DMC-FZ20 w Sunpak 383: it doesn't fires the flash

[athamm]

Hi everybody!

Once in a while a bought a used Panasonic DMC-FZ20 bridge camera, after reading a lot of interessing user experiences in the www. Especially the "Panasonic DMC-FZ 10 User Guide" (LINK (http://www.cs.mtu.edu/~shene/DigiCam/User-Guide/FZ-10/)) was good for getting a good technical overview for all the possibilities I could have with the camera. So I have already bought a wide, tele and macro conversion lens, all in all good used ones with excellent image quality. Exactly the way described in the aboved named guide :-)

Because I was a litte bit unsatisfied with the internal flash, I was also looking for a good external flash, referring to user experiences in several forums. Therefore I bought a used SUNPAK 383 in the U.S., which was delivered to me last week (I'm living in Germany). So I've tried to get it working with my cam, but it doesn't fire.

As you can see on the attached pictures, the flash is properly connected to the FZ20 and the menu and the camera display is showing the correct information. So the flash is recognized by the camera and the seems to be ready for shooting (ready light/test button indicates readyness).

But when I'm pressing the release button of my camera the flash doesn't fire. When pressing the test button on the Sunpak it does - but then I got (needless to say) no picture.

So I would like to ask, if someone has any idea what can be wrong or which things I could try to find out where the error occurs (cam/flash/hot-shoe).

Kind regards,
Andreas

[Honest Gaza]

Gees...that brings back memories. I had that exact same combination and problem back in 2005.

Like you, I was able to fire the Flash with the test button, but not from the camera. Turned out to be a faulty Flash Unit which was replaced under warranty....however, that will not be possible in this case.

[athamm]

Thank you for you quick answer. That makes me a little bit frustrated, because the flash seems to be only faulty related to its hot shoe unit. I've also tryed to connect one of the two side contacts (ground - minus) with the hot shoe contact using a short piece of cable and nothing happens.

That brings me to the point that I will try to get another flash (SUNPAK Power Zoom 4000 AF, 388 Thyristor or Metz Mecablitz 36 C-2; Trigger voltage is based on ISO 10330 = less than 24 volts) and test it with the camera. If it would work, it shouldn't be a camera fault.

I will let you now if any new knowledge is gained.

Andreas

[athamm]

Yesterday I received three other flash units. These are: 1x SUNPAK 388 Thyristor, 1x SUNPAK PowerZoom 4000 AF and 1x Metz 36 C-2.

All of them are working correctly on the camera, so it's obvious that the SUNPAK383 flash I bought seems to be only faulty related to its hot shoe unit and doesn't work as it should. One point I also noticed is that the SYNC-Cord-connector seems to be filled with a broken plug. You can see this on the attached picture.

So today I've opened up the shoe connector and pushed the broken plug out of the connector. Now the sunpak 383 is working as it should. :D

kind regards,
Andreas

[Honest Gaza]

You'd have to be happy about that. I'm assuming you didn't have to pay for the other flash units ?