Who said Flickr was just a photo-sharing site? I just found an answer to something that has been bothering me since I started reading about flash and lighting, what the heck does the “PC” refer to in “PC Sync”? Thanks to a question over at the new Photographers Tech Resources Flickr group I can now see it has nothing to do with “Personal Computers” …
PhotoNotes.org Dictionary – Search Results
1. PC connectors (sockets or terminals) are electrical connectors and wires used to connect cameras and flash units. They just carry a trigger current and do not carry digital data communications of any kind such as metering information. The “PC” here stands for “Prontor/Compur,” two manufacturers of leaf shutters used in older and large format cameras. It does not stand for “personal computer” in this context, and so a camera with a PC socket cannot be hooked up to a computer through it. Sometimes referred to as a “German” socket, the PC connector is notoriously unreliable, and exists today out of historical momentum.
So thanks to those Flickr users as well as having the answer I needed I now also know about another great resource in Photonotes, two great discoveries in one Flickr thread. Brilliant.
null photography, flash, lighting, pc, sync, dslr, camera, forum, flickr, tips
