Remote flash triggering of old high voltage Sunpak Autozoom 3000

[DennisS]

I am using an old SunPak AutoZoom 3000 with a Wein adapter on my hotshoe (Nikon D5100). What are my options if I were to consider using the flash remotely?

The Wein Adapter has a PC Sync socket (female) and the flash has a 3 inch cord (male) too. At this time, it appears the only option for me would be to use a longer cord to fire the flash remotely. The camera does not have a wireless mode.

Is there a Wireless solution that I could rig up - optical or otherwise? Of course, the solution has to be able to handle the high voltage needed to trigger the flash.

[ajohnw]

There are a number of wireless flash unit's about. One end fits in the hot shoe on your camera and the other end usually has a flash shoe and a flash socket.. You would need to find out how many volts the flash gun end can take.

A search for flash gun trigger voltage brings up info on that aspect as far as the guns are concerned. There has been a private site that received emails of people who had measured particular guns about for a long time and posted the results. Of late some posher sites seem to have grabbed the lime light.

There is another way of choosing guns as well if they are auto types with a sensor. Some do not have the sliding shutter over the sensor to alter the sensitivity just a switch often on the back. These are bound to be purely electronic and will use much lower trigger voltages but it's still best to check really.
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[DennisS]

I found this link and it appears the Cactus V4/V5 have high voltage capability:

http://www.lightingrumours.com/flash-triggering-guide

[jcuknz]

Of course there are always the Seagulls for an inexpensive way of doing it if you are working on your own
They are optical triggers which can be triggered in sync by the camera's on-board flash which can be shielded from the subject matter.
This is rather old technology and I cannot help wondering if the outlay on these would be better put to part payment of a YongNuo flash which come with a built in optical trigger. I have several units from pre-YN days
Some models come with a shoe to attach to camera hot shoe, others with a quarter Whitworth thread for tripod/stand mounting ... most come with PC socket for the sync cable.

The one on the left has a suction cup to attach it to my old Sunpak flash

[inkista]

I am using an old SunPak AutoZoom 3000 with a Wein adapter on my hotshoe (Nikon D5100). What are my options if I were to consider using the flash remotely?

The usual suspects would be a sync cable, [dumb] optical slave, or radio triggers. Since the Sunpak is a manual-only flash, you don't need to bother sussing out TTL-capable triggering systems. Unless you want iTTL/remote commanding/HSS/2nd curtain sync. In which case, get a different speedlight.

The Wein Adapter has a PC Sync socket (female) and the flash has a 3 inch cord (male) too. At this time, it appears the only option for me would be to use a longer cord to fire the flash remotely. ...

The adapter's PC sync socket will allow you to attach a PC sync cable to the camera, if you get a hotshoe adapter for the camera. This would probably be the most reliable solution, but has the hassles of the cord and connectors and adapters. And PC connectors can be a pain.

You could get an optical slave to plug into the PC port of the adapter. This is probably the cheapest solution, but has the disadvantages of line-of-sight requirements (slave has to see the pop-up flash burst from the camera, and the camera pop-up must be set to Manual to avoid early triggering with TTL preflash), limited range in bright sunlight, and the fact that any passing stranger with a P&S camera with the flash on can set it off.

OTOH, if you're going to go this route, you might also want to consider getting something supercheap like a YN-560 off Amazon (US$45), which has a PC sync port built in, two dumb optical slave modes (one that can ignore a TTL preflash), and roughly as much power output as an SB-700, and a sync voltage of <4V so you can use it directly on the hotshoe.

Or, you could get cheap radio triggers, like the Cactus V5 (max. sync voltage limit is 300V, iirc. Stay away from the Yongnuo YN-602/YN-603 units, they max out around 11V and your Sunpak will fry them). The units connect directly to the camera and flash hotshoes, so you don't need to worry about adapters or cables. And you aren't line-of-sight or range limited as with optical slaves.

[wobert]

Hi Dennis,
In Aus, I have purchased a 'HAHNEL Combi TF Remote Control & Flash Trigger' for about A$80
It has worked great both as a remote camera trigger (wireless cable release) and as a remote flash trigger.
I have use it with 500W Studio Flash/Strobes using its accessory cable with no worry about triggering voltages.
It is made specific for camera brands but has done all it claimed on my Nikon D80 D200
Could be the answer to your needs.
Have a look at this link-
http://www.hahnel.ie/index.cfm?page=...s&id=64&pId=64

[DennisS]

Thanks all, for the valuable information. I finally decided to purchase the Cactus V5 since it had good reviews and also could handle the high voltage. I received one in the mail when I thought I was getting two, due to misleading advertising on Amazon but the second one has been shipped already.

[photoguy]

I see this post is a couple of months old but this info may be of use. You don't have to use wireless triggers with a high voltage capability if you put the wein safe sync between the flash and the wireless receiver. Also you don't have to use the wein to mount the flash on the 5100 as it can easily handle the voltage. I've used various Sunpak flashes, including the Autozoom 3000 on Nikon DSLRs for many years without problem. If you decide to go old school and use a cable connection there is a remote sensor that can be attached to the flash for non ittl auto metering on camera of the Autozoom 3000 off camera.