Flash for Bessa?

[photophorous]

I know this may be considered blasphamy around here, but has anyone ever used a flash on their Bessa? 😱 If you don't want anyone to know you can just PM me. I won't tell. 😀

I have an R2A, which I plan to take to a friend's wedding in a few months. I don't want to use a flash. My plan is to shoot high speed film, but I'm trying to be prepared for whatever lighting I might be faced with. (I'm not THE photographer. I'm just the friend who shoots film, so I'm trying to provide something different, and at least get some photos of our buddies.)

Anyway, I know there are concerns about using older Auto flashes, like the famous Vivitar 283, on new DSLRs, due to their high synch voltages. Do I have to worry about that with my R2A?

Thanks,
Paul

 

[photophorous]

Wow! Just the word "flash" in the title is enough to keep this thread at 1 view for over 24 hours! Come on people... Someone must have thought about this before. Please!? A little help?

Do I have to worry about synch voltages with my Bessa?

Thanks,
Paul

 

[MRohlfing]

Can't say much, but I use my Nikon flashlights (SB-28 and SB-22s) without any problems with my R3A

Michael

 

[photophorous]

Thanks Michael...that's good to know because those are common on the used market.

Paul

 

[chrish]

i use a sb-28 with no problem. i set it to auto and adjust my f-stop if i want to over-expose or whatever.

 

[Vagabond]

Since I've never seen any definate specs on what it will or will not accept I've always used one of the Wein high voltage regulators just to be on the safe side. It mounts on the hot shoe of the R2a while I have the Vivitar 285 on a Stroboframe holder.

 

[kmack]

I picked up a used Metz 20 BC 6 specifically for my Bessa R.
Manual and Automatic mode, it is small, light weight and mine has both hot shoe and pc trigger.

The one thing it did not have was the ability to bounce, but I fixed that with a small Hama adapter that I found in a bin at my local photo store.

This flash is currently out of production but should be available on the used market.

Sorry, I did not reply to your thread sooner. The signal to noise ratio has been rather high lately.

 

[photophorous]

Thank you all for the comments. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who wants to try this. I've seen a few flashes that are available new (sunpack, vivitar) that I'm sure would work, but they cost nearly $100. I was hoping I could find a used one for closer to $50, but if I have to buy a wein safe synch thingy to go with it, I might as well go ahead and get one of the new ones. If you know of any specific models that I could find used in the $50 range, that would work with no problems, please let me know. I guess that's probably wishful thinking.

Thanks again!

Paul

 

[minoltist7]

Get a DSLR

 

[photophorous]

Get a DSLR

I have one.

 

[arbib]

The Oly T20 and T32 are great too.

T20 has 2 auto f/stops and GN of 65..and covers a 35mm lens.

T32 has 3 auto f/stops and GN of 104 with a Tilting head and -10* macro tilt, AND covers a 24mm lens with NO ADAPTERS.

Both are LOW Profile. I have both.

 

[minoltist7]

I have one.

do you have accessory flash on it?
SLRs do this kind of job much better