sync cords and optical slaves

[affen_kot]

hi everyone. if one wanted to hook up a 'modern' pc sync cord (for

example, one that would fit a vivitar 283 or an older hammerhead) to

the flash sync socket on a yashica 635 tlr, would one need an

adaptor to do this, or were the male/female sync connectors for this

type of camera compatible?

 

second question. i'm in the market for some basic optical slave

units to be used in fairly controlled conditions, and i was

wondering if there is a difference where functionality is concerned,

between wein peanuts, brand x optical slaves, brand y's and so on.

when the lights are out, are these brands equals, or is there a real

justification for spending twice as much for weins?

 

thanks for your thoughts. cheers...affen.

[jim_gifford]

PC connections were standardized so you should not need an adapter. My 50-year-old Rolleiflex has the same fitting as my 1970s rangefinders and my 1990s Nikon (although the Rolleiflex does have a switch next to that connector for selecting bulb "M" or strobe "X" flash)... and I don't have any data on various brands of optical slave units, sorry.

 

Be well,

[david_goldfarb]

My Wein slaves have been very reliable.

 

There are a few designs of sync contacts, but if your camera has a regular PC connection (which it probably does, because most Japanese cameras do), then a standard cord should work.

[btmuir]

If your camera has the standard PC socket you'll stll need to find a cord that has a "Vivitar Plug" on the other end if you want to use the 283. These aren't that hard to find but can be a little pricey.If your local camera store doesn't have it you can have Paramount Cords make one for you.

[ransomsix]

As far as the differences in optical slaves most of it comes down to sensitivity. Of

course within the last three years digital optical slaves have been introduced, which

take preflash of digital cameras into account. Make sure you just get the standard

optical slaves. Wein models tend to be good, and there are several different price

points, the more expensive being more sensitive. If you're only going to use them in

low-light situations where the flashes are within a hundred feet or so, the cheap ones

will probably be fine. The more expensive ones will work farther away, and often will

sense another flash, even in bright sun.

[Jochen_S]

I did no serious testing but am d sure there are worlds between the sensitivity of my Metz slave cell and the build in cells of my very old Elinchrome Quanta generators. My advice would be to buy the cheapest availlable slaves for most of your flashes and add one sensitive slave for the case of need.

[affen_kot]

thanks for the thoughts, guys. i ended up picking up a bunch of off-brand optical slaves, and a wein peanut - upon your recommendations - to ensure that the cluster trips at distances under 100'. my subject-to-camera distances are usually under 15', background distance under 50', so i'm optimistic.

 

thanks again for the sync cord ideas. i ordered that which i needed from a nice vietnamese lady in london.

 

this is why i contribute. cheers...affen

[steve_hovland]

I have Wein Peanut slaves, Shoe Slaves, and Household slaves.

 

They are very reliable but sometimes in interior shots I have problems getting them to see the trigger flash and also some problems with inadequate flash intensity.

 

On the whole they work well, and I will buy more :-)

[affen_kot]

so you have a 'plethora' of peanuts, as el guapo would say.

 

one last thing on slaves. i have a sunpak 355AF waiting for my when i visit the states later this month; it's nikon dedicated, has full time ttl, and no manual setting or jack for a sync cord. i can't use it as the master on my yashica tlr, but i was wondering if i would use it as a slave, when hooked up to one of these brand x optical shoe slaves. is this possible, or will it fry my virginal new flash unit? cheers...affen<div></div>

[jim_gifford]

Affen, how would you connect the Russian slave to the Sunpak anyway, if the Sunpak has no sync cord connection? Footsie to footsie with some sort of homemade female-to-female hot shoe adapter? Even then I think the electrical signals would not propagate in the desired direction.

 

I worry that you are making this too difficult. There are combinations of equipment that are designed to work together, and they DO work together, and there's no need to get all Rube Goldberg about it. (Hmmm, you're on the other side of the Atlantic? Okay, no need to get all Heath Robinson about it.)

 

The sort of optical slave trigger we are talking about is not a flash unit itself; it has a sensor and it is designed to attach at the hot shoe fitting of your Sunpak when the Sunpak will be used as a remote flash unit. When the slave's optical sensor "sees" another flash go off, it sends the "Go!" signal through its hot shoe to your Sunpak. Simple.

 

Be well,

[affen_kot]

thanks jim. i appreciate you setting me 'straight' about the female to female slave thing. goes right along with this week's MF thread about leica-nipples for TLRs.

 

actually, the pic i posted is just a flash that i will attach to one of those hotshoe optical slave adaptors. i get these for peanuts from from ukraine. it really has nothing at all to do with my last question, and was just there so people could point at their monitors and say "look-uh there, that ain't english."

 

anyway, sorry for the confusion. really, i meant a) is it safe to hook a sunpak 355AF to a cheapo hotshoe optical slave adaptor (as jim described it), and if so b) will it actually fire, or will it be stuck waiting for some extra instructions that will never arrive (because it's not hooked to a nikon AF sending it all the info needed for it's full-time ttl functions)?

 

not as smart as heath robinson...affen

[jim_gifford]

Affen, I misread your post then, sorry!

 

As to whether the Sunpak will be safe, yes it will.

 

The optical slave doesn't need to know anything about Nikon flash control. It doesn't know or care which brand of flash triggers it, and it has no clue whether the camera attached to that triggering flash is a Nikon or Canon or 8x10 large format view camera... in fact it doesn't care whether there is a camera anywhere.

 

The optical slave will fire the Sunpak when the optical slave senses another flash (one can only fervently hope it is your triggering flash and not anyone else's flash). There is no TTL magic to worry about. A generic slave doesn't know or care about when the flash pulse ENDS, and that is the province of TTL control.

 

I hope that helps MORE, since my last post didn't help much. I most especially hope I didn't misread your post again. I don't mean any offense, just trying to help and not sure whether the info I offer is too basic to be any use to you.

 

And, ummm, okay, never mind about the lesbian female-female hot-shoe adapter thing.

 

Be well,

[affen_kot]

no worries. you can only insult the intelligence of intelligent people. luckily, i do not fall into that demographic. really, i appreciate all the help i can scare up, in particular when it comes to all things flash.

 

as bob marley said: keep a dip in your hip and a glide in your stride. cheers...affen