Group: Administrator
Post: 770 (71 liked)
Join date: August 2016
Status:
|
|
on Mar 22, 2021 13:42:17 GMT
Last Edit: Mar 22, 2021 13:50:35 GMT by xkaes
I'm a fan of the old Vivitar 50 -- SUPER compact flash. It has two drawbacks unfortunately. First, it uses a FLAT-PACK battery. That's not really a big deal because lots of medical equipment use that battery so it is still manufactured. The other is only a problem for me, I guess. The Vivitar 50 is a hot-shoe-only flash. Unfortunately, instead off having the "secondary" electrical connection on BOTH sides of the shoe, it only has the contact on ONE side of the shoe. Most hot-shoe flashes have the contact on BOTH sides. So I can't directly use my Vivitar 50 on some of my cameras because they have their hot shoe flash contact on the opposite side.
My question is "Does the Yashica CS-10 flash (which looks almost exactly the same as the Vivitar 50) have electrical contacts on BOTH sides of the shoe?"
What battery(s) does it use?
BTW, there's a very nice Tokina 24-40mm f2.8 on EBAY right now with a C/Y mount. I have a slower f3.8 Vivitar Series 1 24-48mm, so I'm not interested.
|
|
Group: Administrator
Post: 1,370 (301 liked)
Join date: February 2017
Status: Failed treatment for L.B.A. and G.A.S,
|
|
on Mar 22, 2021 16:33:14 GMT
Posted: Mar 22, 2021 16:33:14 GMT
The CS-10 has only the center pin, and no secondary pins at all. It uses one AA battery, and given it's age, it may not work well with rechargables. An issue beyond any of those might be the guide number... following the usual naming scheme - and because it only uses a single 1.5v cell - it's probably only a guide 10.
|
|
Group: Administrator
Post: 770 (71 liked)
Join date: August 2016
Status:
|
|
on Mar 22, 2021 18:25:23 GMT
Posted: Mar 22, 2021 18:25:23 GMT
I can see the CS-10 guide number table (on the back) in the photos on EBAY. True, it's not very powerful, and not as powerful as the Vivitar 50, but the Vivitar 50 is no "blow torch", either!
As to the flash contacts, there have to be at least two. The obvious one is the one in the middle of the bottom of the shoe. But there has to be at least one more contact. Whether there is one or two, it/they are on the side of the shoe -- and easy to miss, but there has to be at least one there for electricity to flow. They appear in the slots in the flash shoe.
Most hot shoe flashes have one on each side -- because there is no way to tell what camera it will be attached to. But some hot shoe flashes only have one side contact, either because the flash is designed for a particular camera/attachment, or because the manufacturer wanted to save a few pennies.
In most cases it makes no difference if there is only one contact, but in some situations -- like mine -- it does.
|
|
Group: Administrator
Post: 770 (71 liked)
Join date: August 2016
Status:
|
|
on Apr 7, 2021 18:16:00 GMT
Posted: Apr 7, 2021 18:16:00 GMT
I just nabbed a CS-10 for $5, so I'll be able to answer the questions I asked (above) in a few days. I'll send a report with details -- as well as a picture of it together with a Vivitar 50.
|
|
Group: Administrator
Post: 770 (71 liked)
Join date: August 2016
Status:
|
|
on Apr 14, 2021 16:32:12 GMT
Last Edit: Apr 14, 2021 22:25:20 GMT by xkaes
(FYI, There should be SIX photos showing up in this post. They show up when I'm in EDIT mode, but not otherwise. Go figure!. Let me know if you can't see them!)
My Yashica CS-10 has arrived. Works great. Got it for $5. I first compared it to my other small flashes – the Vivitar 50 and the Minolta 20. All are strictly manual exposure ONLY, hot shoe-only flashes. I didn't think I would ever find something smaller than the Vivitar 50 -- which no one seems to know anything about!  Here's a SPEC comparison -- Size / Power / GN ISO 100 (feet): Minolta Electroflash 20: Very similar to the Minolta Electroflash PC, it is 1.25”x2.5”x2.5” – 7.8 cu. in. It uses 2X AA batteries (3v) with a GN of 66. That's f5.6 at 12 feet. Pretty small and powerful. It came in two “versions”. One has a GN table on the back – pick the film speed (25-400) and it gives you the GN in feet or meters. Then you have to calculate distance. The other model has a rotating dial on the back, so no calculation is necessary. Both have a READY LIGHT that is also a test button. Vivitar 50: With a size of 1.5”x1.75”x2.25” – 5.9 cu. in. – uses 1X J (flat-pack) battery – 6v with a GN of 44. That's f3.5 at 12 feet. So about 25% smaller and 1.5 f-stops weaker than the Minolta 20. It has a nice table on the back (ISO 25-500) – choose the distance in feet or meters, and it gives you the f-stop. It has a READY LIGHT, but no test button. Yashica CS-10: With a size of 1.25”x1.5”x2.25” – 4.2 cu. in. – uses 1X AA battery – 1.5v with a GN of 33. That's f2.8 at 12 feet. So about 25% smaller and 0.5 f-stop weaker than the Vivitar 50 – (50% smaller and 2 f-stops weaker than the Minolta 20). It has a small table on the back (ISO 100 & 400) – choose the distance in meters only, and it gives you the f-stop. It has a READY LIGHT, and separate test button. The Minolta is the most powerful, but also the largest, so the smaller Vivitar and Yashica are much better for submini use. Why carry a flash that's bigger than the camera?  The problem is the flashes' hot shot contacts and the camera's hot shoe contacts.
Camera and flashes all have the center contact in the middle -- that's easy to see, but there has to be a second contact and this can consist of two contact points – one on each side of the shoe – or a single contact on one side only. On some cameras, and on some flashes, there is only one second contact on one side. This is never a problem if the camera has contacts on both sides -- as most do -- and if the flash has contacts on both sides -- as most do. But if the camera and the flash have this second contact on opposite side, the flash will not work.
The Minolta flash has second contacts on both sides of the shoe (looking from the back of the flash).  But the Vivitar and the Yashica only have it on the right side.
Some cameras, like the Minolta MGs -- that is my favorite -- has the second contact only on the LEFT side of the shoe. ![]()  Fortunately, the MGs has a PC plug, so I need to take the Vivitar 50 and Yashica CS-10 apart and solder in a short PC cable. The Vivitar is easy to take apart – just three small screws. I don't know yet about the Yashica. And, fortunately, the AGAT 18 cameras have contacts on BOTH sides of the hot flash shoe – so the Vivitar 50 and Yashica CS-10 are perfect for them. ![]()  If anyone knows of any other flashes that might compete with the Yashica CS-10 or Vivitar 50, please let us know.
FOR MORE INFO on Yashica flashes see:
www.pacificrimcamera.com/rl/00809/00809.pdf |
|
Group: Administrator
Post: 1,370 (301 liked)
Join date: February 2017
Status: Failed treatment for L.B.A. and G.A.S,
|
|
on Apr 15, 2021 17:35:42 GMT
Posted: Apr 15, 2021 17:35:42 GMT
(FYI, There should be SIX photos showing up in this post. They show up when I'm in EDIT mode, but not otherwise. Go figure!. Let me know if you can't see them!) Unfortunately, I can't see them in my default browser or any of the 3 others I use, or when I try to quote your post, or when I try to edit your original post as an admin - with either the regular editor, or in BBCode mode. I can see the images if I copy/paste your links into a new window, so they are obviously there as the correct path and file outside of the forum post, but the topic won't display them, as posted. I'll dig a little and see if I can find a reason. Aside from that... I'm kinda shocked at a GN of 33. That's a lot more powerful than the '10' in the name would suggest, so it's good to have a little more power in such a small package. It certainly seems to fit your intended purpose too, so it might be one of those times when you look for a few extras and stock up on them as backups. Not that you'd want to, but it might be possible to rework the wiring on any that don't currently match the single-sided requirement. There's also a possibility of replacing burnt out tubes - assuming you can find some in the right package format and size. I bought a 5 piece lot of Xenon tubes from Surplus Shed a few years ago for $2.50, with the intention of 'modernizing' a Canon Model V bulb flash over to fully electronic, but I never did find a suitable circuit to fit the space. Maybe a CS-10 could be a donor for that project. |
|
Group: Administrator
Post: 770 (71 liked)
Join date: August 2016
Status:
|
|
on Apr 15, 2021 17:59:32 GMT
Last Edit: Apr 15, 2021 18:01:02 GMT by xkaes
The Yashica CS-10 may not have a GN of 10 in feet at ISO 100, but it probably has a GN of 10 at some ISO speed in feet or meters. Same with the Minolta Electroflash 20 which does not have a GN of 20 in feet at ISO 100, or the Vivitar 50 which does not have a GN of 50 in feet at ISO 100. But, I suspect, the 10, 20, and 50 do refer to some GN that the manufacturer chose. It's definitely a WINNER for submini use.
As to my pictures, I add them in the EDIT mode -- I type in the URL -- and then add the URL in the ALT TEXT box. They always show up while in the EDIT mode, and SOMETIMES show up in the READ POST mode.
|
|
Group: Administrator
Post: 1,370 (301 liked)
Join date: February 2017
Status: Failed treatment for L.B.A. and G.A.S,
|
|
on Apr 15, 2021 19:35:06 GMT
Posted: Apr 15, 2021 19:35:06 GMT
A quick peek to see other Yashica branded flashes lead me to the CS-14, which might be nearly double the height -but- I came across a seller who had 2 flashes - a Yashica CS-14 and a smaller Sunpak Auto 101 - which looks to be somewhere in the middle of the CS-10 and 14 in height, and about the same in width. There's also the Sunpak Softlite 1400M which is slightly shorter than the 101, but it's a pop-up type that will get taller when opened for use. Nothing to get an idea if it or the 101 have double side contacts. There's always the Contax flash models for the G series cameras like the TLA200, but those are almost always stupid-expensive. Even the larger TLA140's are higher priced than their functionality supports. I'm not sure if they'd have double contacts on the sides either, but they both certainly have a secondary bottom pin, just the same. The trouble and/or expense to modify them would make that an expensive proposition for sure. |
|
Group: Administrator
Post: 770 (71 liked)
Join date: August 2016
Status:
|
|
on Apr 15, 2021 19:54:15 GMT
Last Edit: Apr 15, 2021 19:59:33 GMT by xkaes
Members of the SUBMINI Forum have also reminded me of the Rollei and Hexar flashes -- and also that SEVERAL 110 cameras made small flash units that have a standard hot flash shoe. I've got a lot to check out -- but I'm glad I ran across the CS-10.
And, just a thought, the GN for the CS-10 is 33 in feet for ISO 100. That would mean a GN of 10 in meters for ISO 100.
|
|
