Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/04/11
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]SNIP -- Harrison McClary wrote: > >The device is called the Varipower Vivitar VP-1. SNIP -- Harrison, Your post stirred me to action, some simple research, and the keyboard. One of my flash units is a 285. The Vivitar 285HV comes with the Varipower unit (1/2 power to 1/16 for flash fill, different f/ stop, faster recycle, etc.) installed on the front of the flash unit. The Vivitar 283 is priced new at about $85, and the Vivitar 285HV (with Varipower) costs about $105 at camera stores. The separate Varipower VP-1 Sensor for the 283 costs about $40 dollars (making the 285HV the preferred unit). Both the 283 and the 285HV can be purchased for a few dollars less by mail. As most LUGGERS are aware, the primary problems with either unit (and most other hot shoe flash mounts) are the dead weight of the unit on the camera body shoe and top plate, and the plastic foot on the flash unit, which reportably can shear or break. Harrison, thanks for your prior postings concerning incident light and metering. The early Leica Meter MC, which was used on the M3 and M2, had incident metering capabilities with an opaque plastic attachment that slipped over the cell. Your thoughts were a good push for me to again use separate incident metering and not just rely on in-camera TTL metering. Regards, Bill Caldwell sneeker@erols.com