Sakar 318AF Digital Slave Flash

This could be one of the best items to own if you like to mess around with extra lighting. Of course the simple idea is to have several flash units (you would need to buy more than one as I did), that would fire off at the same instant as the camera flash with out being directly connected to the camera by a cord. The concept is for the slave flash to react to your cameras flash. Although, I already own slaves for regular film cameras (that work quite well), they will not work with most digital cameras today. That's why you need to buy a digital slave flash unit.This particular model didn't work as well as I had hoped. Although, it has several settings to correspond to different cameras, none seem to work everytime when needed. When I finally found the correct setting for my Kodak camera, I also found that the sensitivity distance was short. Setting up the slaves maybe 20 feet away produced no flash. But better results would happen if you turned the flash towards the camera. Obviously, this would not make a good shot for the light to blast directly in the camera lens. But for some reason would fire-off better when pointed in this direction. I would guess that they made a mistake in where the slave sensor is positioned. Had the sensor been placed to pick up camera flash signal on it;s back side then better results would happen. That's not to say it did't work at all. Most pics didn't happen but by re adjusting the slaves and distance did make them fire sometimes.On in all, I wish this unit would have preformed better. Perhaps it does work better with other brands of cameras but it not so well with Kodak digitals. You can buy better slave units on the market but you will pay five to ten times more also.Hopefully, the company that made this unit will realize some of the flaws and correct them. Simply repositioning the built in sensor would make this unit a good choice. Until then, don't buy this for long photo shots, however short shots might work well for some.

I suppose you already know that the flash output of most compact digital cameras is limited or you wouldn't be looking at this slave flash.The flash works well right out of the box. The trick, for me, was to set the camera properly. It turns out these digital cameras are pretty smart. If you leave them in any kind of "auto" mode, be it fully auto, aperture or shutter, the camera will compensate for the extra flash and it will seem like the slave flash has no effect.The way to make the extra flash work is to set your camera to manual exposure. You then have to set an f-stop and shutter. Taking a queue from the old days of mechanical cameras, I set the shutter at 1/60. From there, you may have to bracket the aperture for the exposure you want.The slave flash helps significantly, and a bonus for Canon Powershot users is that the cycle time on the Canon, which is notoriously slow, is much quicker because it doesn't have to spend as much energy flashing by itself. If you're really into photography, you can use the slave to soften shadows.We considered the slaves that have aim-able lenses, but really, if you hold this slave in your hand, you can aim it where you want and accomplish the same thing. Too, the larger flash units use four batteries compared to two, and consequently weigh more.Our slave came with a bundle which sweetened the deal. A battery charger, rechargeable batteries, a case and a cute little tripod. Good deal. Another happy Amazon customer.

Slave or manual. Measured 5.2 volts across contacts, so safe in most camera hotshoes. No published guide number but roughly 11 ft at ISO100.Modern cameras often fire multiple flash pulses in rapid succession ("preflashes") before the final pulse that lights your photo; it all happens in a blink of an eye. Those camera preflashes are typically used to help the camera determine proper exposure, send info, and/or reduce red-eye. This slave flash unit, which fires a flash only once per shot, must synchronize against that final flash pulse from your camera. You have to tell the unit how many camera preflashes it should ignore, hence the four slave switch settings (S4 = ignore 3 preflashes, fire on 4th; S3 = ignore 2 preflashes, fire on 3rd, etc). Try each switch setting to find the appropriate one for your camera (note that the right setting may change if you change the camera's red-eye reduction).Slave switch setting S2 works w/Canon SD300 and SD780IS, Pentax K20D, K-r and *ist DL internal flashes. Flash pumps out 100% each time in both manual or slave -- adjust the camera exposure compensation as needed. For the price, very handy.

This is a really handy little slave flash. It has just one power setting (Full Power) so I use it for ceiling bounce only. With NiMH rechargeable batteries, the cycle time is only 1~2 seconds.Adjusting the camera on-board flash down (-1 EV to -2 EV to provide softer front lighting and aiming the slave (on a tripod next to me) at the ceiling to provide a bright top lighting, I liked what I got so far.All the on-board flashes I tested (I tried 5 different cameras, with and without pre-flashes) triggered this slave without a misfire, once it woke up. Please read on.Only problem I encountered was that when first started it would not sync/flash until I pointed the camera's on-board flash directly at the slave and "woke" it up with a few flashes. Once it responded with a bright flash, all sessions afterward would sync properly. If I turned off the slave and restarted it, I had to "wake" it up again. Slight inconvenience, but at this price point I have no complaints.