Posted by rick oleson on August 02, 2003 at 19:01:31:
In Reply to: Albinar TTL? posted by W. Miles on August 02, 2003 at 17:42:10:
Here's how the system works:
I'm not sure I totally follow all you've written, but there should be a selector switch with three positions: Red, Blue, and Manual. If you set this switch to the RED setting, then you set your lens to the f/stop indicated at the RED line on the distance scale (f/2.8 in the ISO 200 example you cited above). If your lens doesn't have a 2.8 positions (most zooms don't), then move the selector switch to the BLUE setting and set your lens to the number indicated by the BLUE index on the distance scale (f/5.6 above).
The flash will now automatically control its light output to be correct for this combination of lens opening and film speed.... AS LONG AS you are not too far from the subject. That's where the distance numbers on the scale come in: the distance at the RED and BLUE indexes represents the FARTHEST distance that the flash will work at that setting.
The AUTO OK light will blink for a few seconds after the shot to indicate that the flash was able to put out enough light for a proper exposure. If the AUTO OK light does NOT blink, it means that there WAS NOT enough light: you were too far away from the subject for that flash setting, you need to be closer, or use faster film, or change to the larger (f/2.8 in this case) lens opening and use a fast enough lens to allow that setting.
It's complicated at first but once you get it figured out the flash becomes very easy to use. All auto flash units work basically the same way, the controls and dials are similar. If this one works, there's no reason you can't go ahead and use it.
One other thing: when using flash, the flash unit tells you what lens setting to use, but not what shutter speed. Your shutter must ALWAYS be set to the "X SYNCH" speed, which in the case of your Minolta I believe is 1/60 second. This speed is generally marked in red on the shutter speed dial to make it easier to spot, and some cameras also have a separate speed setting just marked "X" for this purpose.
Hope this helps.
rick :)=
end of archived message