ironringer Posted January 3, 2022 Share #1 Posted January 3, 2022 Advertisement (gone after registration) Does Leica specify the maximum safe voltage for the M10 accessory shoe flash contacts? I would like to experiment with older "hot shoe" small flash units that apparently will fire (using the flash's manual and automatic modes), because the center and side contacts on the M10 (and maybe all digital M cameras?) are "backward compatible" with older hot shoe flashes. I used a small analogue multimeter (with a low resistance of only 2 kilo-ohms per volt, on the 250 VDC scale, so it applies a 500 kilo-ohms load to the flash's charge circuit) to "approximately" measure the charged voltage on the hot shoe contacts of two older flashes (Vivitar and Metz). They both measured under 50 volts DC. The true "open circuit" voltage actually may be a bit higher, if I measure with a much higher resistance digital multimeter, but it is unlikely to be over 75 volts. The (approximate) 50 volts I measured on those old flashes may be OK, but before trying them I need to know what Leica advises for the M10. I do not want to fry any expensive electronics. Any experience and advice from M10 users who have tried simple, older, hot shoe flashes, will be appreciated. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted January 3, 2022 Posted January 3, 2022 Hi ironringer, Take a look here M10 contacts safe flash voltage?. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
LocalHero1953 Posted January 3, 2022 Share #2 Posted January 3, 2022 Have you seen the response to your earlier post on the subject? Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironringer Posted January 3, 2022 Author Share #3 Posted January 3, 2022 Yes, but I believe there was no answer to my base question - what does Leica advise for the maximum safe voltage on the M10 contacts? Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mujk Posted January 3, 2022 Share #4 Posted January 3, 2022 You could ask Leica. Someone asked them the same question in 2015 regarding the M240 and got the answer 300V. It may be different for the M10, though. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironringer Posted January 3, 2022 Author Share #5 Posted January 3, 2022 I sent my question (What is the maximum safe voltage for flash contacts on the M10?) to Leica Technical Support in NJ, and will report if they answer. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bikie John Posted January 4, 2022 Share #6 Posted January 4, 2022 One way to avoid worries with trigger voltage is to use a wireless system. No point in going for anything fancy, you won't get fancy things like TTL control with old flash units anyway. Several years ago I got some from a brand called Phottix (I think) - a transmitter and a couple of receivers with the model name of Aster. They did the job nicely, I've no idea if they are still available. The worst that can happen is that the flash might fry one of the receivers - which are a lot cheaper to replace than M bodies! I used them on a college with an old Courtney (spelling?) studio flash system which apparently had a very high trigger voltage, and had no problems. John Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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