Mod'ing a Polaroid EE100's flashcube port to a hotshoe or PC port connection

[DanielStone]

(Hey everyone,

Just took delivery of a nice "EE100" bellows polaroid camera from the local camera show.

like this one here(not mine, but identical):



Going through it I've found it has pinholes, although I had a "happy accident" if you can call it that(below)...



I'm interested in modifying the flashcube port to a hotshoe. Or even a female pc sync port, so I could plug in any pc-cable'd flash. Any ideas? I'm not the handiest person with electronics or wiring, so I thought I'd consult the experts

thanks

-Dan

[xya]

just tested with an old useless pack 80 camera. I suppose the flashcube sockets are similar. it seems to be easy. there are two contacts at the base of the flashcube socket, towards the front, where the ready to fire flash would sit. they close when the shutter opens (and so fire the flash). there have to be batteries in the camera, if not, it doesn't work. if you get youself an extension cable for flash, you would have a female plug socket. just cut it off with a bit of the cable and solder it to the contacts. just 2 points of soldering, that's it. then scotch the cable to the camera and there you are.

[MattKing]

I would guess that the flashcubes would be synched differently than X-synch, but do not know for sure.

[E. von Hoegh]

The synch for a flashcube would be "F" synch, you need "X" synch for an electronic flash. If the camera uses Magicubes, there is no electric synch, Magicubes are set off by a mechanical trigger.

[xya]

it uses flashcubes, not magicubes. bulb flash is f-sync indeed, and it wouldn't work with an ordinary mechanical shutter. but obviously the electronic shutter of the polaroid opens immediately, so it catches the electronic flash. marty kuhn did quite some research on his wonderful site

http://www.rwhirled.com/landlist/how2-packflash.htm

which is a "must" for polaroid owners. it worked well with the older pack film cameras. afaik they changed the cocking system of the shutter with the newer cameras, but they kept the electronics mainly. we only will know for sure if somebody tries and reports back to this page.

[BobD]

The way to convert it to electronic flash is to sell it and buy a ProPack with attached electronic flash.