Film external flash

lucien

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I have a Minolta maxxum A7. I ordered a few lens and they came with a flash . The model of the flash is Maxxum 2800 AF. It works by itself because I tested it. Put batteries in and hit the test button. And it fired. The manual for the camera said that this flash needs an hot shoe adapter which I ordered and it stays on the flash. My question now is Can I test the flash on camera to see if it fires without having film inside? I don't want to waste 1/2 a roll just to find out and send the film in for processing, just to find out if it works or not. Can I turn the camera on without film and play around with the flash? If I need film to do it I will wait til I have something to shoot. The camera has an on board flash btw. It's a fully loaded 35mm SLR. Lot's of bells and whistles for a film camera. The heyday before digital took over/became popular

thanks in advance
 
I don't really know film cameras but my intuition says that if the camera can be fired (its shutter I mean) then it should also trigger the flash. Why not just try it?
 
Thanks, I can do that right now and let you know. The external won't fire while attached. It fires when I press the test button. The on board fires just fine. Your theory about the shutter being fired is correct
 
then everything stopped. By itself it works. Must be a communication problem with the hot shoe and the flash. I'll try again, it wasn't a battery issue. But it fires without film
 
Lucien, do you have an instruction manual for this camera? If not, you can download one. Search for 'Minolta Maxxum A7' instruction manual. The best one I found was on the buktus.org website. According to that manual, your flashgun is not the recommended one for that camera, which may explain why it is not working on camera! Hope this helps.
Edit. Further research suggests the Maxxum 2800AF is designed for the Maxxum 7000 & 9000 cameras.
 
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Lucien, do you have an instruction manual for this camera? If not, you can download one. Search for 'Minolta Maxxum A7' instruction manual. The best one I found was on the buktus.org website. According to that manual, your flashgun is not the recommended one for that camera, which may explain why it is not working on camera! Hope this helps.
Edit. Further research suggests the Maxxum 2800AF is designed for the Maxxum 7000 & 9000 cameras.
"this flash needs an hot shoe adapter which I ordered and it stays on the flash". Thanks Charles, this is a direct quote from the original post. I'll give it another shot. If anything, I'll just use the on board. Not much night time or low light film shooting going to happen anyways.

Yes it was the manual that mentioned the adapter with model #. Thanks
 
You can try the flash on any digital camera also.
As an external wirelessly? Are you sure that golden oldie can do that? I don't even know if ................ because it it test fires. It should mean it's functional. I don't have a manual for that flash. Ir or wireless is a very good suggestions Mike
 
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That's about all the physical evidence I can provide. Again it's not a necessity, it would be very nice to use this flash though. There is also another option. Those pins in the first photo look like they are for some sort of a cable that would go directly into the camera.
 
One of the problems is the non-standard pins that Minolta used.
I really hate cameras that used non-standard pins. Makes testing hard.

Once you can get the flash to fire.

The "old" way that we checked the flash was:
1) put the camera+flash on a tripod
2) set the sync speed
3) open the back of the camera
4) looking at the back of the camera, see if you see a flash when you fire the camera.
If you see the flash, that tells you that you are in the ballpark.

If that worked, the next step was to check the sync.
1) put a file card against the back of the camera showing only a small slit of part of the opening of the frame, say the left side.
2) fire, and see if you see light.
3) if that worked, reverse the file card, and put the slit opening on the right side.
4) fire and see if you see light.
You "should" see light on both sides of the frame.

The left/right presumes you have a horizontal focal plane shutter.
If your camera has a vertical shutter, rather than left/right, you use the card to make a slit on the top and bottom of the frame opening.
 
Newbie here so i hope my answer gets published.

No this flash does not have WL capability. The body does and the built-in flash would be the control unit in a basic WL configuration.
Only Minolta's 3500xi, 5400xi, 5400HS, 3600HS(D) and 5600HS(D) flash units had the WL capacity on The Maxxum 7. And only the last 2 models will work with digital bodies from either Sony or Minolta (in some cases with an additional hot shoe adapter for the latest Sony models.

Yes, it should work even without film in the camera.

The pins at the front were to use the optional Control Grip CG-1000 or AC adapter AC-1000.

The red window at the front of the flash was for the AF illuminator. It looks like the IR receiver of other flash units of the time but in this case, it is limited to that and only with bodies that do not require an adapter (Maxxum 5000, 7000 and 9000)

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thanks, but I'm not trying to use it wirelessly. I have the hotshoe adapter attached to the unit. I ordered the adapter specifically to use with this flash. Again it's an option the on board should be enough/fine for everyday use. It might be an incompatible unit. Body is a Maxxum A7
 
The instructions manual for Maxxum/Dynax/Alpha 7 specifies the following for accessory flash units:



The information in this manual is relevant for products introduced


before August 2000. Contact the nearest authorized Minolta


Service Facility to obtain information for products released after


this date.


Flash Units


• All Minolta i, si, and HS series flash units, and


the Vectis SF-1 flash, are compatible with this


camera.


• The Flash Shoe Adapter FS-1100 is required to


mount AF series flash units (4000AF, 2800AF,


1800AF, and Macro flash 1200AF).


• The AF illuminator will not activate when the


FS-1100 is attached.


• X-series flashes cannot be used with this camera.


• “D flash” in this manual indicate the flashes


whose name include “D”.




So it should work provide your adapter is the right one (Minolta FS-1100) and the bottom contacts on both the adapter and body top are clean
 
The flash unit is functional with a fresh set of batteries of the unit. So we are back to square 1. It fires hi and low there is a refresh rate but fully functional

I do have the FS-1100 hot shoe adapter for the Maxxum 2800 AF

Thanks,
 
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2800AF flash plus Dynax adapter is correct. Clean all terminals on flash, shoe adapter and hotshoe (easier said than done - may need to scrape the camera shoe with a screwdriver) with an emery board or better still a proper contact cleaner and have another go.

I can't remember how the Dynax series cameras behaved with no film in. ISO will default to 100. Ask around the family to see if anyone's got any unprocessed/exposed ancient film around the house.
 
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