible in use than a Vivitar 28X.

 

Had Vivitar 283/285 flashes been more widely advertised and available (outside of the US) at that time, I might have given one a try. They weren't, and now their day is over. So can't we let sleeping dogs lie? Or I could counter by praising now-defunct Osram/Cullman or Toshiba flashes - also well-made, and quite affordable but far better designed IMO.