Re: V-M Personal Flash

[P3D Paul E Baker <pebaker@xxxxxxxxxx>]

One way is to use a flash mounted in a hot shoe adapter attached to a
mounting bracket, with a home-made gizmo like this to make the necessary
electrical connections to the adapter's cord:
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It's a strip of brass with two holes in it.  One hole (shown on the right)
is for a 1/4"x20 screw which goes into the threaded hole in the top of
the camera.  The other hole is for a short piece of rigid plastic tubing 
(styrene or PVC, both usually available at better hobby shops) which
insulates a short piece of brass rod down its center.  The brass rod makes
contact with the "hot" terminal in the top of the camera.  Solder wires to
the brass strip and the top of the brass rod, and you've got your
connections.  Use epoxy to glue the rod into the plastic tube and the
tube into its hole in the brass strip (5-minute epoxy allows good working
time and is plenty strong).

Of course, you need to drill the two holes the proper distance apart, and
leave enough of the tube and rod "tip" sticking below the strip to provide
good mating with the contact in the top of the camera (use a thicker piece
of brass strip to get more springy tension at the mating contact when this
adapter is screwed in place).  Use a wing nut instead of an ordinary screw
for easier installation and removal.  This adapter is cheap, easy to make,
removeable, and doesn't require modifying the camera itself.

It isn't very difficult to adjust a V-M Personal's flash sync contacts
to work with electronic flash -- I end up having to do this each time I
replace the camera's shutter pad for someone, because getting to the
pad requires complete disassembly of the contacts.  Fortunately if all
you're doing is tweeking the sync timing, the contacts are accessible
right under the bottom cover, which is easy to remove.  Bending the
stationary (brass) contact, with needle-nose pliers, is usually all
that's needed.

Paul Baker
Naperville, IL
pebaker@xxxxxxxxxx


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