slave flash with auto preflash

<p>On ebay uk, there are several sellers offering 'mini digital slave flash auto pre flash sensor' They are obviously sourced from China and are marked W&S.</p>

<p>I have asked two of the sellers whether auto pre flash sensor means that the unit ignores the pre flash from the main flash and doesn't go off 'early'. I can't get a sensible reply. One man says he is only in customer care and can't help!</p>

<p>Has anyone come across these, please, and are they of any use?</p>

A company called "Joom" is also selling them with a slightly fuller description. It sounds like they're

meant to ignore a pre-flash.

 

From the apparent size they look as if they'd have a Guide Number in single figures.

 

Might be OK for a hair light or for macro use. For anything else it looks far too weedy. Personally I'd get something that definitely has digital slaving and a reasonable amount of power.

<p>Thanks for that RJ. They look small, but they are also cheap. They would not need to be powerful for where I need them. We have a huge, ancient beam across our sitting room with a white ceiling. I thought of putting, say three, on the beam pointing upwards and getting indirect flash off the ceiling.</p>

<p>I've looked for 'better' ones with the pre-flash sensor, but without discovering anything. Any suggestions, please?</p>

<p> </p>

<p>RJ - I have now spotted another slave one, similar - where it says the auto pre-flash is to avoid red eye. Might not be the same...</p>

My feeling is that those little flashes are a bit of a

gamble, and if you need 3 of them to get a decent

amount of light they're not such a bargain. Whereas with something like a YongNuo YN560 IV you know exactly what you're getting and what it can do.

 

OK, the YongNuo is quite a bit more expensive, but I'm pretty sure that one YN560 would put out more light than 3 of the W&S things.

<p>RJ - thanks for that. I've no shortage of fairly high power guns now. But I wanted to try a few 'experiments' and need slaves that won't fire when the main unit pre flashes. I didn't think that the YongNuo has that facility?</p>

The YN560 series has got more sophisticated with

each mark. I recently got a mk III version that

definitely has "S1/S2" optical slaving options, as

well as a built in radio trigger compatible with

YongNuo's RF602 and RF603 triggers.

 

I bought it used for a silly-cheap price, just to see what YongNuo speedlights are like. I must admit I was really impressed with its features and build quality. I'd definitely buy more..... that's if I didn't have too many flashguns already!

<p>Thanks RJ. That looks very useful. I'll investigate further.</p>