Okay, I'm baffled...

[That Guy]

To round out my RF kit, I picked up a small flash for my Bessa R the other day. It was a great deal, only $5. And it was a Voigtlander flash to boot! It's a V200, with original box and instructions. Nice and small and looks very at home on the Bessa. So I got it home, put it on my SLR and it fired away with a super bright burst. I put it on my Bessa and it doesn't work. I tried my SLR flash on the Bessa and that works fine; it fires at all speeds, 1 through 1/2000. I checked the location of the pin on the flash's shoe and it's in the same spot as my SLR flash.

So what gives here? Why does my flash work on one camera but not on another?

[bmattock]

Some older flashes needed a different trigger voltage. Some cameras can trigger old or new - some can only trigger older - some only newer. There is a chance of damaging your camera or flash or both with the 'wrong' flash.

http://photography.about.com/od/basics/a/bpaccflash.htm

Be careful here!

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

[John Robertson]

Try with a cable in the side socket, in case the problem is with the flash shoe. also make sure the correct speed is set. 1/125 or longer.

[John Robertson]

Incidentally the flash shoe for the Bessaflex SLR also fits the Bessa R2 eyepiece and plugs into the pc socket., allows me to use fill in flash with say a 28mm with its v/f in the main shoe.