Sunpak 383 vs. Vivitar 285 as slaves for a 580ex II

Franko515 wrote in post #6211920
Oh yeah, I love ETTL thats why I bought 3 580EX II's

Dang!....Upstaged again!

Meh... I had several 580EX's sold all but one of them off and bought cheaper, manual units. Much better solution *for me*...

Rudi wrote in post #6211962
Meh... I had several 580EX's sold all but one of them off and bought cheaper, manual units. Much better solution *for me*...

Oh I also have 2 Sunpak 383s

I've got a Sunpak and a couple of other units, Minolta and something else???

I gave $200 fro a 550EX a couple years ago. Have used the heck out of it and could get $200 for it now. I like that value.

Yep the 580 and 383 are the same power, I posted measurements here.

Franko515 wrote in post #6211621
$99.00

Wasn't this flash like $79.00 3 months ago?

yeah but supply and demand. i ordered two last week for $99 each.

tim wrote in post #6212125
Yep the 580 and 383 are the same power, I posted measurements here.

thats awesome, thanks for that

i've been meaning to get some wireless triggers for a while now, just havnt got around to it yet

davo_robbo wrote in post #6212320
thats awesome, thanks for that

i've been meaning to get some wireless triggers for a while now, just havnt got around to it yet

Skyports are great.

I've blown up one of my 383s. I'd pulled it apart and wired it permanently to a sealed lead acid battery, but at the last wedding I used it a lot and it started making popping noises and a funny smell. I don't know if I burned something out or if I just soldered it up incorrectly. Either way i'll pull it to bits to see what I did but i'll probably chuck it out. Since I need battery packs for cycle time, and I need reliable equipment, i'll probably end up with 550EX or 580EX units with CP-E4 battery packs. Professional, and reliable. The Sunpak might be fine if I hadn't messed with it, but it recharges too slowly for me.

i've heard good things about cybersincs, skyports and PW's

would cost me nearly $500 for a set with the 3 recievers, not very appealing when your 17 and not making huge money yet

might just get some cactus style triggers for the next 6 months or till i get sick of the unreliability

any flash will burn up if you fire it to quickly and don't let it cool down.. I've done it to Vivitar 283's, 285's, Canon 550's and 540's.. got a big bag of flash parts in my closet from the SLA battery pack mod.. lol. I went back to the NIHM battery..

I don't think I burned it out, I was only using it on 1/4 power, and moderately. I suspect it was my rather poor wiring job that caused the problem. For $1000 for a couple of Canon flashes I can have piece of mind, it's worth that to me, doing around 30 weddings per year.

tim wrote in post #6212767
I don't think I burned it out, I was only using it on 1/4 power, and moderately. I suspect it was my rather poor wiring job that caused the problem. For $1000 for a couple of Canon flashes I can have piece of mind, it's worth that to me, doing around 30 weddings per year.

That's pretty much how I see it. You get what you pay for. I've never heard of a Canon flash dying after firing 20 times or so. It could happen to any flash unit though I guess.

Spazzmodicus wrote in post #6213473
That's pretty much how I see it. You get what you pay for. I've never heard of a Canon flash dying after firing 20 times or so. It could happen to any flash unit though I guess.

I have, and a few times even here on POTN. Rapid firing can fry a flash, whatever the brand.

Rudi wrote in post #6213479
I have, and a few times even here on POTN. Rapid firing can fry a flash, whatever the brand.

True....but 'rapid firing' wasn't what I was referring to. I based my comment on what somebody had said towards the beginning of this thread:

"...a lot of problems with recent manufactured 285HV as of Jan/Feb this year, after I bought two and had one fail after about 20 pops...."

Yes, they had a problem batch. It's been fixed. Every manufacturer can have a problem... Canon and Nikon not exempted!