Flash and PC cords

[noah b]

How many of you use a flash with your M? I've been using this pc to hot shoe sync cord and I find it to be way too short. Has anyone found a good hot shoe to pc extension thats fairly long and not bulky? I see pc cords and the hot shoe mounts alone but are somewhat pricy. I use a vivitar 285 and found this http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/61580-REG/Vivitar_236388_PC_31_Sync_Cord_Coiled.html would this fit on that flash?

 

[BillBingham2]

I was a heavy 283 user for years and did the external sensor cord thing that also had a built in cord for firing the flash (PC Cord). The 285 had the same thing but was coiled, much easier to use in cold places. This solution moved the sensor to the top of the camera and allowed me to do off camera flash (used 95% of the time by me).

I gave one away to a friend in CA a few months ago, I bet you can find one on EvilBay.

Here is the same thing on EvilBay # 160306241037

Look for a sensor extension cord.

B2 (;->

 

[BillBingham2]

Found it, vivitar SC-3 is for the 285.

As Vivitar seems to be MIA these days not sure where to get one.

Good luck.

B2 (;->

 

[BillBingham2]

BTW, I used flash with my Ms for years, 283s and 192s mostly. I loved the remote sensor cord on the 283 and the hot shoe on my M4-P and M6. Did many weddings with it. I used an long cord like the one you listed at first with my 192 as it was all manual. The 192/292 were smaller flashes but has the same output as the 283. IMHO best flash ever made. I did some really crazy stuff, double bouncing and bouncing off black walls with her.

I found using a flash with an RF allowed me to see the picture through the viewfinder just like an LCD on the back of a digital. Very cool and very fun.

But then I bit touched!

B2 (;->

 

[drewbarb]

I will echo everything Bill says above; shooting flash with RF's is great, because you see exactly what you are getting- it even seems burned into my mind for a few seconds after the shot, so I can judge whether peoples eyes were open, what sort of a moment I got, and whether I need to shoot another frame or not. I've come to rely on this so much that now I hate to shoot flash with an SLR- I'm always asking if the thing fired, and wondering what exactly I got!

As for the OP, if you're willing to spend a bit, you can have paramount cords make you exactly the cord you want. Check out this link. I have a couple of cords made by them, including a couple with M2/3 sync posts at one end and a female hotshoe at the other with a short-ish coiled cable in between. They cost almost $75, but they work great, and save me using M2/3 sync adapters, too. You can get whatever ends you like, with either coiled or straight cords of just about any length you want in between.

 

[noah b]

Thanks for the input gentlemen, I love flash with the RF. So would that cord on the auction site do the same job as the pc to hotshoe unit?

 

[Lance]

Not saying this is any help to your problem but a nice "tip". This is what I do with flash on my M6.

I use a coiled Nikon SC-17 cable from hotshoe to hotshoe. This way I'm secure on both the camera and the flash. PC-cords suck and fall out all the time.

 

[charjohncarter]

I've used those heavily coiled and heavy PC cords and I personnaly don't like them. But you might. I would rather just use a light straight cord. Those coiled cords with their weight and always trying to get shorter can with camera movement pull away from the PC on the camera or the flash. As to the B&H product I would go to this site: http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobist/

Search the discussion with your question, if you are not a member send the question to me by PM and I will ask it.

 

[BobPS]

I use flash too (SB22) on my M6 classic, and I like it, but I use my Canon off-shoe cord (since I also shoot canon dslr), not a PC cord, to connect the SB22 to M6.

I thought about getting and using a PC cord, but I'm a left eye shooter and I have this feeling that the PC cord plug on the back of the camera would poke my right eye. Not to hijack the thread, but any of you left eye shooter who use a flash and a PC cord find it as a problem?

Bob