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anthonyi
2nd of December 2009 (Wed), 05:38
I bought an optical slave to use with my 580EX II (planning to use it snooted as a hair light or something). Playing with it today, it seems that it will fire the 580 as expected - but only once. The 580 then needs to be turned off and back on again before the slave will fire it again.

Tried with with my 430 and got the same results.

Is there something I need to set in the flash settings to make this work or have I somehow got a duff/incompatible slave unit?

The slave unit I have is http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-kaiser-k1501-slave-unit-trigger/p1006117

Thanks...A
dpds68
2nd of December 2009 (Wed), 05:46
Most optical slaves don't play well with Canon flash units , the one that I have works flawless with my Vivitars but just as you experienced with my Canon 430EX .


David
anthonyi
2nd of December 2009 (Wed), 05:50
:(

At least it's not just me, then. Thanks.

Anyone know of an optical slave that will work well with my 580EX II?
dpds68
2nd of December 2009 (Wed), 05:51
Have a bit of a read on the bottom left of this page "Similar Threads"
anthonyi
2nd of December 2009 (Wed), 05:56
Good advice thanks. Looks like I'm just plain out of luck. Never occured to me before I purchased that it might not work...live and learn.

I guess I'll need a long sync cord then!
PacAce
2nd of December 2009 (Wed), 07:36
I bought an optical slave to use with my 580EX II (planning to use it snooted as a hair light or something). Playing with it today, it seems that it will fire the 580 as expected - but only once. The 580 then needs to be turned off and back on again before the slave will fire it again.

Tried with with my 430 and got the same results.

Is there something I need to set in the flash settings to make this work or have I somehow got a duff/incompatible slave unit?

The slave unit I have is http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-kaiser-k1501-slave-unit-trigger/p1006117

Thanks...A

You need something like this: http://flashzebra.com/products/0118/index.shtml

It doesn't have a hotshoe like the one you bought but it will plug into the PC port of your 580EX II. (Or should I say, I think it does. I'll have to go home and confirm this for sure.)
anthonyi
2nd of December 2009 (Wed), 07:52
Great, thanks...I'll give one of those a go.
anthonyi
27th of January 2010 (Wed), 12:47
Update in case anyone is searching at some point...I located one of the devices PacAce suggested and it did indeed solve my problem.

Well worth a look for anyone trying to solve this issue.