Hi! I recently bought a Nikon FM and a Vivitar 283 seperately from ebay. The flash seems to work and fires when I press the open flash button, but when it's mounted on the camera (on the hot shoe) it doesn't fire when the shutter is pressed. I guess this is a hot shoe problem? Should I be using a PC cable? Thanks!
SOURCE: Vivitar 283 flash will not work on camera.
The 283 was not made for digital.
It was the very best with the 285 from 1968-1978, for film camera.
On some versions(283 & 285) might work, other may have high trigger voltage.
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SOURCE: vivitar 283 won't flash, exept through pc terminal
Hi
if it is a Japanese 283, CAREFUL, you are working with ~300V
remove the sensor from the front. Short out the terminals at 7 o'clock and 11 o'clock with eg a paper clip, and then charge up the flash . Short the centre terminal with the one at 7 o'clock. If the flash fires, then it probably needs a replacement hot shoe from ebay. If it doesn't, it is a simple job to fix for an electronics worker. Manuals are available on ebay.
I repeat, careful with the Japanese flashes, you will have ~300 volts near you fingers, so if you are less than 100% confident that you won't blow the top of a finger (or worse), get an electronics worker to look at it.
Don't use the ebay hot shoes on a 300 volt flash, you will have the 300 volts out in the open and ready to bite you - have a look how well hidden the second contact is on the Vivitar plastic hot shoe.
Good luck
the Feral Photographer
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