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BetterPhoto Member		how to use a vivitar 5200 flash Hi, I have a vivitar 5200 flash and I have never used it.I would like to use it with a mamiya 645.I dont have the manual for the flash and I have never used one before.Any suggestions would be appreciated To love this question, log in above February 28, 2002

John A. Lind		Sue, I have limited knowledge about the Vivitar 5200; hopefully someone else has actually used one and can fill in the different operating modes for it. What I do know about it is Vivitar made various modules for it to allow TTL control by popular cameras in production at the time Vivitar made the 5200. A couple of questions: There are a number of different "Mamiya 645" cameras around: (a) original M645, M645j and M645-1000S (b) M645 Super (c) 645E (d) 645 Pro TL (e) 645AF Which one do you have? I have the original M645 and it cannot control flash output. With a "waist level" finder the X-Sync PC socket on the left side near the top rear of the body is used, and a cable is run from it to the flash. The M645 prism finders have a hot shoe on top with a single center contact for triggering a flash if its mounted there (also can be used instead of the X-Sync PC socket to run a hot shoe adapter and cable to the flash). With an M645 you have two options for flash usage (using either the PC socket or a prism finder hot shoe): (1) An "auto" flash must be able to control itself using its own built-in sensor. This is what I usually do with a number of flash heads. (2) The alternative is running the flash in "manual" mode and using its guide number and subject distance to set the lens aperture. If the 5200 can be triggered using a cord (this allows mounting it on a flash bracket), there should be a small socket (round hole) on the side of your flash that takes a miniature phone plug on one end of a flash trigger cord. The other end of the trigger cord would have a PC plug to fit the PC socket on the camera body. I use a flash bracket with the M645, mount the flash head(s) on the bracket, and run a trigger cable to the camera. If your 5200 has more than a single center contact on its hot shoe, I don't recommend mounting it in a prism finder hot shoe. The M645 prism finder hot shoe is likely to short out other contacts as it is all metal except for a small ring around the center contact. You can also end up the additional contacts hanging up on the outer metal ring around the contact making it difficult to remove the flash (been there, done that, and had to disassemble the prism hot shoe). -- John To love this comment, log in above March 01, 2002

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