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12/17/2005 11:42:24 PM · #1 |
While doing my shoot today, the very first set, my camera got knocked over and gave me a heart attack. I couldn't get it to power back up! EEK! I was booked for the whole day! But then saw that the media door was open, *WHEW*
But then I notice my flash sitting across the floor. I picked it back up, put it back on the camera and saw it was listing to one side. The base had broken when it hit the floor. I had all the pieces and as long as I held it while shooting, well, as you can imagine, that didn't last long. So when I had a break, ran to the store a block away, got some super glue and fixed it. Or I thought I had. It gave me grief all day long. And I didn't have my big halogen lights set up because there simply was NO ROOM!
So in the very last set I finally had to go to automatic mode with on board flash. What a night mare, hopefully I'll be able to fix them in PS.
My question is this, where can I get another cheap flash to go with my camera. What is compatiable? I need another one, that's for sure and this one may be still usuable as a slave if I ever get that far but right now it's not worth anything when I hook it up to my camera :(
Deannda |
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12/18/2005 09:39:24 AM · #2 |
Superglue is really good for tensile strength, but if I can picture your camera setup correctly, I would guess that one of the side tabs has snapped off. Superglue is likely a poor choice here.
I would first take it down to a local plastics shop. Check your yellow pages.
I used to fix plastic bins at the food store I worked at. There's a chemical solvent called methylene chloride which melts certain types of polymers and then evaporates away. After 30 seconds, you don't have to hold it together anymore, and if left for 24 hours, it is usually as good as new... or pretty darn close anyhow. Methylene Chloride itself doesn't work on just any old polymer, so you should ask the techs at the plastics fabricators store to see if they can take a look at it and help you out.
A bottle of Methylene Chloride cost around 3 dollars, and the applicator syringe was around 1.29.
Make sure you put it on straight and hold it steady while it sets. Don't stress it before 24 hours has passed. (although it will seem pretty strong after 10 minutes - trust me on this one) Use enough to allow a bit of stuff to squeeze out the edges of contact, but don't overdo it.
Alternatively, you could try an epoxy. Epoxies are VERY strong. The only downside is that you would need to file it down a bit afterwards VERY carefully to make it fit the slot once again (possibly, you might be able to put it together and clean the surfaces of excess epoxy before it sets).
The local plastics store where I lived was called Industrial Plastics and Paint. You should be able to find something similar in the yellow pages. Otherwise, you could also call a paint store and ask them where to find that kind of business.
I can't seriously see it costing you more than 15 bucks to get a pretty good fix, maybe around 80% of original strength.
Just don't go dropping it often :) |
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12/18/2005 09:47:17 AM · #3 |
| I broke a flash the same way! that stupid tiny plastic bit!!!! And no, superglue won't hold it! :( Had to buy another. On the plus side, the broken one can now be used as a slave with a little rigging. |
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12/18/2005 10:46:50 AM · #4 |
Perhaps try a Vivitar 283 or 285. There are usually quite a few of these knocking around on eBay. I used to use a 283 with my Fuji 602. Worked really well.
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12/18/2005 10:50:15 AM · #5 |
Originally posted by AJAger:
Perhaps try a Vivitar 283 or 285. There are usually quite a few of these knocking around on eBay. I used to use a 283 with my Fuji 602. Worked really well. |
and the vivitars can easily have their plastic shoes relplaced with metal ones.
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12/19/2005 03:52:05 PM · #6 |
depending on the flash, the hotshoe can easily be replaced, it's a design feature, where you want the stress point to be the hotshoe (which is relatively inexpensive to fix) not the mount area.
Max |
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