off camera flash - time to up my game / skill

[marlunn]

Folks,

After much humming and hawing I am going to bite the bullet and do off camera flash and make a macro flash rig, so question is -

With a Nikon D7100 can I use this cable to manage any flashgun - Nikon SC-28 TTL Remote Cord

I have a 'slightly' old Vivitar Auto Thyristor 530FD gun available to me at this time - it has TTL listed, or am I restricted to Nikon Speedlights only with it.

thanks for assistance in advance

Mark

[Manfred M]

Older flashes had higher trigger voltages than the more modern ones, so unless you know what it is for the flash and the specs on what the D7100 can take, that is a risk.

As for TTL listed, that likely means "transitor-transistor-logic", which would be about the type of circuitry the flash uses, rather than "through the lens" flash metering found in modern camera / flash. The fact that they mention that the flash is thyristor controlled suggests that it is a fairly old design with very rudimentary automation. This type of control has a sensor in the flash itself cut off the flash once it detects a certain amount of light (kind of what TTL does), but this is controlled by the flash, with no communications with the camera.

If the flash does work, I strongly suspect that you will be shooting it 100% manually, and unless you have a flash meter, you will either be setting it up by manually calculating exposures based in the flash guide number or shooting "trial & error" using your histograms.

Not the easiest way to learn flash.

[inkista]

The botzilla page (at least cached at Google) lists the Vivitar 530FC and 550FD as having sync voltage around 8V-9V. Your D7100 can take +250V (manual, page 303), so you're probably safe, voltage-wise.

A TTL cable should let you fire any ISO-compatible hotshoe flash from the camera in sync, but will only have additional control over iTTL-capable Nikon flashes with the matching pin/contact pattern on the foot. As Manfred says, you're liable to have manual-only control over the Vivitar, and that control is not the usual power ratios (1, 1/2, 1/4, etc.), but by guide number (distance and f-numbers).

BTW, found the manual online.

With off-camera flash, you're not necessarily restricted to Nikon-only flashes, but it all depends on how much function you want. If you want to use iTTL, or FP flash, or to control the flash's power output from the camera menu rather than the flash's own controls (more important if you have to walk across the room or outside the room to adjust the flash), then you need a flash that's iTTL-compatible, and a triggering method that will communicate that information (e.g., TTL cable; TTL radio triggers). If you just want to fire it in sync with the shutter and you'll set the power level yourself, then nearly any manual flash and triggering system can work. I would also say that, since you want to use this rig for macro shooting, that you look at the capability of the flash to dial down the power levels. The inverse-square law sometimes means that used very close to the subject, a flash can be too powerful.

[marlunn]

Thanks both, I think I will go on the side of the cable and a modern gun to get the most control.