Connecting Alienbees B800 to Elan II

[zachary]

I posted this in the unarchived forum, but I wasn't satisfied with

the answers, so I post here:<p>I intend to purchse an Alienbees <a

href=http://alienbees.com/b800.htm> B800</a> monolight that comes

with the following cords: "a standard 15-foot sync cord and power

cord." So, I have a few questions about using my first monolight: <p>

<br>A)I am pretty sure I can't fire the B800 with my built-in flash

because the ElanII shoots a pre-flash. Also, I won't always want the

on camera front-lighting, so anyways that wouldn't be a very good

option. So what's the best way to connect the B800? Money is a big

factor so I need an economical solution. Also, is there a voltage

problem? I read that might be a problem, too.<br>B)How do I use my <a

href=http://www.aaacamera.com/gossen_luna_pro_digital_f.html>Gossen

Pro Digital F</a> for flash metering with that setup?<br> C) Also,

whats the cheapest wireless setup?<p>Thanks A Lot

for the help!<br>--ZAch<p>

P.S. I also have a Canon 420ex hotshoe flash if that helps.

[Ken Katz]

According to their web site (from the hyperlink you provided), they have a 6 volt sync, which should be safe hooked directly into an EOS body. You could buy a cheap PC sync cord to hot shoe adapter and connect directly to the the 15 foot sync cord.

 

The Elan II built in flash is TTL, and therefore does not generate a preflash. You could easily use it to trigger the monolights by (a) setting FEC to -2 and (b) change the ISO setting to maximum. This would reduce the flash output significantly so that it would not contribute materially to the image but would be enough to trigger the monolights.

[Nicholas Barry]

I have this exact setup and I just use a Wein SafeSync adapter. However, I doubt I really need it, it was mostly to satisfy my paranoid tendencies.

 

Another remote option which I've not tried yet is to get a #87 infrared filter gel and put it over the built-in flash. My understanding is that the slave on the B800 can see the infrared and will fire as a result. An even cheaper option might be a piece of unexposed but developed slide film over the built-in flash. But the previous idea of using the uncovered built-in should work as well.