Optical Slaves

[arigram]

I've seen many different optical slaves for flash units, but I am not sure which one to trust. After reading some reviews regarding cheap and expensive units, I am more confused that decided as they often are either negative or mixed.
For example, this Seagull one
Dead Link Removed
is very cheap but is accused of not working most of the time.

I have Pocket Wizards and they are my main workhorses, but I only have two receivers and can't use more flash units as most handheld flashguns don't have have a slave mode. I've found myself in a collaborative photo session where we needed to control flashguns.

One last thing to note is that the unit should also have a PC input.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

I've seen a lot of people using the Wien (pronounced Wine) slave units. They make a wide array of pieces - look on the B&H website to see if they have something you're looking for.

 

[jeffreyg]

I have a couple of Wien slave units that have pc connectors that are reliable. Model#WHSD in th B&H catalog.

 

[Mike Wilde]

I have the slaves your post photo shows. I buy them off the *bay every few years. I tend to fry mine from time to time when I pull out some of my old pack and head flash rigs. One I have runs at 580V on the synch cord, so that is likely why they die.

I was at the theatre taking photos of a production for a local troup last wednesday, and that was the night they seemed to act up. I ahve not yet had time to test them since.

Fortunately I had enough long synch cords and a 3 into 1 connector so I could wire the two flash packs directly to the camera, and still have a terminal to plug my manuall tripper into for making flash measurements to set the right aperture.

At the time I thought "This would be the time to say that I should have spent the money on the radio slaves."

 

[lightwisps]

I have a set of OPUS studio strobes that came with a very compact OPUS slave unit. Have used it extensively for a couple of years and it has been faultless.

 

[jtzordon]

I've used with wein slaves with no problems. No real heavy usage, though.

 

[arigram]

Thank you all, I'll check those units out. Although, they are rather expensive...