Wein PN Peanut Slave (100' Range) - for Digital Camera Systems

Comments about Wein PN Peanut Slave (100' Range) - for Digital Camera Systems:

I bought this hoping to use it on my Vivitar 285. At first I didn't think it was working at all, then I realized that it was triggering the flash on the pre-flash (yes, I purchased the peanut specifically designed for digital). In fact, when it triggered the Vivitar on the pre-flash, there was often so much light that the other flashes wouldn't fire at all when the shutter opened.

I got maybe 1 good exposure out of ten.

I mounted the peanut on a PC extension cable and placed it around the studio - with no effect. It always fired the vivitar on the pre-flash.

For me, this is worthless.

Comments about Wein PN Peanut Slave (100' Range) - for Digital Camera Systems:

It stopped working pretty soon into the shoot - after a dozen or so 1/2-1/1 flashes. Tried w/ both Vivitar 285HV & Sunpak 622, then replaced w/ a PW & everything was back to normal. The batteries were not really depleted either, and it was placed really near (1m) & pointing at the triggering light, so I didn't bother to try the alu-foil trick. An external battery pack for the connected flash unit may fix the problem... considering flashzebra at the moment. HTH, sz

Comments about Wein PN Peanut Slave (100' Range) - for Digital Camera Systems:

After reading a few reviews of the Peanut it seemed that the jury was split on it-it worked for some but didn't for others. I am using it with an old Kako 828 flash and it has worked every time for me. Handy item that does what it's supposed to do. I would recommend it.

Comments about Wein PN Peanut Slave (100' Range) - for Digital Camera Systems:

Used the slave for a father/daughter dance. It worked great, allows use of my old Sunpak 622 Pro along with the Nikon SB600. Couldn't have hoped for anything more from it. Worked everytime the shutter was tripped. Only issue was making sure that it was set to see the 600 flash.

Comments about Wein PN Peanut Slave (100' Range) - for Digital Camera Systems:

This will date me a bit. But I still have my SB-24 and SB-26 from film days. Even after switching over to digital, I kept both and would use them at times with an SU-4 unit on the SB-24. I tried some of the early "digital" slaves but could never get consistent results when using TTL flash on my D70. On Manual, they would work fine as slaves. But if I tried to use them with one of my SB-800s or with the camera's on-board flash in TTL mode, all bets were off. So I stopped using them, thinking that I would probably auction them off on [...] or trade them in on something. I was looking through some of the Wein peanut slaves on B&H after reading some of the recent discussion about using older flashes on the Yahoo D70 list. I found a very interesting Wein "Digital" peanut slave that claimed (as my early ones did) to be able to ignore the pre-flashes and fire non-TTL speedlights in concert with TTL lights. The lights would still have to operate in Manual Mode and be adjusted by hand but they could be used to add to a photograph where TTL lights were being used, I-TTL lights. I have been thinking a lot about adding an SB-900 or another SB-800 to my kit. But being able to use my older flashes would give me a lot more lighing power now and later. I thought it would be worthwhile to buy one of the peanut slaves and the necessary SB24/25adapter to try it out.I got the slave and adapter a few days ago. I loaded batteries in the SB-24, put the adapter into the PC outlet, then plugged in the Wein Digital Peanut Slave. I set the SB-24 to Manual, 1/8th power and aimed it at a set of keys. At first, I used the onboard flash of a D300 in TTL,set to -3.0 compensation to see if it would trigger the SB-24. It worked perfectly. Then I backed the power of the SB-24 back to 1/16, and set up the SB-26 identically, moving it opposite the SB-24. They were both keyed successfully.I put an SB-800 on the D300, set it up as a Master with its output at 0. It also triggered both the SB-24 and SB-26 correctly. Finally, Iput my SU-800 on the D300. With no visible flash coming out of the SU-800 (No visible pre-flash = no blinks!), both flashes fired successfully. The only real limitation I can see with these peanutslaves is that they must be able to "see" the controling unit, or one of the remotes firing to be able to fire.So now, I can use my two SB-800's in iTTL, controlling them with either the D200 or D300's on-board commander or an SU-800, with full control of their output from the camera, while also using my old flashes for addtional lighting (lighting a backdrop or as a kicker or both.) I can wait for the additional SB-900 for a bit now. (But not too long! You can never have enough SB's!)

Comments about Wein PN Peanut Slave (100' Range) - for Digital Camera Systems:

These digital peanuts allowed me to use my older SB-24 and SB-26 while shooting with SB-800's used in iTTL configurations. They responded equally well to the onboard flash of my D300 in TTL mode and Commander Mode. To my surprise, they also worked perfectly when using an SU-800 on the D300 as well as an SB-800 in Commander Mode. It gives new life to my old speedlights.

These peanuts are very directional. They require being in direct line of sight in order to fire. They are also very small and could be easily lost. Fortunately, the Wein SB24/25 adapter fits both the peanut and the PC terminal of the SB units very snuggly.

Comments about Wein PN Peanut Slave (100' Range) - for Digital Camera Systems:

I use the slave to fire my remote for fill and supplemental lighting. The slave doesn't always fire and you have to be careful to keep the flash path clear and behind the main unit.

Comments about Wein PN Peanut Slave (100' Range) - for Digital Camera Systems:

solves a tricky problem with the pre-flash on digital strobes like the 580EX.

haven't played with it much, but it does slave and the others don't.

It is especially good for the old vivitar flashes as it plugs right in. It allows you to hide a flash where another Canon wireless flash won't sync for less money than other solutions.

Comments about Wein PN Peanut Slave (100' Range) - for Digital Camera Systems:

As I am a total amateur, I will be using this for fill-in flash and also to experiment with flash at different angles and elevations to subject to get different lighting effects.

Works great with my Vivitar 283 flash. Small size allows changing of batteries without having to remove unit from flash.

Comments about Wein PN Peanut Slave (100' Range) - for Digital Camera Systems:

I also bought this along with a Vivitar 285HV and the slave would only trigger the flash 3 out of 10 times. Tried different batteries and flash settings and no improvement. I sent it back and got a Smith-Victor unit instead. It works great in manual mode, but I would like to have a slave that works the way the Wein peanut says it does.

Comments about Wein PN Peanut Slave (100' Range) - for Digital Camera Systems:

This is an addition to a previous review in which I recommended the product.

I forgot to add that as the digital model of the peanut, it always waits on a pre-flash to fire, then triggers the slave on the subsequent flash.

That being said, it won't fire a slave if the flash you use to trigger it is in manual mode, since there is no pre-flash.

So use the digital peanut version only when you are dropping slaves around to augment the use of your flash in TTL mode.

But in many situations, you can dial your TTL flash exposure down as low as it can go or point it away from the subject to fire your slaves if you want your slaves as main light. This saves you some batteries on your TTL flash while keeping it out of the exposure.

It's still a good product, but be aware of its limitations.

Comments about Wein PN Peanut Slave (100' Range) - for Digital Camera Systems:

I have three of these, and I use them in both of my Vivitar 285HV flashes. They work fine as long as they are snug in the Vivitar plug.

In my 285HVs, they will not work in the plug if rotated "up" because the foot of the 285HV causes the peanut, in that position, to pull out of the plug just a little.

If you use one at the end of the Vivitar to PC cable, you can get better visibility of the peanut and more reliable triggering.

I do get misfires using the peanut when I shoot with the camera motor drive at 5 frames per second. I know it's not the flash because at 1/16th power on-camera, my 285HV will fire 10-12 flashes at 5 fps before it skips.

The peanuts are small, lightweight and durable, but possibly easy to loose. The range is good: In a pinch, I've used them on my flashes in upper bleachers on opposite sides of a high school basketball court, pointing at each other.

Overall I like them because setup is easy and fast, and there are no additional batteries to fumble with.

Comments about Wein PN Peanut Slave (100' Range) - for Digital Camera Systems:

I purchased one of these for use with a new Vivitar 285HV flash. I could never get it to fire the flash whether plugged in directly or connected via the pc cord. Thinking the unit was defective, I returned it to B&H for an exchange. Results with the second unit were identical...zero, nada, nothing. I find this very interesting in as much as Wein specifically mentions the 285 in their promotion of the peanut. This time I've returned the item for a refund as I see no sense in trying yet another one and continuing to pay UPS $5 or so each time I return one.

Expertise: Advanced amateur

Problems Encountered: It simply did not work.