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 p.1 #1 · 283/285 Bites the Dust RIP | |
If you threw me on a desert island with one camera and flash and asked me what I wanted in terms of survival gear. I would ask for a Nikon F2 or F3, and a 285 HV Vivitar. The 285 is a flash with no ttl, no I-E-TTL. It produces plain old light with a squelching sensor that works time after time. It has no bling-bling (you know I like that) it does have lot’s of reliability. And other than striking a match there is no other cheaper way to get good light. Without toys, why would I rate it so high for PRO’s? Simple, the Pro’s rate reliability higher than the "toy power". They know the science and the workarounds. They also know the word backup.
I have to admit a fascination with the 285 HV Vivitar. It's been going on for forty years. There is everything you ever wanted or need to know about a Vivitar 285 HV. on my site. If you go back in this business to the late sixties and list all the items that have been sold during that time to the present you come up with a short, really short list.
Yea, Leicas really or is it rarely change inspite of the fact most of it is cosmetic. They just come up with a new paint scheme or make another Anniversary Edition, the Octoberfest Barrel Licking Commemorative Edition being one of my perrenial favorites. Or they make a knob with red print on it and next year make a red knob with black print and call every collector in town thats on the got-tu list. But things that were actually used, not prayed to or fondled is another story.
Nikon F3 - So for Cameras I think the F3 really had longevity. It was versatile to use with microscopes, and sports, police departments etc. It had few bugs, easy to fix, and survived the first round of the digital revolution at least on the books.
It stood the test of time and Nikon kept them on the books for an additional ten years because they had a ten years supply and were favored by many who did a lot of Opthamology especially with Zeiss setups.Others I used for football with the ant burning 500mm Nikkor. It was a cadioptic and you had to shoot with the sun behind you. I did a lot of walking with that combo to keep the sun behind me.
The winner: VIVITAR 283/285...
The old dog on the block is the Vivitar 283/285 series flash and I was busy writing a book on the history of this flash when I got the news.
It has been discontinued. At least they didn't Johnny Five it, "No disasemble".
I was in touch with Vivitar who was the sole importer of this unit. Of course Vivitar changed a few faces and importers and factories through the years but the 283/285 held as tight as Klingon underwear on a 95 degree day.
From early seventies to this week it has been in production in three countries Japan, a few assembled, in Malaysia, very short lived and China, Taiwan, then the Mainland.
It's had about five board variants, more broken shoes than any other strobe, in fact the only strobe produced that actually has three companies with aftermarket shoes of metal. Broken shoes were better than broken prisms. Never understood why you would sacrifice a prism for a plastic six dollar shoe. I replaced many and I also saw many mirrors and prisms out of alignment.
There were more custom accessories from the aftermarket guys like slaves, diffusers , bonnets specifically made for it and probably more sales on Ebay than any other strobe.
And the 285HV has shot more weddings throughout the world probably than any other strobe. I never did a wedding without a few backups. I had Nikons fail, the bad foot alignment short on the SB-28 causing a flash off was very common. I had my beloved Metz CL lose a thyrister circuit and only do full pops. I always grabbed a 285 and just stick the buzzard on 125 of a sec, set the aperture at F8-F11 the Vivitar on one of the four colors and shoot.
And the pictures came out fine. No frills, no frequent flyer miles, no modes just light, power, and distance in manual if you needed it...
When my D2H went toilet, I stuck it in manual, no meter, switched to the 285, took off the SB800 and shot in manual. Reason? I had a blown camera and I was afraid the circuitry might take out the Sb-800 also, better safe than sorry.
It was reliable. I have strapped then to dragsters, taped them to a wing of a plane. ganged six together to make a huge flash for shooting planes at night (static shots with the rotating beacon and strobe lights going) I have lit buildings with them, stuck them on poles. Hid them in lamps and just about did everything you could to one. I made bare bulb units, built stuff like the Armatar boys did, souped up the flybacks in them, increased the power and rarely did I ever destroy one. They could take punishment.
Every day I look at plenty of gear for sale or brought to me for repair and so forth. in the last year I should of gotten a discount on USPS for Nikon at Melville. I never have sent a 285 back. I have six left....all on power packs that I build. Some set up as wide angle wedding party or large object lights. Some with brackets that clamp to drop ceilings and one on a pole with internal wiring toi use as boom light at Weddings...
I guess the reign is over.... Im looking at converting the 850AF Vivitars next,
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I purchased three more over the years and had a 285 as well. I remember having to modify the 285 to accept the 330V input - this was before the 285HV existed. 
I also made a manual power control in 1/3 stop intervals for the 285. Those were the good old days, but the SB-24 limited my usage of the 283s and 285.