ebay slaves?

JAW · Posted: Thu May 31, 2007 10:50 am Post subject: ebay slaves?

I'm not sure whether to get this or not. Basically i don't much about them other than what Roo said (below). Would they work with any camera (essentially a Pentax IST DL)? Also i can't find any on ebay...

Any help would be appreciated!

dmrssnap · Posted: Thu May 31, 2007 11:58 am Post subject:

Yer theyll work. Im also thinkin of gettin some soonish. You might find this handy: http://forums.skateperception.com...62c&showtopic=101002&st=0
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JAW · Posted: Thu May 31, 2007 1:07 pm Post subject:

yeah that was interesting. are they only flashes that attatch to your camera or can you use them as seperate flash guns?
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dmrssnap · Posted: Thu May 31, 2007 1:13 pm Post subject:

You can use any flash gun. If your using slave flashes make sure you get ones with fully manual contol as an option as ttl will be usless
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JAW · Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 10:48 am Post subject:

ok cos what i want one for is to get shots like this:

and if i can't there's no point me buying one cos the flash attatched to the top of the pentax is good enough!

(don't mind me using you as an example rad Wink

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rad2themax · Quite High User Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 136

That shot was taken on a D50, with an SB600 (could have been any off cam flashgun, preferably with a hotshoe mount but can be connected to the reciever via a supplied pc cord) and ebay slaves Smile

So yer they will do shots like that.

Mine have been nothing but great for the price, as you can see the flash is a fair way away in that shot and is also hidden behind a tree and it didn't misfire once. That's about the limit of their range though, could go further if it was very open terrain.

Other people say there's a rubbish and stuff so it does seem a bit hit and miss, but then again that might just be because they're expecting pocket wizard quality slaves for £15.

They'll never match pocket wizards but for the price, i dont really think you can go wrong and you can get a foothold in off cam flash photography for very cheap.

Read up on skate perception for reccomendations on flashguns but Vivitar 285hv, Sunpac 555 and the Nikon SB20 range are all highly reccomended and you can pick some of them up on ebay for around £30 if your lucky! They will all work with the ebay slaves.
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JAW · Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 12:50 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the help guys. They seem fine for me.

dmrssnap · Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 1:37 pm Post subject:

What flash do you have at the moment?
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JAW · Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 2:44 pm Post subject:

The one on top of this:

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dmrssnap · Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 3:18 pm Post subject:

Yer you need a proper external flash gun so you can move it around, the idea of the slave being its an off camera flash and the one on top of your cam is pretty fixed. Gat an old one cheap off ebay, you can but flashs dirt cheap.Check the opinions on skate perception for info on the best ones. You might also find http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101.html handy too
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JAW · Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 8:54 pm Post subject:

ok cheers will start looking around....
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rad2themax · Quite High User Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 136

No offence, but go read up on slaves and off camera flashes ALOT before you shell out cash. Check skateperception, wheels and wax, google, strobist etc.

The reason i say this is that slaves are to run an off camera flash so it's firing remotely (but automatically) from somewhere away from your camera. Hence having an on camera flash ruins the point as you can't move that off the camera.
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JAW · Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2007 5:01 pm Post subject:

No offence taken dude! Research always pays off (hence the reason for this helpful little 'buying advice' forums! Cool

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Hamish · Forum Veteran Joined: 29 Sep 2006 Posts: 1011

JAW - as rad2themax says you should read up a fair bit about flashguns first. Remote flash use is complicated, and not at all like using the on board flash. I'd read up on flash use in general to try and gain an understanding of the modes and the principles of fill flash and lighting.

I don't know about Pentax gear, I use Nikon, but they'll have a selection of flashguns with different features. You'll need to choose one with a rotatable head and a decent guide number. And then you can look at slaves.
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JAW · Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2007 5:30 pm Post subject:

okey-dokey. once again, thanks for the help dudes, much appreciated! Cool

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