Optical slave for EX Speedlite from FlashZebra

[Lotto]

Lon of FlashZebra has added a new optical slave to the website.

http://flashzebra.com/products/0118/index.shtml

I have the opportunity to test it throughly, and yes, the new optical slave indeed solves the problem of EX Speedlites not resetting. Here's my little review.

Optical slaves are inexpensive ways to wirelessly trigger the flashes/strobes, they need no batteries, not affected by RF interferences, work quite well indoors. Unfortunately, Canon EX flashes have no build in slave, and are known for not working with most of the optical slaves in the market--after they fire once, the power has to be recycled before they will fire again.

Well, I am happy to report that after testing several 430EXs and 580EXs, the 0118 slave can fire the Speedlites as fast as they can recycle, without resttting. I also connected it to every piece of my lighting gears that can be optically triggered, they all worked well, including a Sunpak 383, AB strobes, and some eBay trigger transmitters.

On to some details and pictures...

The 0118 slave uses a male PC plug, so connecting to the flash required a hotshoe adapter with a female PC jack, like FlashZebra's 065. In my testing, I use the adapter like the 064. The sensor is solid with no moving parts.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3244/3112309437_85e479262e_o.jpg

The connection is quite simple, flash on top, slave sensor plug in the side.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3100/3113140496_efac1cdc82_o.jpg

The range of the slave sensor is very good, I have no problem fire everything inside of my house. The following sample use the 580EX with the 118 slave, behind the umbrella; triggered by a Sunpack 383 with 1/16 power, pointing backward and bouncing.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3005/3112309317_eff47d0647_o.jpg

Thanks to Lon for providing another valuable tool for the Canon community.

[bobbyz]

Thanks for the review.

[m3rdpwr]

Question, would this plug directly into a 580EX II without a cable/adapter without clearance issues?

-Mario

[PacAce]

Nice review, Lotto. I've also tested the same EX-compatible optical slave unit from FlashZebra and it works well all of my EX flashes (580EX II, 580EX, 550EX and 420EX <the 420EX fires only at full power, of course, since it doesn't do manual>) as well as my Metz 58AF-1c. The only issue I had was trying to trigger the 580EX II, 580EX and the 550EX flashes in master mode which it failed to do. But that isn't really be a problem because I can't think of any practical reason why you would want to use an optical slave unit to fire an EX flash in master mode, anyway.

I also tested the optical slave unit on a few other non-EX compatible flashes without any problems.

[PacAce]

Question, would this plug directly into a 580EX II without a cable/adapter without clearance issues?

-Mario

Yes, it would.

[m3rdpwr]

Yes, it would.

Thank you.

I thought it may hit the side and not plug in fully...

[40Dude6aedyk]

I'm sorry, but it wasn't made explicitly clear, so maybe one can answer True or False for these optical triggers:
1. No eTTL
2. All flashes in manual mode, including a Canon EX master
3. Not bothered by pre-flash.
4. Can handle a pre-flash.
T or F?

[PacAce]

I'm sorry, but it wasn't made explicitly clear, so maybe one can answer True or False for these optical triggers:
1. No eTTL
2. All flashes in manual mode, including a Canon EX master
3. Not bothered by pre-flash.
4. Can handle a pre-flash.
T or F?

1 & 2: TRUE
3 & 4: FALSE

[blssdwlf]

PacAce,

Question on the flash - does that mean it is firing twice, once on the preflash and the second on the actual and the flash would need to be manually set to 1/2 power or less?

Thanks!

[PacAce]

PacAce,

Question on the flash - does that mean it is firing twice, once on the preflash and the second on the actual and the flash would need to be manually set to 1/2 power or less?

Thanks!

Peter, these optical slave units operate the same as any other "dumb" optical slave triggering units. So, yes, if a flash which fires a preflash is used to trigger these units, the slave will go off at the preflash. If there's enough charge left on the slave, it may also go off when the main flash of the triggering flash goes off, too, but that'll depend on how fast the slave is to "recover" after the first flash and how responsive the optical triggering unit is to two flashes in very quick succession (as is the case with the preflash and the main flash). For consistent results, dumb optical triggering units should be used with the triggering flash in manual mode so that there is no preflash to falsely trigger the slaves.

[CROW21]

Question , if i buy this can i use my 430 ex off camera by itself , meaning without having another flash ? right now i use a hotshoe adapter with pc cord , ( i bought it from flashzebra.com ) by the way Lon from flashzebra is a great guy to buy from .

[ghostman]

I'm doubting I'll get an answer to this, but does anyone know how this was fixed? It seemed like a hurdle for quite a while. Ideally, does anyone have a circuit diagram?

As for the confusion some people seem to be having, here's some background:

- When an optical slave sees a flash from another source, it will trigger the flash it is attached to. In this way, you can trigger multiple flash units with a single flash.
- Most optical slaves have trouble with the Canon EX flash units. They might trigger properly once, but fail to trigger subsequently.
- This particular optical slave seems to solve the issue for the Canon EX flash units.

As for CROW21's question, no, you still need another flash. This is only an optical trigger and must SEE a flash to trigger the flash it is attached to. You won't be able to use your camera's on-board flash because the on-board flash always uses a pre-flash, which will trigger this optical slave prematurely.

[quack332002]

I'm new to working with flash so be easy.. I know this is a dumb questions but what's the advantage of using the optical slave vs something like a pocket wizard, besides cost?

Thanks in advance!

[blssdwlf]

Thanks for the clarification :)

Peter, these optical slave units operate the same as any other "dumb" optical slave triggering units. So, yes, if a flash which fires a preflash is used to trigger these units, the slave will go off at the preflash. If there's enough charge left on the slave, it may also go off when the main flash of the triggering flash goes off, too, but that'll depend on how fast the slave is to "recover" after the first flash and how responsive the optical triggering unit is to two flashes in very quick succession (as is the case with the preflash and the main flash). For consistent results, dumb optical triggering units should be used with the triggering flash in manual mode so that there is no preflash to falsely trigger the slaves.

[PacAce]

Question , if i buy this can i use my 430 ex off camera by itself , meaning without having another flash ? right now i use a hotshoe adapter with pc cord , ( i bought it from flashzebra.com ) by the way Lon from flashzebra is a great guy to buy from .

The principle of operation of the optical slave triggering device is that it is triggered when it senses a flash from another flash. Without another flash in the picture to trigger the optical slave device, the 430EX is not going to fire and, hence, will not be very useful off-camera.

[PacAce]

I'm doubting I'll get an answer to this, but does anyone know how this was fixed? It seemed like a hurdle for quite a while. Ideally, does anyone have a circuit diagram?

As for the confusion some people seem to be having, here's some background:

- When an optical slave sees a flash from another source, it will trigger the flash it is attached to. In this way, you can trigger multiple flash units with a single flash.
- Most optical slaves have trouble with the Canon EX flash units. They might trigger properly once, but fail to trigger subsequently.
- This particular optical slave seems to solve the issue for the Canon EX flash units.

As for CROW21's question, no, you still need another flash. This is only an optical trigger and must SEE a flash to trigger the flash it is attached to. You won't be able to use your camera's on-board flash because the on-board flash always uses a pre-flash, which will trigger this optical slave prematurely.

This post will explain why the Canon EX flashes have issues with most optical slave triggering devices.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showpost.php?p=1530948&postcount=2

Now, I am not privy to exactly what component(s) or combination of active and passive components they used to get around the issue with Canon EX flashes having higher than "normal" current flow after the flash fires but my money says the key to making the device work was to get the effective holding current of the SCR, or whatever active component they used, be a little higher than the "after trigger" current flow of the flash through the sync circuit. :)

[PacAce]

I'm new to working with flash so be easy.. I know this is a dumb questions but what's the advantage of using the optical slave vs something like a pocket wizard, besides cost?

Thanks in advance!
Besides cost? Nothing that I can think of. :)

[FlyingPhotog]

Lon of FlashZebra has added a new optical slave to the website.

http://flashzebra.com/products/0118/index.shtml

I have the opportunity to test it throughly, and yes, the new optical slave indeed solves the problem of EX Speedlites not resetting. Here's my little review.

Nice writeup...

Big +1 to Lon/FlashZebra as well...

Very satisfied customer here!

[Lotto]

I did test the preflash with my 20D and couple p/s. With 430 and 580 set to 1/4 or less, both flashes can fire again without delays. Funny thing is that the camera can see the 430/580 firing during preflash and kill most of their real flash after the shutter is open, so setting the camera manually according to the EX flashes power, the flash exposure is controllable. But the on board flashes are unpreditable and required some trial and eror to get the right result.

[40Dude6aedyk]

Can you configure your 430 and/or 530 not to have a pre-flash by setting Cnf05-1?

[PacAce]

Can you configure your 430 and/or 530 not to have a pre-flash by setting Cnf05-1?

Just put the flash into Manual mode if you don't want the preflash to be fired.