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Use old flashes on new DSLR cameras.

by dolulob on May 28, 2008

Table of Contents

Use old flashes on new DSLR cameras. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Intro: Use old flashes on new DSLR cameras. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Step 1: What you need: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Step 2: The circuit: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Step 3: The case: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Step 4: The result: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Step 5: How to use: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

http://www.instructables.com/id/Use-old-flashes-on-new-DSLR-cameras./
Intro: Use old flashes on new DSLR cameras.
This instructable shows you how to make a really easy and simple circuit, that protects your new camera from high trigger voltages in old flashes. It is completely safe
and will not damage the cameras circuits!

It is better than those slave adapters that "look" for a flash, and then quickly activate the flash, since those adapters can be set off by other cameras. If you're at a party,
that can be quite annoying.

Image Notes
1. Battery
2. hotshoe for flash
3. underneath is another hotshoe that goes on your camera

Step 1: What you need:

- general soldering equiptment
- a sense of electronics
- an Optocoupler with triac output (i.e. MOC3062)
- 2 capacitors ( 10 �µF )
- 3 resistors ( 500, 1M, 30...80 ohms)
- a casing (optional, I got mine on ebay)
- a battery

Step 2: The circuit:

The circuit is pretty simple and streight forward.

-The Optocoupler in the middle isolates the camera from the flash. If you don't know what an optcoupler is or what it does, check out wikipedia first

-R1 and C1 form a highpass. this is in case the output of the camera is a triac. with out the highpass, the current folwing through the led and the camera could keep the
cameras triac open.

- The same goes for R3 and C2

- Now R2 is to limit the current though the LED of the optocoupler. you will have to adjust this depending on you optocoupler and battery you are using. Also keep in
mind, that there could be a voltage drop inside of the camera which you have to consider! (it took me like 2 hours till I figured that out!)

http://www.instructables.com/id/Use-old-flashes-on-new-DSLR-cameras./
Step 3: The case:
I got my self an adapter, that would give cameras that only have a hotshoe an PC cord connector.
I got in on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=260237775993&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=016

I hoped, there was enough room inside to fit the circuit and the batteries.
Well the circuit barely fit, but the battery had to go outside...
if you squeeze everything into the case, please make sure that none of the highvoltage contacts or cables from the flas get to close to those that go towards the camera.

Also after everything is done, measure the voltage on the contacts that go to the camera before connecting it! Better safe than sorry!

Image Notes
1. this is the main circuit
Image Notes
2. Battery
1. ebay hotshoe to PC sync adapter
3. PC connector
4. hotshoe for flash

Step 4: The result:

ofter squeezing everything inside, I got a battery clip from an old motherboard and glued it to the side of the adapter.

And that is it. you can now connect pretty much any onld flash to you camera and don't have to worry about triggervoltages or anything!

Image Notes
1. Battery
2. hotshoe for flash
3. underneath is another hotshoe that goes on your camera

http://www.instructables.com/id/Use-old-flashes-on-new-DSLR-cameras./
Step 5: How to use:
now you just put the adapter on the camera and either mount the flash on the adapters hotshoe or use the PC cord.
I like the PC cord alot, because it gives you alot of new lighting possibilities!

I hope you enjoy. If you have any questiones, just ask!

Image Notes Image Notes

1. adapter 1. the adapter
2. older flash with 200V trigger voltage
3. SLR that can only take up to 6V of trigger voltage

Image Notes
1. flash
2. PC sync chord

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http://www.instructables.com/id/Use-old-flashes-on-new-DSLR-cameras./
Comments
16 comments Add Comment

LoonyLander says: Oct 29, 2010. 6:57 PM REPLY

Nice instructable!

Looking at the circuit diagram, I think it could be unclear to some people which contacts on the hotshoe should be connected to where on the circuit diagram.
If you can it might be nice to add a couple of diagrams showing exactly what goes where on the pad layout.

I'm sure most folks will successfully work out that the centre contact and the outer shoe contact are the correct connection points, but it would help to clarify
what the correct polarity is. Even if it doesn't matter, say it doesn't matter!

Anyway, those are my thoughts. Hopefully you understand that I'm trying to be helpful; and not intending to knock you. It's a good project, but I'd rather
nudge it towards being a *great* project.

I would also love your circuit diagram to be sharp, but I'm not sure how to get this website to leave things in the right format myself. Whatever I upload it
always seems to convert to JPEG and then compress it to within (or beyond) an inch of it's life ;)

dolulob says: Dec 21, 2010. 9:35 AM REPLY

Thanx for the input! I will add the info on where to connect the contacts on the hotshoe!

Closer says: Oct 17, 2010. 2:07 PM REPLY

If you have a flash and you are wondering if it is safe to use, you need to know two things.

1. What is the allowable trigger voltage on your camera (some may be has high as 24 volts but many are in the 5 volt range - old flashes can be in the 100+
volt range!)

and

2. what the trigger voltage of your flash is,

You can measure the trigger voltage with a multmeter. Let the flash charge and read the voltage that is between the center post and the ground on the side
when you press the test button.

Someone has created a chart of many common flashes and their trigger voltages.

http://www.botzilla.com/photo/strobeVolts.html

kinekt says: Jul 27, 2009. 6:42 AM REPLY

old flashes arc when fired .....which dolulob has mentioned it can and will most likely damage the cameras circuits......its a good idea but it should have a
safe converter in it or some sort of arc protection as to not damage the camera

dolulob says: Aug 26, 2009. 1:07 PM REPLY

the circuit has the optocoupler, which is probably the best device to seperate to circuits....

robglinka says: Feb 14, 2009. 9:29 AM REPLY

Great work. I used your concept to build a disposable camera ring flash.

Here's some pictures from my flickr photo stream

Also, I stole the circuit from this guy: Optoisolated Circuit

dolulob says: Feb 14, 2009. 10:51 AM REPLY

Thanx! it's always nice to know your work is appreciated. I like your design.... gives me ideas.. maybe I'll have to get out my soldering iron once again! :)

Josh_B says: Jul 18, 2008. 9:07 AM REPLY

Nice! I've got an older Canan flash that I'd like to use on my new Canon S5. I think I'll try this.

For those less electronically inclined, you can get the Wein device that imotor is referring to from eBay, sometimes for less than $50. It's call the Safe Sync .

If you don't have an old flash already, you could buy a used one from eBay and apply this instructable for less than half. There are lots of used flashes
available. See what I mean?

imotor says: May 28, 2008. 10:47 PM REPLY

A company called Wien makes a device like this, but it doesnâ??t require a battery.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Use-old-flashes-on-new-DSLR-cameras./
 dolulob says: May 29, 2008. 2:02 AM REPLY
Righ i remember seeing it somewhere! Thanks for the info...but it costs 50$... mine is about 2$... there are ways to do it without a battery... however, they
either don't use an optocoupler, and/or reduce the voltage of the flash using a zener-diode to power an optocoupler or fire a thyristor. I specifically
wanted both circuits to be totally independant!!! I didn't feel comfortable reducing the flash's voltage with a Zener, because if a solder-connection comes
loos, or the zener fails, it would expose the camera to the full voltage of the flash.

killerjackalope says: May 28, 2008. 5:41 AM REPLY

Nice job, this is a great circuit, and technically worth alot of money, see new flashguns aren't as powerful and made of lower quality materials, but they're
also obscenely expensive, the old ones are cheap at the minute due to their uselessness with new cameras...

dolulob says: May 28, 2008. 1:21 PM REPLY

I think I have seen an adapter like this in an online store somewhere and it was like 60 bucks... so building it yourself is quite alot cheaper!

killerjackalope says: May 28, 2008. 2:56 PM REPLY

Yeah, you could seel these in the 'ibles marketplace, there are a lot of camera users out there but not everyone is comfy with the electronics...

LinuxH4x0r says: May 28, 2008. 1:06 PM REPLY

Very nice. I didn't know the old ones don't work

dolulob says: May 28, 2008. 1:22 PM REPLY

well that's the thing, they probably DO work and everything seems fine at first, but you can and probably will, over time, seriously damage the camera's
circuits.

LinuxH4x0r says: May 28, 2008. 1:24 PM REPLY

oh, ok

http://www.instructables.com/id/Use-old-flashes-on-new-DSLR-cameras./