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Make my old Sunpak 544, 522 useful again
I have a bunch of Sunpak 5xx hammerhead flashes that I almost throw them away. Here is how I end up making them useful again for location shooting without portable batteries and pricey strobes. you should be able to get these flashes for $20 or less on ebay or craigslist: https://youtu.be/ovMohqXYXEY or on Rumble: https://rumble.com/v164bsf-reviving-sun … ion-s.html May 25 22 05:58 pm Link Nice! I love revitalizing old gear. You could also get a 2.5mm to 3.5mm cable with "right-angle" plugs, which would eliminate one possible point of failure -- the connection between your current cable and adapter. Additionally, having sleek, right-angle plugs avoids accidental "pullouts" and prevents potential flex stress to the 2.5mm connector on the Sunpak. May 25 22 09:34 pm Link The Other Place wrote: I'm not sure if there is any 90 degree angle 3.5mm to 2.5mm adapters? There are the two types available from a few ebay sellers. there are some that are cables. But I don't want to spend too much more money on these old (but durable) flashes. i got my mileage out of them. I'm just surprised that they are still working strong. I just didn't want to throw them away. May 26 22 09:37 pm Link Chuckarelei wrote: Yes. Here are such adapters. Chuckarelei wrote: So many things can go wrong when using radio slaves. If it were me, I would spend the extra few bucks to eliminate a potential point of failure and to keep things clean and sleek. May 27 22 12:54 am Link Optical slaves, either the hot shoe or plug in variety, super reliable. Have used them for decades in this exact use case May 28 22 07:13 am Link I use these potato mashers from Metz, Canon and Sunpak. I love the power. Once, I put my Metz 60 CT-1 on each side of the camera and shot at full power on both. Needless to say, everyone knew I was there. I convert my Metz potatio mashers to run on rechargable AA instead of the Metz battery. As long as you can live without TTL flash and high speed sync, the old flashes are the best to use. May 29 22 01:23 pm Link I used my 544's for many years with PocketWizards, in 2x3 softboxes and various sized umbrellas. With the newer higher-powered options like Godox' AD200/AD300 or Westcott's FJ-series that can have TTL and power-level control from the camera, it's easy to overlook the fact that the older gear is no less capable than it used to be. I just got tired of carrying around dozens and dozens of AA batteries and the (relatively) long recycle times, but I still have them, and sometimes bring them when I might need an extra pop of light in a corner. Jun 04 22 03:50 pm Link you kids with your fancy, battery dependent radio units! Any Flash with a thyristor circuit (about anything built since 1974 or so) does not really need TTL. Set the ISO speed on the flash, read the aperture output and distance scale on the flash, hook it to an _optical_ slave (One that just has a hot shoe on it), and it is a perfect accent, background or fill light. While the thread is about "Potato Mashers" - I did this with Vivitar 283s and 285s in the 1980s. Now GET OFF MY LAWN! Jun 04 22 05:23 pm Link Chuckarelei wrote: I have several Sunpak 622 with the different heads, like standard, zoom, IR and bare bulb. Over the years I also picked up the rechargeable battery packs for when I was shooting sport. With the zoom head I could reach out along side of a race track and still be in a safe place. Jun 07 22 09:53 am Link Rumble.com ? No way Jose Aug 21 22 09:43 pm Link |
