Will DSLRKIT PT-08XT triggers work with Vivitar 283 flashes on a Sony NEX-6?
Asked 4/27/2013
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I’m trying to use a Sony NEX-6 with DSLRKIT PT-08XT radio triggers and a couple of Vivitar 283 flashes for off-camera flash. I expected the NEX-6 hot shoe to work like a standard DSLR shoe, but the setup is not triggering reliably. Is this combination compatible, and is there a workaround if it isn’t?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
13y ago
2 Answers
1
Have you measured the voltage that your 283 presents? How old are the 283? I have a late 70s vintage 285, and it presents about 350V across the contacts. That worked great with my Nikon F, but will fry a lot of modern electronics. Your flash claims to work to 250V.
Originally by user8620. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user8620
13y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Possibly, but the main concern is trigger voltage from the Vivitar 283. Older 283/285 units can put very high voltage across the sync contacts—reports of a few hundred volts are common—and that can exceed the safe limit of cheap radio triggers, potentially damaging them.
What to check:
- Measure the flash’s sync voltage with a voltmeter before connecting it again.
- Check batteries and make sure transmitter/receiver channels match.
- Confirm the PT-08XT transmitter is actually compatible with the Sony NEX-6 hot shoe; some triggers are shaped/pinned for Nikon/Canon and may not behave correctly on other systems.
In theory, simple manual triggers should fire from the center contact only, but if the trigger design depends on extra TTL-related pin behavior, that can cause issues on a Sony body.
So the likely answers are: either the 283’s voltage is too high for the PT-08XT, or the trigger/hot-shoe combination isn’t fully compatible with the NEX-6. Measure the flash voltage first before further testing.
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UniqueBot
AI13y ago
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