Thanks for the info man. I actually bought the Vivitar 3700 yesterday for my Pentax K1000. I was quite actually discouraged because I never worked manually on Ex. Flash. So all the buttons and switches got me lost. This helped on clearing the air a bit.
There are external battery packs that supply high voltage to that plug as well. Lumidyne made one called the Minicycler N1 it recharges the flash in less than 1 second after a full power flash. I got it in the late 80's. Still using it today. Have replaced the cells 3 times now I think :). I have the 283 and 285HV. They have enough power to use with umbrellas. Super cool since you can get these for almost nothing now.
No, no, no the side connection is for a battery pack with four D cell battery trust me I had one in 1981 this flash is still a work horse even today especially with the low prices of today I made thousands of dollars with the vivitar 283.
Do you have any idea why my flash is taking so long to load I have it attached to a digital camera that takes about 3 minutes to load that works perfectly with a digital camera even though it's a older flash just takes too long to load
Hi Mike. I have one of these flashes as well but have never used it. What exactly do the colors correspond with that are on the side of the photo cell? Mine starts M and goes through fuchsia.
The colors correspond to the f numbers and range. Look at the circular chart on the side of the flash. You will see those same numbers. The color will go from a close to far range. If you stay in that range your photos will be exposed correctly by the flash.
They are workhorses! I’m think I should have got an adapter that would have allowed me to use them on digital camera. The flash I bought recently was a real disappointment.
@@m005kennedy If you really want to use these old Vivitars, Getting a HV version of a 285 off Ebay would be far cheaper and less of an encumbrance than one of those adaptors, which are a rip-off.
Using a separate flash rather than the built-in one is not a film vs digital thing. Plenty of digital photographers today use separate flash units and look with disdain on the built in flash, in fact the more professional digital cameras don't have it, and many P&S film cameras did.
Yes, but many high consumers DSLRs do have a built in flash. When you go to pro level cameras they don't consider built in flash necessary because pros know it is best avoided.
Thyristors are still my favorite. You should refresh yourself with your old gear and tinker ahead of time before filming though. ;) (No disrespect intended. Good information for many folks overall!)
This looked like the rehearsal. He is confused about the battery size (and gets it wrong) and gives the false impression that it can do TTL flash. He needs to re-do this.
So how does the flash actually trigger? Forgive me, as I only recently started shooting film; I have a Pentax K1000 which is a fully manual camera and I don’t suppose the flash would just go off whenever i press the shutter button as it has no way of knowing that I’m taking a photo with the camera because they’re not electrically connected in anyway, the flash is just mounted right? I hope i made sense with my query!
cameras had a flash sync port. A cord from the flash to your camera would make the flash fire at the right time. Later camera had the contacts built into the little bracket on top of the pentaprism on top of the camera. It was called a hot shoe. Hot because it had the flash contact in it. It is important to know that the flash could only be used slower speeds. Usually that was 1/30, 1/60. Some cameras could sync up to 1/125 of a second.
Both flashes have a port for a sync cord or can be hot shoe mounted. Dont use the 283 on a DSLR though It will damage the hot shoe on the camera. The 385HV (not plain 385) has a 12v sync voltage and is safe with pro/prosumer cameras. Check the manual. I have a Nikon D300 digital slr and it is good up to 250v on the flash terminal. So I can use my vivitar 385HV on it no problem. You can also get a cheap chinese wireless transmitter kit for about $20 or less that work great with these older flashes, especially for a portrait setup where you use umbrellas. Search for rf-602 or rf-603 on ebay or amazon.
@@m005kennedy I'd still check even the newer 385HV with a voltmeter just to be sure it's in the safe range, particularly if it's a used find (which it likely will be). Voltmeters are cheap as chips nowadays and it's quick insurance.
@UCaPQOEwee_o-2DVwSfDOcNA During those days, they didn't have internet nor cell phone. You are lucky just to have a pager. We used walkie takies & morse codes, rather than talking Max Pound (nick name, but real names Max Ponder), John Best & ATG started/agreed with the name Vivitar. Max pounded all salesmen from Canon/Nikon/Olympus/Sunpak by selling flashes and lenses from his car. His trunk was his moving warehouse. Then came ATG's Series 1 lenses which are just as good as OEM. When you are a real pro, you come with a crew /or have some assistants. And a make-up artist. My uncle, his staff & I (only 5 or 6 at that time) used the Hasselblad 500 series. OMG the camera set was too heavy for me so it was placed on a tripod. Can you imagined a 6 year old kid shooting with a Hasselblad 500EL/M (prototype for NASA). We had the prototype transceiver set {designed/built by Doc Edgerton (Dr. Harold Eugene Edgerton, MIT) and ATG, MIT (my granduncle). One transceiver (switched to T) connected to PC on lenses. Second or more transceivers (switched to R) connected to PC sync of 283 & 285. All lights (flashes) were set on ATG Auto2 modes. Yes, we knew that the Hasselblad is 60mm X 60mm, one does not have to rotate the camera. But, we had students (real pros using 35mm formats) in the live event shooting. Since these flashes are light & small & we used ATG's external power supply (which later sold it to Quantum Instruments). They were set & positioned in many placed wirelessly! Try it out & re-read what I have said. Again, from portrait to landscape (based on 35mm format) modes, you will never get black bands. The zoom was used as a snoot And Hasselblad was the few cameras that can shoot flash/monolight up to 500. While many can only do 60. FYI: If you have seen "The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau" Then Doc Edgerton & ATG assisted and built photo/video equipment for them. Herbert Keppler knew my uncle & doc and used the ATG Auto2 features.
@@m005kennedy That Bronica ETRS hurts *Hasselblad & Rolleiflex big time and affordable to many pros like you. Did you ever used ATG's Metz 60CT series or ATG's Quantum QFlash or ATG's Contax 540 flash? Many are still working. *ATG/Shiro (China) purchased, owned & then sold Hasselblad. They fired most people in Sweden and disowned Carl Ziess. ATG/Shiro flew to Japan & gave them specs on making AF lenses. The birth of ATG's world's first APS medium digital cameras with better lenses than Germany.
@@angelisone no. I was strickly a part timer. So I was limited in equipment. I think I shot about 80 weddings. I'm sure a lot of pros did that amount each year. I did more economy level weddings.
@@m005kennedy That was no bad for being a part timer. Those were the days when photographers are respected. Today, one has one cheap camera body, 6 lenses & maybe 1 flash -he or she will claims as a professional photographer. The Vivitar 283 still held the records on most sold just like the ATG's Canon AE-1 (notices the "A") and Pentax K1000.
This sounds as if the 283 is something special, _"unique"_ (@2:04) LMAO! But it's typical for its time : photocell metering, thyristor control, tilt head. In fact the 283 was _behind_ in its rivals in several ways - no swivel (can't ceiling bounce in portrait format), no dedication, no TTL (Look at that _single_ contact @5:20 - he seems reluctant to show us!), and worst of all _high trigger voltage_ on some of them will burn out a modern camera. On top of that, I've heard the foot is prone to break off. In its day it was cheap for the power, but all this old stuff is under $20 today whatever the power. Yes, $1.99 sounds about right for this thing. @2:36, talking generally about TTL flash in a tone like it is a 283 feature - _it isn't_ . And BTW, @3:19, it takes AA not AAA batteries. www.cameramanuals.org/flashes_meters/vivitar_283_larger.pdf
The Vivitar 383 was special. It’s size, power, versatility and price made it a winner for many photographers. I shot many weddings with them and it never fallen me. Of course that was in the days of film. Did you actually use these flashes or are you just expressing an opinion not base on actual using it. I had other larger flashes that would be classed more like potato mashers, but I like the Vivitar better. And dedicated electronic flashes that interface with digital SLRs are very expensive to get to that same power level. You heard the foot broke off? But did it happen to you? None of my 283s had a foot break off. So just so I know how many weddings or similar did you shoot with it to have an opinion based on personal experience. I’m sure I did at least 60, maybe 80 weddings with the 283. There were photographers with a lot more money than I that used them rather than more expensive flashes. People even bought third party battery banks for them to be used in event photography. And not having TTL was no problem for shooting weddings. I could easily shot a wedding with a Flash with the same specs that would interface with my Nikon SLR. But again are you using other people’s reviews and not your own experience?
PS how old are you? Were you an adult during this era trying to make money with your camera? I can’t imagine you would have written this long reply without any firsthand experience.
@@m005kennedy The Vivitar 283 had some some good features for its time, and I don't doubt you got good wedding photos with it (my father managed it with flash bulbs), but my point is that even if you are interested in old flash units (and I am) there is nothing special about it today. Other film era units in that category are better. For example the Sunpak 383 which has the same GN, but can swivel as well as tilt, can switch to variable manual mode without changing a plug-in module, and has a safe low trigger voltage. In fact it looks like what the Vivitar 283 should have been, and it gets good reviews www.photographyreview.com/product/flash-and-lighting/flashes/sunpak/383-super.html. Moreover, by the 1980s there were increasing numbers of units with camera dedication - at least flash ready viewfinder indication, and at best TTL flash control. Even independent makers offered it. You point out the auxiliary contacts on your camera, and even talk about TTL flash, but they are irrelevant to the presentation because the 283 does not pick up those contacts - but a viewer who did not know better might think it did. I have used plenty of flash units, own six at the moment, but never the 283; but you don't need to have owned one to learn and state some basic facts about it, as I have done. These are facts : it does not swivel, has no dedication or TTL capability, you must change the module to get manual power graduations, and worst of all some 283s have a high trigger voltage. Vivitar changed the design to lower the trigger voltage at some point, but irresponsibly failed to change the name, so if you buy one it is a lottery whether you get a low or high voltage one. I do research before I buy anything, and it has never led me to buy a 283. I prefer to learn by research, not by mistakes. Notice I have deliberately refrained from saying anything about its usability because I have not used it. It may have been good value for money in its day (compared with camera brand units), but that does not matter now. Most film era flash units sell for peanuts these days anyway. As for the weak foot, I have seen that comment many times, in these reviews for example www.pentaxforums.com/accessoryreviews/vivitar-283.html and in other reviews of the 283 elsewhere on TH-cam itself. The trouble is that it is a big heavy unit to be perched on a camera hotshoe. That is one reason for more powerful units to be in the form of hammerheads, or potato mashers you call them, even though they have gone out of fashion now. PS : As for my age, I am old enough. This is about flash units, not personalities.
You really have no actually experience on using this nor the 285 & 285HV. ATG made & sold over 3,000,000 to Max Pond (bet you never heard that name without searching. And as a broken hotshoe, many pros and even amateurs didn't break the hosthoe. And speaking of plastic hotshoe, even OEM flashes have plastic hotshoes. You are probably lost on knowing how to use ATG Auto2 mode. Name me a flash model that sold over 3,000,000, Duke Nukem? Even the best Canon & Nikon & Olympus flashes did not come close. Ever heard or use Metz 60CT-4 and Quantum QFlashes? Not exactly cheap. Well, they were from ATG's
@@dukenukem5768 You were just a kid. Show some respects. I used Hasselblad for doing high clients. 12 shots with 283, 285 & 285HV. Many today claimed to be photographers will be lost on just how to operate a Hasselblad. If you didn't have Photoshop, you and many can't even nail 12 shots. FYI: I have no problem in bouncing the flash and make it (283/285/285HV) work better than today TTL flashes.
Thanks for the info man. I actually bought the Vivitar 3700 yesterday for my Pentax K1000. I was quite actually discouraged because I never worked manually on Ex. Flash. So all the buttons and switches got me lost. This helped on clearing the air a bit.
Great!
Actually the connector on the left side is for an AC power supply, not an external battery pack (Vivitar part number SB-4).
Thanks, I must have been thinking of another flash unit.
There are external battery packs that supply high voltage to that plug as well. Lumidyne made one called the Minicycler N1 it recharges the flash in less than 1 second after a full power flash. I got it in the late 80's. Still using it today. Have replaced the cells 3 times now I think :). I have the 283 and 285HV. They have enough power to use with umbrellas. Super cool since you can get these for almost nothing now.
No, no, no the side connection is for a battery pack with four D cell battery trust me I had one in 1981 this flash is still a work horse even today especially with the low prices of today I made thousands of dollars with the vivitar 283.
Do you have any idea why my flash is taking so long to load I have it attached to a digital camera that takes about 3 minutes to load that works perfectly with a digital camera even though it's a older flash just takes too long to load
It should not take that long. Try fresh batteries. Also if you run it in manual it takes longer to fire again.
Hi Mike. I have one of these flashes as well but have never used it. What exactly do the colors correspond with that are on the side of the photo cell? Mine starts M and goes through fuchsia.
The colors correspond to the f numbers and range. Look at the circular chart on the side of the flash. You will see those same numbers. The color will go from a close to far range. If you stay in that range your photos will be exposed correctly by the flash.
M is manual
Can i Use a Vivitar 728 AF - on a Canon T2i?
I can’t find that model vivitar flash on the Internet.
I have two of these. Excellent kit.
They are workhorses! I’m think I should have got an adapter that would have allowed me to use them on digital camera. The flash I bought recently was a real disappointment.
@@m005kennedy If you really want to use these old Vivitars, Getting a HV version of a 285 off Ebay would be far cheaper and less of an encumbrance than one of those adaptors, which are a rip-off.
Using a separate flash rather than the built-in one is not a film vs digital thing. Plenty of digital photographers today use separate flash units and look with disdain on the built in flash, in fact the more professional digital cameras don't have it, and many P&S film cameras did.
Yes, but many high consumers DSLRs do have a built in flash. When you go to pro level cameras they don't consider built in flash necessary because pros know it is best avoided.
Thyristors are still my favorite. You should refresh yourself with your old gear and tinker ahead of time before filming though. ;) (No disrespect intended. Good information for many folks overall!)
This looked like the rehearsal. He is confused about the battery size (and gets it wrong) and gives the false impression that it can do TTL flash. He needs to re-do this.
So how does the flash actually trigger? Forgive me, as I only recently started shooting film; I have a Pentax K1000 which is a fully manual camera and I don’t suppose the flash would just go off whenever i press the shutter button as it has no way of knowing that I’m taking a photo with the camera because they’re not electrically connected in anyway, the flash is just mounted right? I hope i made sense with my query!
cameras had a flash sync port. A cord from the flash to your camera would make the flash fire at the right time. Later camera had the contacts built into the little bracket on top of the pentaprism on top of the camera. It was called a hot shoe. Hot because it had the flash contact in it. It is important to know that the flash could only be used slower speeds. Usually that was 1/30, 1/60. Some cameras could sync up to 1/125 of a second.
Both flashes have a port for a sync cord or can be hot shoe mounted. Dont use the 283 on a DSLR though It will damage the hot shoe on the camera. The 385HV (not plain 385) has a 12v sync voltage and is safe with pro/prosumer cameras. Check the manual. I have a Nikon D300 digital slr and it is good up to 250v on the flash terminal. So I can use my vivitar 385HV on it no problem. You can also get a cheap chinese wireless transmitter kit for about $20 or less that work great with these older flashes, especially for a portrait setup where you use umbrellas. Search for rf-602 or rf-603 on ebay or amazon.
Patrick thanks for the information. I look up what you suggested.
@@fearsomerabbit That was why we used the Wein Safe Synch Hot Shoe Adapter back then with the earliest Canon DSLR, such as my Canon D30.
@@m005kennedy I'd still check even the newer 385HV with a voltmeter just to be sure it's in the safe range, particularly if it's a used find (which it likely will be). Voltmeters are cheap as chips nowadays and it's quick insurance.
This could be a quarter of the length
I can’t possibly talk that short a time......
I have 3 285x1 283x2 light the rooms up
Excellent
@UCaPQOEwee_o-2DVwSfDOcNA During those days, they didn't have internet nor cell phone. You are lucky just to have a pager.
We used walkie takies & morse codes, rather than talking
Max Pound (nick name, but real names Max Ponder), John Best & ATG started/agreed with the name Vivitar. Max pounded all salesmen from Canon/Nikon/Olympus/Sunpak by selling flashes and lenses from his car. His trunk was his moving warehouse.
Then came ATG's Series 1 lenses which are just as good as OEM.
When you are a real pro, you come with a crew /or have some assistants.
And a make-up artist.
My uncle, his staff & I (only 5 or 6 at that time) used the Hasselblad 500 series.
OMG the camera set was too heavy for me so it was placed on a tripod.
Can you imagined a 6 year old kid shooting with a Hasselblad 500EL/M (prototype for NASA).
We had the prototype transceiver set {designed/built by Doc Edgerton (Dr. Harold Eugene Edgerton, MIT) and ATG, MIT (my granduncle).
One transceiver (switched to T) connected to PC on lenses.
Second or more transceivers (switched to R) connected to PC sync of 283 & 285.
All lights (flashes) were set on ATG Auto2 modes.
Yes, we knew that the Hasselblad is 60mm X 60mm, one does not have to rotate the camera.
But, we had students (real pros using 35mm formats) in the live event shooting.
Since these flashes are light & small & we used ATG's external power supply (which later sold it to Quantum Instruments). They were set & positioned in many placed wirelessly!
Try it out & re-read what I have said.
Again, from portrait to landscape (based on 35mm format) modes, you will never get black bands.
The zoom was used as a snoot
And Hasselblad was the few cameras that can shoot flash/monolight up to 500. While many can only do 60.
FYI:
If you have seen "The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau"
Then Doc Edgerton & ATG assisted and built photo/video equipment for them.
Herbert Keppler knew my uncle & doc and used the ATG Auto2 features.
Nice! My ETRS is a heavy beast also. A lot of high level pros used hasselblads. I had a large AGFA potato masher type flash I used as well.
@@m005kennedy That Bronica ETRS hurts *Hasselblad & Rolleiflex big time and affordable to many pros like you.
Did you ever used ATG's Metz 60CT series or ATG's Quantum QFlash or ATG's Contax 540 flash? Many are still working.
*ATG/Shiro (China) purchased, owned & then sold Hasselblad.
They fired most people in Sweden and disowned Carl Ziess.
ATG/Shiro flew to Japan & gave them specs on making AF lenses.
The birth of ATG's world's first APS medium digital cameras with better lenses than Germany.
@@angelisone no. I was strickly a part timer. So I was limited in equipment. I think I shot about 80 weddings. I'm sure a lot of pros did that amount each year. I did more economy level weddings.
@@m005kennedy That was no bad for being a part timer. Those were the days when photographers are respected.
Today, one has one cheap camera body, 6 lenses & maybe 1 flash -he or she will claims as a professional photographer.
The Vivitar 283 still held the records on most sold just like the ATG's Canon AE-1 (notices the "A") and Pentax K1000.
nice i spent 20
This sounds as if the 283 is something special, _"unique"_ (@2:04) LMAO! But it's typical for its time : photocell metering, thyristor control, tilt head. In fact the 283 was _behind_ in its rivals in several ways - no swivel (can't ceiling bounce in portrait format), no dedication, no TTL (Look at that _single_ contact @5:20 - he seems reluctant to show us!), and worst of all _high trigger voltage_ on some of them will burn out a modern camera. On top of that, I've heard the foot is prone to break off.
In its day it was cheap for the power, but all this old stuff is under $20 today whatever the power. Yes, $1.99 sounds about right for this thing.
@2:36, talking generally about TTL flash in a tone like it is a 283 feature - _it isn't_ . And BTW, @3:19, it takes AA not AAA batteries. www.cameramanuals.org/flashes_meters/vivitar_283_larger.pdf
The Vivitar 383 was special. It’s size, power, versatility and price made it a winner for many photographers. I shot many weddings with them and it never fallen me. Of course that was in the days of film. Did you actually use these flashes or are you just expressing an opinion not base on actual using it. I had other larger flashes that would be classed more like potato mashers, but I like the Vivitar better. And dedicated electronic flashes that interface with digital SLRs are very expensive to get to that same power level. You heard the foot broke off? But did it happen to you? None of my 283s had a foot break off. So just so I know how many weddings or similar did you shoot with it to have an opinion based on personal experience. I’m sure I did at least 60, maybe 80 weddings with the 283. There were photographers with a lot more money than I that used them rather than more expensive flashes. People even bought third party battery banks for them to be used in event photography. And not having TTL was no problem for shooting weddings. I could easily shot a wedding with a Flash with the same specs that would interface with my Nikon SLR. But again are you using other people’s reviews and not your own experience?
PS how old are you? Were you an adult during this era trying to make money with your camera? I can’t imagine you would have written this long reply without any firsthand experience.
@@m005kennedy The Vivitar 283 had some some good features for its time, and I don't doubt you got good wedding photos with it (my father managed it with flash bulbs), but my point is that even if you are interested in old flash units (and I am) there is nothing special about it today. Other film era units in that category are better. For example the Sunpak 383 which has the same GN, but can swivel as well as tilt, can switch to variable manual mode without changing a plug-in module, and has a safe low trigger voltage. In fact it looks like what the Vivitar 283 should have been, and it gets good reviews www.photographyreview.com/product/flash-and-lighting/flashes/sunpak/383-super.html.
Moreover, by the 1980s there were increasing numbers of units with camera dedication - at least flash ready viewfinder indication, and at best TTL flash control. Even independent makers offered it. You point out the auxiliary contacts on your camera, and even talk about TTL flash, but they are irrelevant to the presentation because the 283 does not pick up those contacts - but a viewer who did not know better might think it did.
I have used plenty of flash units, own six at the moment, but never the 283; but you don't need to have owned one to learn and state some basic facts about it, as I have done. These are facts : it does not swivel, has no dedication or TTL capability, you must change the module to get manual power graduations, and worst of all some 283s have a high trigger voltage. Vivitar changed the design to lower the trigger voltage at some point, but irresponsibly failed to change the name, so if you buy one it is a lottery whether you get a low or high voltage one. I do research before I buy anything, and it has never led me to buy a 283. I prefer to learn by research, not by mistakes. Notice I have deliberately refrained from saying anything about its usability because I have not used it.
It may have been good value for money in its day (compared with camera brand units), but that does not matter now. Most film era flash units sell for peanuts these days anyway.
As for the weak foot, I have seen that comment many times, in these reviews for example www.pentaxforums.com/accessoryreviews/vivitar-283.html and in other reviews of the 283 elsewhere on TH-cam itself. The trouble is that it is a big heavy unit to be perched on a camera hotshoe. That is one reason for more powerful units to be in the form of hammerheads, or potato mashers you call them, even though they have gone out of fashion now.
PS : As for my age, I am old enough. This is about flash units, not personalities.
You really have no actually experience on using this nor the 285 & 285HV.
ATG made & sold over 3,000,000 to Max Pond (bet you never heard that name without searching.
And as a broken hotshoe, many pros and even amateurs didn't break the hosthoe.
And speaking of plastic hotshoe, even OEM flashes have plastic hotshoes.
You are probably lost on knowing how to use ATG Auto2 mode.
Name me a flash model that sold over 3,000,000, Duke Nukem?
Even the best Canon & Nikon & Olympus flashes did not come close.
Ever heard or use Metz 60CT-4 and Quantum QFlashes? Not exactly cheap.
Well, they were from ATG's
@@dukenukem5768 You were just a kid. Show some respects.
I used Hasselblad for doing high clients. 12 shots with 283, 285 & 285HV.
Many today claimed to be photographers will be lost on just how to operate a Hasselblad.
If you didn't have Photoshop, you and many can't even nail 12 shots.
FYI:
I have no problem in bouncing the flash and make it (283/285/285HV) work better than today TTL flashes.