Wein peanut trigger

[steve george]

<p>Hi all<br /> <br /> I currently use PocketWizards for triggering flash off camera and find them fantastic, however I'm looking for a way of triggering flash that is slightly more portable, for those occasional assignments when I want to carry as little gear as feasibly possible.<br>

<br /> Does the Wein Peanut trigger work without a direct path to the flash? The situation I am envisaging is on camera fill triggering a rear flash rim light with the peanut in the rear flash but behind the subject and therefore hidden.</p>

<p>Would this work? That has to be a simpler and quicker setup than 2 Pocket Wizards (not to mention less expensive gear to carry around when travelling light).</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

[btmuir]

<p>The wein "non peanut" type come in 2 sensitivities. One type is rated for much longer distances. (may be called SSL I forget)</p>

<p>If you are shooting indoors with the peanut type with a fair amount of light bouncing around they are pretty effective. You do not need direct line of sight.</p>

<p>Outdoors is another matter.<br>

The higher sensitivity type have been known to fire outdoors when a car drives by with a chrome bumper.</p>

[steve george]

<p>Thanks Bruce - that latter kind of issue was why I went with PW's. I had issues with a different type of trigger that I was told could have been due to my broadband modem(!!) Looks like I may just stick with the PWs here too.</p>

[pge]

<p>Steve</p>

<p>I have had very few issues with studio equipment, now this may be explained by the fact that I am not a professional and therefore put less pressure on my equipment. Never the less I have had very few failures. That said, I have had two Wein Peanuts die on me.</p>

<p>There is nothing so frustrating as your lights not firing. For the relatively small size and weight I would stick to your PW's. I use Skyports and when my last WP died on me I just bought another Skyport receiver.</p>

<p>Phil</p>

[mark_allen6]

<p>You also need to consider the type of flash you want to trigger. I bought one of the peanut slaves but found it would not trigger my hotshoe flash (a 580EX2). Probably would work fine for my studio strobes but haven't tried it (I bought an extra PW instead). If you need a small slave for a hotshoe you might try <a href="http://michaelbass.blogspot.com/2007/01/misc-custom-connections.html#CanonSoniaConnect">http://michaelbass.blogspot.com/2007/01/misc-custom-connections.html#CanonSoniaConnect</a> .</p>

[Two23]

<p>I personally haven't had much luck with opticals outdoors, but haven't tried the Wein. Some people do well with them. I don't like the limitation of line of sight though. For sheer capability and performance, the Skyports are excellent. They are tiny, not merely small! They will trigger a flash out to 120 yards reliably--every bit as reliable as PW. The only downside to them is they have a built-in lithium rechargeable battery. When the battery dies (never happened to me BTW) you must recharge. These are the best ones for backpackers and travelers. I switched from Skyports to CyberSyncs to get more range. They too are small, about 1/3 the size of PW and take AA batteries. I have one pair of PW and x8 CyberSyncs. If anything, the CyberSyncs have given me a bit less trouble. Honestly, you might consider dumping your PW on eBay and replacing with CyberSyncs. I kept two PW for when I need more than the 250 yard range of CyberSyncs. </p>

<p>Kent in SD</p>

[steve george]

<p>Some great info, thanks for taking the time to respond everyone.</p>

[Kent Shafer]

<p>Wein seems to have a quality control issue with the peanut slaves. I recently bought a three-pack, and two of the three didn't work. I returned them to Adorama and got another three-pack. This time, one of the three didn't work. Since I needed the two good ones for a shoot, Adorama suggested I buy a single one, then return the defective one from the last three-pack with the single unit paperwork. The single worked fine, and I returned the bad one.</p>

<p>So I have now had seven Wein peanuts in total, and four of them worked. Kudos to Adorama for great customer service, but thumbs down on Wein's quality control.</p>