Can the CLE flash damage the CL???

[Mvbennett]

I lucked into a CLE flash the other week and was interested in buying another one for a friend or to sell or whatever. The camera shop worker knows I use a CL and told me it's a really bad idea to use it because the extra modes on the flash could leak battery acid onto the camera. At least that's what I think he said because this conversation took place in Japanese. I tried looking for info on this and found literally nothing, I trust the guy, he's far more knowledgeable than me, but he has been wrong one or twice before about really small details. Anyone heard of this sort of issue? Is there anything to be done to avoid it?

Also before anyone asks, yes the flash does fire on my CL, I know many people say it shouldn't be able to but somehow it does on mine.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Palaeoboy]

I think his warning just got lost in translation there somewhere.

Naturally the flash will not work as an TTL flash or Automatic flash. It will only do so with the CLE and Minolta TTL Flash cameras of the same period (ie X-700/X-500 etc).

To quote Page 14 of the CLE Autoflash manual "The Auto Electroflash CLE can be used for manual flash exposure with any camera equipped with a hot shoe". So it can work as a manual flash with other hot shoe cameras using the indicator chart at the back of the flash. You look up the required aperture on the chart and follow the green line to the far right and where that ends will give you the correct distance for that particular aperture.

The question at hand though is that these flashes are more expensive than other tiny manual flashes out there. You lucked into one so by all means use it but I wouldnt usually recommend spending the extra money on a flash and not be able to use its TTL Auto features when you could get a regular all manual flash for a fraction of the cost. For less money you can even get a small Metz with an internal metering sensor that operates an Auto Mode.