Optical slave, how does it work?

[Grinch232]

I just bought a 580exII and a optical slave to use with an old Minolta flash I had laying around. Its a Wein Hot shoe slave that says to just put on the hot shoe of the flash (Minolta). Should the 580 just set it off because when I tried it I got nothing. So I ask, how do you use the Optical slave that is a batteryless modes? Do I have to change any setting on the 580?

[PacAce]

There is nothing that needs to be set on the 580EX other than to have it on. When it goes off and emits a flash, it should set off the optical slave and fire the flash attached to it, assuming that flash is also turned on and ready to fire.

[zacker]

be sure the slave can "see" the master... other than that, the minolta should shoot... it does work..right? I have heard that the wein Peanut slaves can be hit or miss.... can you try it on a different flash?

[Curtis N]

Post a picture of the bottom of the Minolta foot, showing the contacts.
And a picture of the slave attached to the Minolta.

[SilverHCIC]

Also, remember to set the 580EX II to manual mode, and dial in the correct flash exposure level. If it is in E-TTL mode, the slave flash is firing first, before the mirror/cutain lift, so the slave flash isn't sync'd with shutter. In that case, the slave IS firing, but you're not catching it in your image shot since it is being triggered by the pre-flash.

[Grinch232]

The Minolta is the Auto 220x... I will try and get some pics soon but thought I would post the model if that helps.. The shoe on the flash onnly has two contacts that a staggered slightly.

[PacAce]

The Minolta is the Auto 220x... I will try and get some pics soon but thought I would post the model if that helps.. The shoe on the flash onnly has two contacts that a staggered slightly.

If you look at the bottom of the foot of the 580EX, you'll see 5 pins. Four are grouped together and then there's one that stands alone. The four grouped pins are the dedicated pins for the Canon. The one pin that's off by itself is the flash sync pin and is pretty much standard on all flashes save a few. And it's possible that your Minolta flash is one of those exceptions. To see if it is, look at the bottom of the Minolta flash foot and see if it has a trigger sync pin just like on the 580EX is the exact same location. If it doesn't, that'll explain why your flash is not firing with the optical trigger.

[Grinch232]

Ok I got it to work... sorta.... The only way I can get the Minolta to fire with the optical slave is to hold the 580 right on it and test fire the 580. If the 580's flash is more than 2 inches from the sensor on the Optical slave it dosent work. do I have a bad slave?

[PacAce]

Yes, looks like you have a very bad optical slave.

[FlashZebra]

One outside shot on the "bad optical slave".

Any possibility the polarity is backwards. Any way to reverse the way it is connected?

Typically if the polarity is backwards on optical slaves just just do not work, but I have seen cases that if they have the incorrect polarity, and you just overload the optical slave (like with a flash unit 2 inches away), they will fire.

Enjoy! Lon