From disposable to slave flash
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Oh will you look at that. How very Web 2.0!
Disposable cameras have a lot of re-usable electronics in them. The flash unit, for example, is perfectly usable, even after the 27 exposures have come and gone. So what do you do? Well, DIY live decided to turn the disposable camera shell into a slave flashgun.
It ain’t for the faint of heart, this project, but if you are handy with a soldering iron, it may just be of use. Or you could of course buy one. But what’s the fun in that?
My day job, if it can be called that, is being a writer. I've got one book out there so far and it's awesome, so go ahead and buy a copy! It's available from 
In front of you, five hyperactive men with guitars, drums, and microphones. Behind you, five thousand fans. In your hands, a camera... You're going to need more than just a little bit of good luck to pull this one off. That's where this book comes in.
Take a Canon EOS 450D. Attach a Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens. Hit the streets of London. See what happens.
Insights, suggestions and comments
Oh goodness… Just be careful!
There is a store up here in Toronto called Active Surplus which sells everything and plastic baby arms. At one point they had a huge bin of just the flash boards (capacitor, flash and related circuitry). Of course, people would pull ‘em out, stick a battery in and try them. Then put them back. The problem is, the capacitor still has a charge in it. I remember sticking my hand in to try and find one, only to be hit by a couple different boards.
The same thing happened with my old digital camera when I tried to take it apart…
ACTIVE SURPLUS ROCKS! – the Photocritic ‘team’ would love to go around there and see what they could round up- but watch out – they have a giant gorilla outside!
That alone would make me go.
wolever said: “The problem is, the capacitor still has a charge in it. I remember sticking my hand in to try and find one, only to be hit by a couple different boards.”
That’s true, capacitors can be very dangerous. One of the first things technicians learn is to always short-circuit capacitors before working on them, so they can discharge. Just use a screwdriver or something conductive across the capacitor terminals. Be careful, there might be sparks or metal particles coming out of it, so you should wear glasses when doing this.
After destroying a few screw drivers, I put test leads on a resistor for this.
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