Strobe: Optical Slave Question

[tbari]

Hi - I just got 3 Alien Bee 800's and have been playing around with them.

At times, 1 of the strobes didn't trigger (optically) as a slave. Do they need to face one another, be closer, or is it the size of the room (too big)? I realize that the slave needs to "see" another flash to trigger, but I'm trying to understand what's causing it not to go off -whether its because the room I'm in is very big so the walls are father apart creating less light bounce.

[SkipD]

Hi - I just got 3 Alien Bee 800's and have been playing around with them.

At times, 1 of the strobes didn't trigger (optically) as a slave. Do they need to face one another, be closer, or is it the size of the room (too big)? I realize that the slave needs to "see" another flash to trigger, but I'm trying to understand what's causing it not to go off -whether its because the room I'm in is very big so the walls are father apart creating less light bounce.If you are working in a very large room, there may not be enough light from the "master" flash unit (the one connected to the camera) bouncing back toward the slave receivers. The slave sensors are on the back side of the AB units.

There are two ways I've used to overcome the optical slave problem.

One is to use remote optical slaves such as the Wein Peanut, connected to the AB flash with the provided cable. The Peanut can then be positioned to "see" the master flash unit.

The other solution is to use radio slave units. They don't need to have a line of sight relationship to the master. You can even trigger a flash unit in another room with the radio slaves. For outdoor use, the radio slaves make the most sense. I use the Elinchrom EL Skyport Universal transmitter and receivers with a separate receiver for each flash unit.

[Patrick]

I had the exact same problem. They quite simply didn't see the other flash. I bought a receiver (CSR) for each unit. If you don't want to spend the money for a receiver, Flashzebra sells an optical slave which you could mount on the camera in a location which ensure it sees the other lights. If you can afford it, buy the receivers. You'll never have to worry about it again. They'll all fire no matter where they point or how low you have them set.