I recently bought an Canon AE1. Is my Olympus T32 flash compatible?

-- new dane (newdane@hotmail.com), December 04, 2001

Answers

If it's a normal hot shoe flash, it should work, minus any dedicated functions. Put it on and try it out.

-- David Goldfarb (dgoldfarb@barnard.edu), December 05, 2001.

Possibly dangerous advice - the voltages from some older flashes could damage the electronics in your AE-1. Also, if the Olympus dedication contacts line up with the contacts on the AE-1, the signals could confuse or cause damage.

Test-fire the flash with a voltmeter first to check the voltages (You'll have to look up or ask someone else for safe voltages - 6V rings a bell), and cover up any dedication contacts that might otherwise mess things up.

-- Roger Broadbent (roger_broadbent@yahoo.co.uk), December 05, 2001.

Possibly dangerous, but not probably. It certainly isn't a bad idea to test if you can. Current Nikon cameras seem to be more touchy about issues of trigger voltage than cameras of 70's and 80's vintage, when there were plenty of older Honeywell and other flash units floating around with trigger voltages upwards of 200 volts.

-- David Goldfarb (dgoldfarb@barnard.edu), December 06, 2001.