PC Cord - remote optical slave

[cochranb]

I have been using the optical slave feature of my mono lights with out too

many issues. Tomorrow, however I have a situation where the lights are going

to be above my head and the ceiling is flat black (movie theator).

 

Here's the problem, the optical slave pickup is on the top of the lights and

the room absorbs too much of the light from my flash. In a walk through

yesterday, I was only batting .500 at best getting one of the two to pop, and

no more than .100 getting both.

 

I am looking into Pocket Wizards, but don't want to spend the cash (would need

three) when 99% of the time the optical works for me. Is there a good way to

either use mirrors to get the monolights to see the on camera flash? Or are

there optical slaves that I could plug into the end of the sinc cord and place

them in a better location? Basicly moving the optical slave to a more

convenient location.

 

Thanks,

 

Bryan

[Charles_Webster]

Wein make small optical slaves that can plug directly into sync connectors on many strobes. Mine have "H" connectors but others are available.

 

<Chas>

[Ed_Ingold]

You could probably do with a pair of PocketWizards. The weak link is triggering a flash from your camera flash (pop-up?). Put the PW receiver on the monolight furthest from the subject. The light from that flash can trigger the others. PWs are so useful, you'll wonder why you waited. Even in the studio, that's one less cable to trip on or tie you down.

 

The only time you need a PW on each flash is where you don't want interference from guests with cameras.

[scottconners]

A Wein "Peanut" slave is designed to do exactly what you are looking for. It's a small half dome optical slave that plugs directly into a sync cord. Should be about $20, and if they don't have the peanut model there are other models and you should be able to get adapters.

[Gary Naka]

Consider renting a set of PW, that way you are not dropping the $800 or so that it would cost to buy them.