How do I use multiple flash's with one camera ?

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I have a selection of old flash units which I would like to use in church's and old buildings my first thought was to remove hot shoes from old cameras and use some twin cable to give me the ability to place them where required but wondered if there was another way ? Would the camera be able to trigger more than one flash and would it be likely to cause any damage ?

thanks all
 
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You can get flashes with built in triggers that set off when they see another flash, second there are 'peanut' light sensors that you can plug a standard flash into that will be triggered when another flash goes off, thirdly (and still produced) wireless transmitter/receiver sets that can trigger flashes from the hot shoe or socket of one camera. Wiring several flashes to one shoe may not be a good plan as voltages, polarity and current flows may damage the camera or the flashes, old flashes had trigger voltages up in the hundreds.
 
I have a selection of old flash units which I would like to use in church's and old buildings my first thought was to remove hot shoes from old cameras and use some twin cable to give me the ability to place them where required but wondered if there was another way ? Would the camera be able to trigger more than one flash and would it be likely to cause any damage ?

thanks all

Indeed you can set off many flashes in one go..I used to use a little gadget that set off another flash gun when it receives light from the first..it all happens about 1 to 2000th sec so it looks like it it's happening at once. If someone else doesn't come in with more knowledge I'll look for the gadget and you can probably still buy it.
 
Won't wireless triggers do this, albeit with the flash in manual mode?
I got some cheap Chinese ones, Neewer transmitter and two receivers for about £20-worth a punt.
 
Won't wireless triggers do this, albeit with the flash in manual mode?
I got some cheap Chinese ones, Neewer transmitter and two receivers for about £20-worth a punt.

Seems the way to go these days....I'm outa touch and remember the old ways :rolleyes:
 

Has the advantage of being battery free
You can get them on wish too for £4
 
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Thanks for the replies everyone, with the optical trigger would it be a problem if I were to hide the flash guns in front of the camera to some degree ? I think I have 4 flash guns of varying power as I remember I'll dig them out and post up a photo of them. I have used one of the flash's in the past in churches but found that I ended up with only a portion of the scene lite up. I have also seen in the past that you can use some flash's in slave mode does this mean they would be triggered by the main flash ?
 
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Thanks for the replies everyone, with the optical trigger would it be a problem if I were to hide the flash guns in front of the camera to some degree ? I think I have 4 flash guns of varying power as I remember I'll dig them out and post up a photo of them. I have used one of the flash's in the past in churches but found that I ended up with only a portion of the scene lite up. I have also seen in the past that you can use some flash's in slave mode does this mean they would be triggered by the main flash ?

Well going to extreme you could mount a white umbrella in front of each flash gun to diffuse the light o_O But a digi would be more useful in getting the exposure correct and of course if you wanted to use a film camera just tranfer the readings.
 
Here's the flash units, I thought there were four but can only find three at the moment.

100_4618.JPG100_4619.JPG
 
H'mm to light up a church.........
Yesterday went into a local church (used quite a lot on tv) as I keep meaning to get around to taking a few shots and asked the vicar what time of the day would the sun light up the church best....well he didn't know but said "we put on all the lights" well maybe on a quiet day I could persuade him to put on all the lights if I dropped a fiver in the church box. Maybe you could do the same instead of using flash, of course it would depend on the size of the church and where it is and don't think it would work at York Minster ;)

well the lights were on for this guy:-
inside denham church.jpg
 
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AAMOI I past a small church today and saw the vicar outside (erm a bit embarassing as I didn't think she was the vicar in jeans and tank top) anyway very dark inside and asked her would she put the lights on if I dropped a fiver in the collection box to pay for the electricity and she said no problem if no service or anybody praying or whatever. So would think other small churches wouldn't mind either.
 
Well I take very few shots inside churches but did come across this snap and used an ETRS (oh wait looking at the frame size could have used a RB67 with 65mm lens )erm but without a tripod at the time...............
The only reason I have this shot is because my father had his service there and was taken after everyone had left. So it's special for me.
EOq1LDT.jpg
 
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