QUESTION, Leica M2 - Connecting a Vivitar 283 flash.

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1 of the reasons that Leitz said that they developed their own proprietary connection was that PC connectors were sometimes considered to be "fall off" connectors by people using them for flash at the time that the M3 was introduced.

Nikon used a PC flash socket on their flash (strobe) units which had a female thread around its collar so that an appropriate cable could be screwed into it and couldn't come off easily. Great idea, but unfortunately few cables use the male threaded collar. Nikon produced one though - the Nikon SC-11 - and there are now copies of this available too. I actually use these in underwater housings when running older, manual strobes, which can be of high enough trigger voltage to damage hotshoe electronics. I wire in the PC socket (usually voltage protected) using half an SC-11. If a PC cable disconnects underwater inside a housing its game (dive) over so it makes good sense to have as secure a connector as possible!