Flash will work on film camera but not digital?

Is there any reason an "economy" flash (Achiever 630AF) will work on a film
camera but not on a digital camera. I've been told this but see no reason for
it to be so.

The destination camera is Canon PowerShot G9.

Thanks.

In article ,
says...

Is there any reason an "economy" flash (Achiever 630AF) will work on a film
camera but not on a digital camera. I've been told this but see no reason for
it to be so.

The destination camera is Canon PowerShot G9.

Check the voltage between the center post and the flat part of shoe on
the flash. If it's over 6 volts it's possible that it can damage your
camera.

In article
,
DaveC wrote:

Is there any reason an "economy" flash (Achiever 630AF) will work on a film
camera but not on a digital camera. I've been told this but see no reason for
it to be so.

The destination camera is Canon PowerShot G9.


As mentioned by J. and Ryan, some older flashes were directly fired by a
mechanical switch contact in the camera. They may have too high an
open-circuit voltage or short-circuit current for use with cameras that
fire the flash electronically.

If you do a web search for that specific flash, you may find
specifications for it. It might have been sold as being compatible with
a particular camera. If it claims to be compatible with Canon EOS
cameras, it probably would work with the G9.

What if it is safe to use, but does not communicate with the G9's
electronics? If the flash is claimed to be "automatic", you can
manually set your camera's f/stop according to a calculator on the flash
body.

You also might be able to use it in completely manual mode. Set the
camera's shutter speed to something less than the maximum flash sync
speed. Then calculate the camera's f/stop based on the flash guide
number, camera ISO setting and the distance from flash to subject. The
flash may have a calculator for that too.

Fred

In article
, DaveC
wrote:

Is there any reason an "economy" flash (Achiever 630AF) will work on a film
camera but not on a digital camera. I've been told this but see no reason for
it to be so.

The destination camera is Canon PowerShot G9.

if it's designed for a film camera it probably has an older and no
longer used ttl system and that won't work with newer cameras.

you may be able to get it to work if it has a fully manual mode or an
automatic mode where the sensor on the camera adjusts the flash, no ttl
at all.

DaveC wrote:
Is there any reason an "economy" flash (Achiever 630AF) will work on a film
camera but not on a digital camera.

Yep.
Apart from the voltage on the contacts:
- the flash may depend on OTF-TTF (Off the film, through the
lens) metering. Sensors reflect very different from film,
so metering *during* the flash is not supported: there
needs to be a pre-shot metering flash.

- If the flash was designed and built before the protocols
for telling the flash "flash only a small flash" and "now
fire a 1/4 flash" etc. were designed, the flash wouldn't
know how to talk to the camera nor understand the camera
(nor have the smartness to stop the flash on it's own).

- Since the flash doesn't know how to properly talk to the
camera, it'll only work on
- full power only
- manual control (if available)
- "computer flash" with manually set aperture (basically the
flash detects how much light has been reflected and shuts
off based on that and the aperture) --- if available.

None of that is what most people expect from a flash (to
'just work' usually) ...

The destination camera is Canon PowerShot G9.

If the voltage is OK and you're willing to understand and really
*work* for the flash shots getting right, you should be fine.

If the flash is a "computer flash" with inbuild sensor, and you
fix your aperture, you might be able to be happy even with snap
shooting with little restrictions.

But if you want comfort and automatics, that's not really the
flash you want.

-Wolfgang