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Hallo! I have purchased a F100. It's fantastic camera. But I have a problem: I have an old flash Metz BTC4 that works very well.
I read on F100 instruction booklet that it is not possible to use non-nikon flash because it's possible to damage both the camera and flash unit.
It's true or it's a part of nikon business policy? Can I use my Metz with my F100 without risks?
Thanks
Danilo Janno
 
> It's true or it's a part of nikon business policy?

If you think it is part of Nikon's business policy, go ahead and use any flash you want. If they are saying this to sell flash units, why pay any attention to them?

Hope you have money for a spare F100 however once the blue smoke pours out.

> Can I use my Metz with my F100 without risks?

I did not check, but probably not with an F100 or a Canon EOS or a Hasselblad H1, or any other camera that is not purely mechanical. I have a case of Vivitar 283s, none of which I would trust for any electronically controlled camera. They were built during the days before digital electronics and could have trigger voltages as high as 600V! Nikon says most of their 35mm cameras can take 12V, while Canon recommends no more than 6V.

For a LOT more information on the subject read: http://www.botzilla.com/photo/strobeVolts.html

If you choose to think this is just a marketing tactic, go ahead and ignore the warnings. If you believe that camera manufacturers and flash makers have dropped their voltages 100-fold just to sell new equipment, and screw you out of your money, by all means use your old stuff. No kid really understands mother's warnings until they touch the stove for themselves. Try it, the camera can always be replaced.

When you see blue smoke, inhale deeply. It will be the most expensive substance you will ever snort. Enjoy the moment. However, it will be up to you - not Nikon - to take responsibility for such behaviour.

larry! http://www.larry-bolch.com/ ICQ 76620504
 
Hallo! I have purchased a F100. It's fantastic camera. But I have a problem: I have an old flash Metz BTC4 that works very well.>

Probably not, but you could check with Metz, of course you would be ignoring Nikon's warning. Metz does produce 54MZ3 and 54MZ4 etc. and specifically designed SCA adapters to work with Nikon's including the F100.

http://www.metz.de/en/photo_electronics/adapter.143.html

I have used my 54MZ 3 with Hasselblad 203, Nikon F100, OM2, Contax N series, and 50 year old Contaflex and I have not let the smoke out yet.
But, remember the unit was designed to work with today's technology.

If you only plan to use the flash on a Nikon then I would check out the latest Nikon flash units as I believe the F100 is too good of a camera to take a chance with an old flash unit.

Good Luck

Gilbert
 
WHile I won't use my VIvitar 283 on the F100, I can report that it works very well with the Panasonic Lumix 5MP digital camera (Z20 or something like that) - set the camera to aperture preferred f2.8 or f4, set the flash as well, and bingo! great lighting for large areas without the annoying shadow caused by the lens shade blocking the pop-up flash.

BobF
 
Ok! Thank You! I have measured the trigger voltage of my Metz: 240V! I think that it's better to buy anoter one for my F100!
I don't want to "see blue smoke"
crazy.gif

Thank You Larry!!
 
I have recently thrown caution to the wind and bought a new f100. (by caution I mean ignoring the digital revolution) It malfunctionned briefly today and now I'm left with a sinking feeling. Basically I was shooting in some combination of the AF modes and suddenly it simply would not autofocus. No error message -- in fact it behaved exactly as it would if I was holding down the af lock button (which, incidentally, I had just used for the first time and YES I let go of it before trying to focus again)in that the middle af point still lit up red but the motor simply wouldn't drive.
I turned it on and off -- nothing. I took the camera off the tripod and I guess I must have took up the rotational slack that Rich Walton mentionned in a previous post and this seemed to solve the problem. It was nonetheless quite disturbing. I was using an afs lens and an afs teleconverter that I've used without issue on my f80. Is it possible that since it is an afs with an internal motor, then the contact for this probably draws a larger current than those that are purely for data purposes, causing it to be more prone to dirty contact syndrome? Could the 'taking up the slack' have re-established the connection? If this was so, this problem could never show up on a non-afs lens since they are 'screw-driver' driven. Perhaps it has nothing to do with the contacts and I'm just trying to provide some sort of explanation to make myself feel better. I would be happy to know if this has happened to someone else and that it is a fairly common glitch and that I don't have to send it off to Nikon where they will surely not be able to reproduce let alone diagnose such a subtle problem.
 
> Scott, I tossed caution to the wind and purchased a D70 in December last > year. Twas the best move I ever made. I've taken 16,676 images on it so > far, and the 'Ole F90x has been collecting dust ever since. I too have had > the AF come to a grinding halt. After a few major panics I have found that > a slight tweak of the lens seems to get things going again. I've just given the camera and lens pins a clean with meths and a cotton bud. Seems to have sorted out the problem as they had a fair bit of dirt on them. I'm running a Sigma DC 18-125 and a Sigma 70-200 2.8D EX APO. I also have the Sigma 2x APO Tele Converter. I found out, by accident, that 1 has to place the converter on the lens 1st, and not onto the camera body 1st, otherwise the AF gets real exciting. The order didn't matter when I was using MF lens years ago. I hope this may help. Cheers, Ian Thornton.
 
Thank you for the prompt and relevant feedback, Ian! It is quite a relief to hear that dirty contacts can in fact be an AF issue and that my camera may not be a dud! Just so I fully understand, this happened for you on the D70 or on the f90?

Thanks
 
> Guys, this can also happen if you have your flash set to red-eye reduction, as it sometimes takes a brief moment for those laser machine gun bursts to get out to the subject and back and then for the computer to calculate the distance and focus. I learned this a couple years ago and since then have never used red-eye reduction on my flash settings at the camera. >
 
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