Vivitar 285HV

[scot079]

I just ordered on from B&H. Can't wait to try it out. Also I bought a Wein "peanut". I hope it works with my current speedlites. Anyone ever mix and match a setup similar to this?

[Curtis N]

The Peanut slave should fire the Vivitar just fine, as long as the Speedlite you use to trigger it is in Manual mode (no E-TTL).

[scot079]

Thanks for instilling confidence Curtis, I like to order stuff without researching first

[FlashZebra]

There have been numerous reports of issues with the "new" Wein Peanut optical slave. Optical slaves are in general very reliable, but the peanut is definitely an exception.

There are many fine inexpensive optical slaves available, so I am not quite sure why almost all the discussion and purchasing centers on the just the Wein "Peanut". It is as if no other optical slave is available.

I personally use the inexpensive and very reliable Sonia optical slaves that seem to work fine with everything except the Canon EX flash units.

You may want to read this thread.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobist/discuss/72157600098851800/

I have a lengthy post in that particular thread with my take on the issues with the peanut.

But, if you can get your peanut to work, it is one of the few optical slaves that can fire a Canon EX flash unit. If they could just abandion that ill fitting hybrid PC/Vivitar connector on the peanut, they might have a nice product.

Please post back your observations on your peanut sample, especially when connected using a PC cord (seemingly more problematic that when stuffed into the female Vivitar connector), after you get your gear.

Enjoy! Lon

[scot079]

Thanks lon, will do! The reason I bought the peanut, BTW, i'ts sooo cheap. We'll see if o-slaves are like lenses in that you get what you pay for.

[FlashZebra]

Thanks lon, will do! The reason I bought the peanut, BTW, i'ts sooo cheap. We'll see if o-slaves are like lenses in that you get what you pay for.
There are lots of inexpensive optical slaves, and they all work nicely with almost all flash units except the Canon EX units. Many are less expensive that the Wein Peanut.

The Sonia units I use with my 5 Sunpak 433D/422D units (very like the Sunpak 383) are a lot less expensive than the Wein Peanut, they are less than $10.00 each.

The Wein Peanut is about the only optical slave that seems to have significant reliability issues.

But, it is one of the few that might work with Canon EX flash units.

Enjoy! Lon

[scot079]

thanks for the info, i'll look @ sonia next time i need a slave.

[Christopher.Sullivan]

first off let me say that u will love the 285hv i love mine anyway... but my questiuon is how to use the 285hv to fire slaves for automotive photography? i have no experience with slaves and i am looking to spend a few hundred and get aq beginner slave setup.... i would appreciate any input..

[FlashZebra]

first off let me say that u will love the 285hv i love mine anyway... but my questiuon is how to use the 285hv to fire slaves for automotive photography? i have no experience with slaves and i am looking to spend a few hundred and get aq beginner slave setup.... i would appreciate any input..
What sort of slave are you looking for, if you can just use an optical slave, you can get one for a 285HV for about $10.00 (like a Sonia)?

But, Sonia slaves will not work on Canon EX flash units (few optical slaves will work with a Canon EX flash).

Optical slaves work reliably in studio like conditions (lower light), but do not work at all at higher light levels like sunlight.

Enjoy! Lon

[Christopher.Sullivan]

well for example i wanna do parking garage shoots and such where lighting isnt the best... where i can have lighting from more than one source....

also i want to stuff where i can light the car and save the sky at dusk i dunno if i am even looking for the right sort of equipment....

thanks for your help.

[scot079]

what kind of camera do you have? You can always drop the big bucks on pocket wizards. I prefer to spend that kind of money towards a new lens though.

[Christopher.Sullivan]

what kind of camera do you have? You can always drop the big bucks on pocket wizards. I prefer to spend that kind of money towards a new lens though.
actually im just shooting with a 350d and a very very humble selection of lenses... nothing L to mention lol

[scot079]

that's cool, the rebel xt is a good camera. you will need a hot shoe adapter that will allow you connect your camera to the flash via pc. then you may want to pick another 285 and an optical slave like the one londuck was talking about. this way you can fire first 285 with your camera and the second via the optical slave.

i've never automotive stuff, but it seems like it would be hard to avoid a flash reflection in the surface of the car's paint. click on some of the links in Curtis N's signature, I found some great info about adapters, plugs, and stuff. Thanks Curtis!

[Christopher.Sullivan]

thanks i hope to bounce in parking structure situations and maybe softbox strategically for anything i need direct lighting ill look into the hot shoe and a pc cord i am about to order my second 285 in a few hours....

[rdsmith3]

I just ordered on from B&H. Can't wait to try it out. Also I bought a Wein "peanut". I hope it works with my current speedlites. Anyone ever mix and match a setup similar to this?

I am sorry to confirm what londuck says -- the Wein peanut digital version did not work with the Vivitar for me. Fortunately, I was able to return them to Adorama.

The Sonia ones do seem to work in my limited experience with two Vivitars.

[scot079]

I am sorry to confirm what londuck says -- the Wein peanut digital version did not work with the Vivitar for me. Fortunately, I was able to return them to Adorama.

The Sonia ones do seem to work in my limited experience with two Vivitars.

I didn't get the digital peanut, the regular one. I heard the digital one will only work on the second flash. Meaning it accounts for pre-flash. Were you using Canon speedlites in the setup?

[rdsmith3]

I didn't get the digital peanut, the regular one. I heard the digital one will only work on the second flash. Meaning it accounts for pre-flash. Were you using Canon speedlites in the setup?

No Canon speedlites.

My plan was to use the on-camera flash to trigger the Vivitars. That did not work.

Now I use the Sigma 500 Super in manual mode (no preflash) mounted on my camera (bounced) to trigger the Vivitars with the Sonia slaves. That seems to work.

[scot079]

No Canon speedlites.

My plan was to use the on-camera flash to trigger the Vivitars. That did not work.

Now I use the Sigma 500 Super in manual mode (no preflash) mounted on my camera (bounced) to trigger the Vivitars with the Sonia slaves. That seems to work.

Hmmm, maybe it had something to do with the pre-flash on your camera's flash. Anyways, enjoy the Sonias. i'll be checking those out next time I order some stuff. I'll probably soon get another 285HV since they're comparitively inexpensive. Great Deal from B&H!

[FlashZebra]

No Canon speedlites.

My plan was to use the on-camera flash to trigger the Vivitars. That did not work.

Now I use the Sigma 500 Super in manual mode (no preflash) mounted on my camera (bounced) to trigger the Vivitars with the Sonia slaves. That seems to work.
You could put the Vivitar on your camera and not bother with an external optical slave.

The Super Sigma has an optical slave built into it. It is a nice, and a bit unusual, feature (a few other flash units like the Nikon SB-26 also have a built in optical slave).

Enjoy! Lon

[FlashZebra]

Hmmm, maybe it had something to do with the pre-flash on your camera's flash. Anyways, enjoy the Sonias. i'll be checking those out next time I order some stuff. I'll probably soon get another 285HV since they're comparitively inexpensive. Great Deal from B&H!
You might also want to check out the Sunpak 383, I think it is a slightly better flash than the Vivitar 285HV (one more manual setting - 1/8 power, head rotates, and it is a bit smaller - but no zoom feature).

The 383 and the 285HV have the same power output.

The 383 is also $10.00 less expensive than the Vivitar 285HV.

Enjoy! Lon

[rdsmith3]

Hmmm, maybe it had something to do with the pre-flash on your camera's flash.

Neither the preflash nor the flash fired it, so I suspect the problem was with the digital peanut.

[rdsmith3]

You could put the Vivitar on your camera and not bother with an external optical slave.

The Super Sigma has an optical slave built into it. It is a nice, and a bit unusual, feature (a few other flash units like the Nikon SB-26 also have a built in optical slave).

Enjoy! Lon

In hind sight that might have been the way to go. It's a long story, but I was initially thinking it would be nice to have three off camera flashes because I already had the Sigma, and the vivitars are relatively inexpensive. I thought I could fire all three with the on-camera flash using the digital peanuts. That did not work. So now I use the set-up I described above. I always carry the Sigma with me because of the ETTL capabilities. The Vivitars are just for at home right now until I am confident I can get consistent results with them.

[FlashZebra]

The Wein Peanuts, and Canon EX flash units are really giving accessory optical slaves an undeserved bad name.

If you work in somewhat subdued light, avoid the Wein Peanut, and use some flash other than a Canon EX unit, almost any optical slave will work very reliably with almost any general purpose flash unit.

Of course there are a few exceptions here and there, but optical slaves, in general, are very reliable.

Enjoy! Lon

[pepperoni]

I (mistakenly) thought the 430EX would optically slave off the Vivitar 285 (fired with a PW). Unfortunately, that's not the case. I didn't want to deal with any more optical devices that I keep reading about people having issues with (and my own issues with the V2's), so I ended up getting a second Vivitar and a third PW. I haven't read about anyone not liking or having issues with the PW, so that's the route I took. Spendy.. yes. Reliable.. yes. I'll keep the 430EX as the on-camera, don't-bring-a-lot-of-gear flash for parties and get togethers.

Just my worthless $.02
:)

[FlashZebra]

I (mistakenly) thought the 430EX would optically slave off the Vivitar 285 (fired with a PW). Unfortunately, that's not the case. I didn't want to deal with any more optical devices that I keep reading about people having issues with (and my own issues with the V2's), so I ended up getting a second Vivitar and a third PW. I haven't read about anyone not liking or having issues with the PW, so that's the route I took. Spendy.. yes. Reliable.. yes. I'll keep the 430EX as the on-camera, don't-bring-a-lot-of-gear flash for parties and get togethers.

Just my worthless $.02
:)
Again, the issue here is the fundamental uncooperative nature of Canon EX speedlights, not a fundamental reliability issue with most optical slaves.

You had a problem, but you likely assigned blame to the incorrect device.

If you would have connected the 430EX to your one Pocket Wizards, and put the optical slave on your Vivitar 285, you would likely have been very happy.

Nothing more portable than an optical slave if you want to "don't-bring-a-lot-of-gear flash for parties and get togethers."

Buy the way, which optical slave were you using.

Enjoy! Lon

[pepperoni]

Buy the way, which optical slave were you using.


I've been using the Cactus V2 (Gaget Infinity) triggers with my 430, and I wanted another flash.

I'm pretty new to all this and I was told that the 430EX (on slave mode) would optically trigger off the Vivitar. Turns out, that's not the case since the 430 wants some sort of infared signal from another canon master.

The Cactus V2 triggers I've been using will sometimes work, and other times not. Then it'll randomly fire the flash when it feels like it. I've read this is a indication that it needs new batteries. That may be the case, but I made the decision to get a few PW's and be done with it. I'm giving the V2's to a buddy who knows they might need new batteries.

[FlashZebra]

I've been using the Cactus V2 (Gaget Infinity) triggers with my 430, and I wanted another flash.

I'm pretty new to all this and I was told that the 430EX (on slave mode) would optically trigger off the Vivitar. Turns out, that's not the case since the 430 wants some sort of infared signal from another canon master.

The Cactus V2 triggers I've been using will sometimes work, and other times not. Then it'll randomly fire the flash when it feels like it. I've read this is a indication that it needs new batteries. That may be the case, but I made the decision to get a few PW's and be done with it. I'm giving the V2's to a buddy who knows they might need new batteries.
Not quite following this, but it seems that you were trying to optically fire a flash, without the use of an optical slave device.

A $10.00 optical slave connected to the Vivitar would have worked fine.

Enjoy! Lon

[pepperoni]

Not quite following this,


Hi Lon,
I already had a 430. I wanted another flash, so I bought a Vivitar and two PW's.

I was told that if I fire the Vivitar with the PW, the 430 would fire on it's own if it was set to slave.

That's not the case, so I bought another PW instead of going the peanut route.

:)

[scot079]

Hi Lon,
I already had a 430. I wanted another flash, so I bought a Vivitar and two PW's.

I was told that if I fire the Vivitar with the PW, the 430 would fire on it's own if it was set to slave.

That's not the case, so I bought another PW instead of going the peanut route.

:)

Yeah the 430ex will only slave to it's big brothers 550 580 and 5802. And the 430 doesn't have a PC terminal, so you're limited there as well.

I'l be trying something similar, but with the 5802 master, 430 slave, and Vivitar + optical slave (which will hopefully work with any light setup)

[FlashZebra]

I'l be trying something similar, but with the 5802 master, 430 slave, and Vivitar + optical slave (which will hopefully work with any light setup)
I do not think this will work.

For the 580 to control the 430, it must emit a preflash. That preflash will fire the Vivitar with the optical slave prematurely.

Enjoy! Lon

[pepperoni]

For the 580 to control the 430, it must emit a preflash.

Not so. If the 580 is anything like the 550, there's no preflash on Manual mode.

[FlashZebra]

Hi Lon,
That's not the case, so I bought another PW instead of going the peanut route.

:)
Here again we have the "peanut" used as a substitute word for an optical slave. This is how pervasive this has become.

A Wein Peanut is just one version of an optical slave. If the many web accounts can be believed, a very marginal optical slave with regard to robust function.

Optical slaves are a fundamental flash triggering device. There are many manufactures that make optical slaves. In general they are reliable devices, especially considering there very modest price.

Somewhere along the way the Wein Peanut has inserted itself as the only optical slave, and unfortunately it seems to be a very marginal performer.

So users give up on optical slaves, just because the peanut has disappointed, and the vocabulary is such that somehow the word Wein Peanut has come to mean all optical slaves.

Some reasonable differentiation is in order.

Enjoy! Lon

[FlashZebra]

Not so. If the 580 is anything like the 550, there's no preflash on Manual mode.
But in manual mode, will the 580EX (or 550EX) fire the 430 without a preflash?

Enjoy! Lon

[pepperoni]

But in manual mode, will the 580EX (or 550EX) fire the 430 without a preflash?


Yes.

[scot079]

Yes.

Pepperoni speaks the truth lon. I tried the 580 II as a master to the 430 just 10 minutes ago. Everything on manual, no preflash, everything fired as expected.

I understand that the Wein may suck, but I hope not because I'm anxiously awaiting one! I should get it next week with the Vivitar 285. So I'll post up on how things go.

[raymushgrush]

I have several Wein HS hot shoe slaves and they work fine outside in the sunlight with all 4 of my Vivitar 285HV's. I tested the slaves at 50 feet using another Vivitar unit at 1/4 power to trigger them. I tested the slave units with the sensor facing the sun and facing away from the sun. I purchased my Vivitar flash units about 1 year ago. I was told by BH Photovideo and by Vivitar Repair Center that my flash units are the same as what is being currently sold at places like BH Photovideo. The Wein units are named WEHS and they are $34.95 at BH Photovideo.

I also have a bunch of Vivitar SL2 slaves that even have a switch for Hi and Lo ambient light. Regardless of the setting the Vivitar SL2 units do not work at all in the sunlight.

I have had to return about 1 out of every 5 items I purchased from Wein. Once you get a good one it is reliable but is kind of irritating to have to return that many items.