Slave flash with S30 ?

[Juha]

Has anyone used slave flash with s30 ?. I have't bought slave unit yet because i know that preflash from s30 will trigger slave too early and exposure will be ruined. Does anyone have solution for this ?

[hlouiesj]

Hi Juha;

I don't have an S30; but I have an older S10. I brought a slave flash for the S10 for fill-in flash photo where I am taking photos of large area or group of people. This flash will trigger off of the second flash on the camera. As you know, Canon uses a double flash system, inwhich the first flash is used to set up the exposure and the second flash is the actual flash used to take the picture.

The problem here is that triggering the slave flash off of the second flash of the camera doesn't properly set the correct exposure for the camera. Because now when the slave flash goes off, the exposure set was that for just the camera flash. I don't know off any flash that will properly work right as a slave flash unless it is connected to the camera through a cable to sync with the camera trigger and the camera will take an external flash.

But I am just using the slave flash for the purpose of fill-in when taking picture in large room or of group of people. Here the Slave flash does a nice job of fill-in, adding more light to the background to give a better overall picture.

The digital slave flash that I purchase is a Sunpak model 018ST. You can find it for $30+ or so at a couple of web site. It as a GN (ISO) 52. This is not a real powerful unit; but it does the job for what I use it for.

I hope this give some answer to your question

Howard

[Willem]

You can use any flash as slave. But you have to have patience and flash in fact twice!

First focus and 'set' your picture as required. Now press the shutterrelease button half way down, keep it there and press the little AELock-button, the lowest button on the lefthandside of the camera. This will fire the preflash and of course your slave. The camera 'sees' all the light and meters that. Now keep that shutterbutton half way down till your slaveflash has its power back. NOW press the shutterbutton all the way down and you will make a nice exposed picture with the two flashes.

Greeting,
Willem

[jwidenernyc]

Can you possible post some pictures that you have taken with your Slave Flash? I would like to see some coparisons of pics with, and without, the slave.

Also, why did you chose this model over the Digi-Slave flashes which others seem to like as well?

--Joey

[D30man MI]

Willem

thanks, I didn't read my booklet for my GF's S30, i thought i could figure it all out, but that I didn't know!!

dave

[malcs]

I didn't see this thread, and posted a solution that works for the s40. You will see it under "$15 external flash for s40" title.

Look for that post.

Just set the camera on manual, and you won't have to play games with the pre-flash. Manual mode fires a single flash.

And, skip that cheapo, junko, sunpack slave flash. It does not trigger all the time, and is very poor. I tried it and returned it. JUNK!!! Instead find an old SLR flash and buy an optex slave adapter for $15 from ebay. It works all the time. Look at your histogram to find the right fstop.

[hextor]

the "digital flashes" are not good. They flash on the second flash, so basically you get over exposure due to the fact the second flash is adding light to the picture.

What you could do for example is get a manual flash and set it up at 1/16 or 1/8 (which i have tried with the sunpack 383) and then the recharge time is fast enough for the flash to flash twice.

The other option is to shoot in manual mode and cover your original flash, ie with a IR filter/negative slide, or just block it with a piece of paper, leaving someroom for the flash to trigger the slave.

hope it helps

[malcs]

Hey guys, you may want to skip all of the science, and try using just any old slave flash, with the camera set in manual mode, at any old shutter speed, and at maybe f6. Even the fstop is not that critical as long as none of the histogram lines are off the chart. It seems like the s40 has plenty of lattitude with external flash.

I have been using a vivitar 2500, guide# 80 ($10 ebay). It works great from 10 to 20 ft.

I will be testing a vivitar 285, guide#120, in the next few days. I would expect this to work great out to 30 feet and more.


The histogram tells all. Find a flash power level and fstop setting that works for 15 feet, and then one that works for a greater distance, and you will be covered.


It seems like any decent automatic flash from the slr days works just fine.

The fact that this works so well on the s40 makes me very glad that I did not by the g2, just for its external flash capability. The s40 can be carried anywhere, and a cheap slave flash can be put in another jacket pocket.

[delphinus]

Malcs? I'm quite interested to buy a slave flash in short time. Can you explain me on how to use it? In sense that how you locate your slave flash relative to the camera? And lasly do you use it for indoor purpose or outdoor mainly since I'll be taking action night shot primarily.

Btw IMO s30's flash power is powerful that you can use at 6m range (max power), but I found it is not far enough and consume a lot of battery power.

Delphinus
PS S30

[delphinus]

Malcs? I'm quite interested to buy a slave flash in short time. Can you explain me on how to use it? In sense that how you locate your slave flash relative to the camera? And lasly do you use it for indoor purpose or outdoor mainly since I'll be taking action night shot primarily.

Btw IMO s30's flash power is powerful that you can use at 6m range (max power), but I found it is not far enough and consume a lot of battery power.

Delphinus
PS S30

[malcs]

My suggestion is to buy the optex slave module, for $15 or so from ebay. Search for "slave flash". It seems to trigger reliably. Then, find a used slr flash. No need to buy a new flash. Local dealers also have that slave trigger.

Don't buy the sunpack slave flash for digital cameras, which sells for about $25. I tried this and it missed most triggers. It is bloatware that is there just to pump up your original camera purchase price.

As far as your flash working out to 6m, yeah, that is what I thought. Until you add the external flash you have no idea what you are missing. Kind of like bumping the contrast in photoshop, you dont know how dull your unprocessed shots are until you try it.

I have been holding the flash at camera level, and tried bouncing it. In all situations it works as expected. If you are going for distance, you may want to hold the flash slightly fwd of the cam, so it picks up the s40 flash trigger.

[malcs]

Did some more experimenting today with flash in manual mode.

For the biggest difference, you need a flash that has a guide number of significantly greater than 80, more like 120. The guide number of 80 seems to fill in detail on darker objects, but higher guide numbers greatly extend the capability of this camera.

Also, it looks like shutter speed is limited to 1/250 max, when flash is on in manual mode, despite the setting. When I review pics, it never seems to show shutter faster than 1/250.


Need to experiment more. Again, buy the slave adapter real cheap, and find a flash that works for you.

[malcs]

Hey, some new info.

The flash that is commonly used by pro photograpers is the vivitar 285 or 283, which have guide numbers of 120, so they are very powerful.

There is a cheap slave unit that will work with these and some other units AND is made for digital cameras with preflash. Search the web for "wein digital peanut slave" and you will find it. B&H sells it for $35.

Since a used vivitar 285 sells for $35, and the adapter is $35 you will end up with a killer digital slave flash for not much money.

[hextor]

you cannot use a flash that flashes on the second flash and expect to get reliable results.

The camera will simply adjust exposure on the first flash, and then you will be overexposed.

In addition, you will always have the flash coming from the center of the frame, from the camera - as the slave will adjust from natural light + camera flash, therefore firing a weaker flash if in automode.

Much simpler, get an external flash with auto mode, ie 383 or 295, cover your camera flash to allow only a tiny amount of light to come through (which will pop nicely in the eyes), or alternatively block it with an IR filter - you can use a non exposed but developed piece of slide film. The last way gives you an IR flashgun. Basically with it you will only see the slave light on the picture.

The option on adjusting based on the histogram works fine - if you are on a studio setting. If you are like me, you take your camera everywhere and therefore cannot say how much light is there going to be and you will miss the picture trying to adjust for the flash.

[masx]

Has anyone used slave flash with s30 ?. I have't bought slave unit yet because i know that preflash from s30 will trigger slave too early and exposure will be ruined. Does anyone have solution for this ?

Hi, I have a Canon S5 IS. I found that all my old flash units work fine with it. an old Speedlight and a little flash unit that came with a Canon 110 ED bought in Hong Kong in 1975! I bought the little Optex slave unit for $19. I couldn't get it to sync at first until I set the flash (somewhere on the camera and I probably will never find where again) to SECOND-CURTAIN flash. Voila, it worked perfectly!
It is great, even for head shots or BG lighting.

[JustShootin']

Interesting, but I bet the OP isn't around to read it, as he/she started this thread nearly 7 years ago, and then only posted three times. ;)