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[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
from Gainesville,FL on 10/31/2010
Comments about Smith-Victor Smith Victor PG250S Wireless Mini Slave Flash, Guide Number of 70', ISO 100.:
One powerful little light. Optical slave is more sensitive than expected , easily triggered indoors and with some practice outdoors as well. One word of caution, the unit still holds power after the batteries are removed so be sure to fire after removal of batteries with the manual button on the hotshoe mount.
[2 of 2 customers found this review helpful]
from Okinawa, Japan on 7/22/2010
Comments about Smith-Victor Smith Victor PG250S Wireless Mini Slave Flash, Guide Number of 70', ISO 100.:
*The Good: It's a handy tool at good price. Good for practice. Great for Still Objects. Nikon D40 built-in flash works as a commander to these slaves, no trigger device needed!
*The Bad: From the first use I could smell a strange burning plastic, even a model noticed it... Not Good! (Totally kills the moment when everyones nose turns up.)
*More Bad: I used it about 3 times before packing it away. The 4 AA batteries exploded while I left them inside the flash. (There is a warning not to leave the batteries inside the flash, however after a while I forgot about it & packed the flash away in storage) and after 3-4 months of no use, it stopped working. This is when I discovered the batteries had leaked inside.
In an attempt to learn lighting basics, I bought this (Smith Victor PG250S Wireless Mini Slave) and the other smaller version (Smith Victor PG160S Wireless Mini). Opening the box I was thinking it looked like something funky from the 1970's and was surprised how lightweight & cheaply made it looked & felt. Immediately testing, I was again surprised at the amount of light output. This little guy kicks out quite a bit of light for my small living room studio set up.
When I used it against white backdrop & white floor with reflector it was completely overexposed and would take some serious adjusting. Once I got the hang of it... not too bad. While I found the recycle time to be somewhat slow, I have nothing to compare it to. Basically I would shoot 3 continuous shots on my NIkon D40 and the 2nd shot would not fire a flash, but the 1st & 3rd shots turned out well lit. After post processing I could fool myself into seeing a decent picture.
Overall, I think the flash served it's purpose for teaching me about lighting. You get what you pay for as cliche as it is! But I wish I would have just saved a few more weeks and bought my Nikon SB 600 in the first place.
(The other Smith Victor PG160S Mini Slave I mentioned is still kicking like new and the batteries were also left in it for the same length of time, go figure. It is smaller though, so it needs to be closer to the subject. It seemed to have a better build too. I prefer the smaller version.)
Take Note of the Instructions!
Tags: Before using product, Using Product
Comparison of the Smith Victor Mini Slave Flash
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[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
from Jacksonville FL on 7/7/2010
Comments about Smith-Victor Smith Victor PG250S Wireless Mini Slave Flash, Guide Number of 70', ISO 100.:
Does not sync with cameras that use pre-flash, such as Canon Powershot
from Norfolk, VA on 2/22/2010
Comments about Smith-Victor Smith Victor PG250S Wireless Mini Slave Flash, Guide Number of 70', ISO 100.:
This flash is so light and of the perfect size to always carry. It's great as a backlight and accent light.
from hattiesburg, ms on 1/11/2010
Comments about Smith-Victor Smith Victor PG250S Wireless Mini Slave Flash, Guide Number of 70', ISO 100.:
great addition to arsenal! light weight. had some trouble getting it to fire outside in daylight! no problems inside or at night!
from santa clara, ca on 1/10/2010
Comments about Smith-Victor Smith Victor PG250S Wireless Mini Slave Flash, Guide Number of 70', ISO 100.:
Very portable, istead of using an slave umbrella just bring it with you in your standard camera bag pack. Make sure you have enough space to use this as a fill in flash, the flash is so powerful you need to adjust the distance or follow the meter reading scale. Best for traveling and fill in flash photography.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
from Benicia, CA on 5/15/2008
Comments about Smith-Victor Smith Victor PG250S Wireless Mini Slave Flash, Guide Number of 70', ISO 100.:
I bought a couple of these units. They're small enough to fit in any bag or jacket pocket, and the flash-detector trigger means they work with my SLR and external flash and with my son's compact point and shoot. They make a big difference in taking family portraits while you're visiting and can turn a mediocre shot of outdoor statuary at night into a great picture.