Sunpak auto 244D
- Thread starter weebee
- Start date
I am not familiar with it, but I would say it is of no use today.
The manual is at http://www.cameramanuals.org/flashes_meters/sunpak_244d.pdf
It says there is a version of it for Nikon (do the flash foot contact pins match your cameras hot shoe pins? Which is relatively less important since the rest is so out of date, it could not communicate even if the pins did match).
And it says it does TTL, but that is old film TTL, and it obviously cannot do todays digital iTTL with a Nikon DSLR.
Conceivably, old flashes can stiil do Manual flash mode with todays cameras, but its instruction manual says or shows nothing about other modes - only film TTL. I don't think this one can do manual flash, no menu to select or set it.
And you surely want iTTL flash anyway. iTTL is automatic point&shoot flash, like the cameras internal flash does.
Manual flash means it is YOU that has to properly set the flash power level for every picture, to get a correct exposure.
Which is not hard to learn, but manual flash is anything but point&shoot automatic flash.
The manual is at http://www.cameramanuals.org/flashes_meters/sunpak_244d.pdf
It says there is a version of it for Nikon (do the flash foot contact pins match your cameras hot shoe pins? Which is relatively less important since the rest is so out of date, it could not communicate even if the pins did match).
And it says it does TTL, but that is old film TTL, and it obviously cannot do todays digital iTTL with a Nikon DSLR.
Conceivably, old flashes can stiil do Manual flash mode with todays cameras, but its instruction manual says or shows nothing about other modes - only film TTL. I don't think this one can do manual flash, no menu to select or set it.
And you surely want iTTL flash anyway. iTTL is automatic point&shoot flash, like the cameras internal flash does.
Manual flash means it is YOU that has to properly set the flash power level for every picture, to get a correct exposure.
Which is not hard to learn, but manual flash is anything but point&shoot automatic flash.
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I'd have to see that.
True of flashes that have manual mode, but how would you set manual power level on this one?Mfrankfort
Senior Member
A flash is a flash. Get some cheap triggers, and your good to go.
LouCioccio
Senior Member
Bookmark this page Photo Strobe Trigger Voltages
Scroll down to Sunpak 244D and someone says its 34v way too much on most digital cameras. You use a wein safe sync and put that in between the flash and hot shoe.
Lou Cioccio
Scroll down to Sunpak 244D and someone says its 34v way too much on most digital cameras. You use a wein safe sync and put that in between the flash and hot shoe.
Lou Cioccio
? There is no sensor. TTL uses the hot shoe communication, called CLS today. Camera requests a preflash, and meters it, and then communicates again via hot shoe to set the flash power level.
The unit possibly might flash on hot shoe, but on DSLR, the flash power level will be undetermined and is not controllable. It has no manual mode.
? The flash is only a flash if it can do Manual mode for the trigger. My bet is that this one cannot. Instruction manual makes no mention of any Manual mode.
I see it say 7.55 volts there, but these numbers are really just random hearsay by parties that may or may not know what they are doing. If you really want to know, you better measure yours yourself. And the Wein SafeSync costs $50, money better invested in a more current flash, IMO.
Even if otherwise, the warning is possibly true and important and needed on some cameras, but the Nikon DSLR is rated to handle up to 250 volts sync voltage. This is in all the Nikon DSLR camera manuals, section OPTIONAL FLASH UNITS (SPEEDLIGHT), where it says "Use only Nikon flash accessories". Or search the PDF manual for "250 V". 34 volts is higher than todays norm, but is still nothing, not a concern. 300 volts would be a concern.
But this one flash has no compatible mode anyway (no manual flash mode either).
Sorry Wayne thats why i ask,the word thyristor i thought stood for the sensor type control and the green circle looked to have a sensor in it,ime using my age as an excuse
I agree, the green circle does look like a sensor. Or maybe a logo? And thyristor is control, for TTL, but manual also needs a menu for humans to enter their goals.
Most flashes, esp of that era, did also have a non-TTL Auto mode, where the flash body itself monitors light (via such a front sensor), light reflected by from its flash, and quenches the thyristor off when sufficient. This also means it needs to obtain camera ISO and f'/stop to know what is sufficient, either from hot shoe communication, or manual entry in a menu. And that could still work that way today (with manual entry of ISO and f/stop), but this user manual makes no mention of it.
Reconsidering, I may be wrong about no manual mode. I realize now that the slide switch at left appears to select A (auto) or M (manual), on next to last page. However, it shows no menu to set manual flash power. Instead it appears to use guide number information (f/stop and distance). It appears to tell you which f/stop to use, but I don't how you tell it distance? Which maybe could be made to work, but anyone reasonable surely wants a more modern flash.
Mfrankfort
Senior Member
Is the flash a TTL flash? I'm not firmilar with it. If so, get the RF-603. They work with my flashes in TTL somehow. Even though everyone said "no" lol
That's twice. You are fooling yourself, and attempting to give others bad information. I think that is a bad thing, which should be discouraged. The forum instead needs correct information.
Yes, everyone is of course right. There is absolutely NO WAY that trigger can do TTL. Neither can this flash (not digital iTTL, which the DSLR does).
You may have seen it trigger a flash in TTL mode once (shorting the foot center pin will trigger it, you can use a paper clip to trigger it), but it is not programmed for a power level. There is zero control over the exposure. The paper clip does not to TTL either.
Try it again two times, once as direct flash, and once as bounce flash with flash head aimed up at ceiling, and come back and tell us again all about how its TTL gives you two correct and usable exposures.
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Mfrankfort
Senior Member
I tried it more than twice. Not as a bounce flash, but as a direct flash. I have pictures proving it... not sure why you don't believe me. When I set it to TTL it gives me a pretty even exposure. When I hit mode once, and switch to M 1/1 it gives me a bright white picture. You can come to MI and I can show you if you want... I have no reason to lie about this. That's why I asked if anyone has tried it, because it's working for my situation. I have no benefit of lying. The only thing I can't do is conrol the output from the camera.
Mfrankfort
Senior Member
The trigger just tells the flash to fire, and the flash does the TTL work I'm guessing... But it's giving me a good exposure. I can try bouncing it if that would make you happy, and see the results. But I have pictures proving it's "working". I've taken them off and back on prob 20 times, no pins or anything. I just set it to slave off, and it fires.
Sure, it fires, a paper clip will fire it, but it is not metered or programmed TTL. There is so much more to it than "firing". I think you are seeing "firing", but missing all the rest.
No flash "does TTL work". TTL means Through the Lens metering. The camera meters the TTL preflash, and decides everything. Then the camera communication programs the TTL flash with the appropriate TTL power level for that next flash. A TTL flash simply follows communicated orders. There is no means to do this on that trigger. You don't even have a TTL preflash. And for another example, that trigger also works with PC cord connection. PC cord is one wire, and is limited to manual flash by definition.
There is no significance of bounce flash, the TTL preflash is still metered, so that the flash TTL power level can be programmed. I mentioned bounce because bounce normally requires lots of power (2 or 3 stops more, 4 or 8 times more power), where direct flash is normally low power. So both cases are two widely different power levels, which TTL can meter and program, but your "setup" cannot. You might halfway luck out with one case, but you cannot get two correct exposures with bounce and direct in the same place. If you want to show pictures as evidence, those pictures should be near distance vs far distance, or bounce vs direct, or umbrella vs direct, etc, but different cases obviously requiring metering TTL to set different power levels - which TTL can handle, but your "setup" cannot. You might include cases showing that camera Flash Compensation can control the TTL level. Yours can do none of that. But if you think so, at least show some correct exposures in widely different power situations.
Other evidence of course would be to show advertising specs from Yongnuo advising the trigger can relay TTL. They apparently are unaware that they did all the work to design that in. To fire it is just one shorted wire signal, on or off. But to request TTL preflash, and then to program numeric power level, and then fire it, is communication very vastly more. The specs and manual certainly would mention that.
Sorry, I did not imply lying. I think you just didn't know and are mistaken. The worry is if you repeat it often publicly here, some poor sole might believe it, and buy something that cannot deliver what was promised. Bad things do need correction.
A TTL flash surely does have some unprogrammed power level. For example, in the case of the Test button on the flash, press it and it also fires. But TTL power is also unprogrammed then. Nikon TTL flashes simply do 1/16 power at the Test button (because there is no programmed TTL level). I don't know your specific case, but you are seeing something like that. If it is something like 1/16 power, you might even luck out at some average direct flash that way, and confuse yourself to false conclusions (but any accuracy would obviously be very crude). There is greatly more to it than just "firing". Show us some of that.
So I am suggesting to convince yourself by trying obviously different situations needing different power level, so you can see it obviously fails then. That is the purpose of TTL, and your triggers cannot do it.
Mfrankfort
Senior Member
My flash is smarter than your flash. ;-) Just kidding. I'll try the different distances. Maybe it's just firing at low power... but it is firing in TTL mode. Most stuff I've read, people can only get it to fire in M. Which is why I was confused, and it was giving me a pretty decent exposure in TTL. But maybe that was just firing at low, and it worked out that way. I'll try the distance/bounce thing. Heading to Frankenmuth now.
I think they should all "fire" if in TTL mode (iTTL mode). Again, simply shorting the foot center pin with a paper clip will do that, that is simply how hot shoe flashes are triggered. No camera is required to just "fire" it. The Test button will "fire" it too, don't even need the paper clip.
But there is is a lot more to TTL - there is no metered and programmed TTL intelligence without more elegant communication - to furnish a requested preflash to be metered, and then to accept the programmed TTL power level from the camera.
But there is is a lot more to TTL - there is no metered and programmed TTL intelligence without more elegant communication - to furnish a requested preflash to be metered, and then to accept the programmed TTL power level from the camera.