P3D RE: twin SLR

["Wladyslaw Reksc" <wlad@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Title: RE: twin SLR

> Wlad (may I call you that?)

Sure you can, I encourage all people to use it; it's much easier then the full version ;-).
>
> Thank you for this information.  Would you mind please elaborating on
> "just... connect the sockets."  Do you connect the sockets with a
> commercially available cable that has two male plugs,

You could do that, but it's a bit too expensive. True, I bought an original remote release Pentax cable, but I use it just for that purpose - remote release when the cameras are on a tripod. Hand held shooting is done without it. Cameras are connected all the time by the cable I made myself. Remote control sockets in the camera are slightly narrower then most electronic sockets on the market. I bought an average female socket from electronic hobby shop, shaved it a bit to make it slimmer, then cut a piece with three holes and inserted easily into the camera terminal. Of course, I soldered 3 wires before that. From my experiments I found out that it is possible to use straight connection between two cameras, but just in case (to isolate the cameras a bit) I put diodes in series on preset and shutter release signals.

> What would be the cable designation (if I were to want to
> order from B+H for example).

I don't understand what you have in mind. Are you asking me about the cable pinout or just the part number? I was lucky and I bought my cable used, so I don't know the original price. It is called "Cable Switch F". The pinout is the following (from left to right, looking at the connector and having a slanted mark at the left top): ground, release, preset.

> I assume the cameras also have PC sockets for triggering
> external flashes?

But of course. And a good part is that it doesn't have a built-in toy-flash. There is a small problem though. If you want to use one flash for both cameras, the shutter speed should be 1/30. Even with 1/60 I was getting occasionally partly exposed picture on the camera without the flash (on 36 exp. roll of film I got 3 of those). With 1/30 I took 3 full rolls (3x36)x2 and all of them were correct. I was surprised to find out that this low speed doesn't introduce any motion blur - flash light does "fast timing" well enough (my last shots were taken in Cuba during Tropicana show with lots of fast dancing and they are great).

Wlad

P.S. If this message again contains HTML trash, it's not my fault. I send it as plain text (as before). Call Billy G. to complain about his product MS Outlook.