[shaolen]

Hey I have an AF360 FGZ and was wondering if it has the capability to have it off the camera and fire when it sees another flash go off (something i see on Nikon flashes a lot). it this called slave flash? also does the AF 500 FTZ have this feature?

[bdery]

does the AF 500 FTZ have this feature?

Yes it does, and works quite well. Not sure for the AF360 but the database here or the user's manual should tell you this.

[Tanzer]

Yes, the AF 360 FGZ supports two slave modes. One slave mode is for wireless P-TTL control from a wireless commander, such as a K-5 on-board flash, or from another AF 360FGZ mounted on a K-5. Not all on-board flashes can work as a wireless commander. For example, the K-01 on-board flash does not.

The other slave mode is to fire as soon as another flash in the vicinity goes off, kind of a "dumb" slave mode. (Some people call this "optical slave" mode instead of "wireless" slave mode described above, although both are technically optical.) In this mode, you would normally set all of the flash units on manual mode and set a flash output that balances the units the way you like, since any self-metering (such as from the thyristor in auto mode) would get confounded by the other flash unit(s). IOW, it's okay to trigger me optically, just don't expect me to meter for myself.

Not sure about the AF 500 FTZ, but I doubt that any of the legacy flashes support optical slave modes. But you can buy a cheapo optical trigger that mounts on the 500's hotshoe. Search your favorite online GBA retailer for "optical triggers". Don't spend more than $15 or $20.

Edit: Okay, so the 500 does support optical slave, that's good.

[shaolen]

Yes, the AF 360 FGZ supports two slave modes. One slave mode is for wireless P-TTL control from a wireless commander, such as a K-5 on-board flash, or from another AF 360FGZ mounted on a K-5. Not all on-board flashes can work as a wireless commander. For example, the K-01 on-board flash does not.

The other slave mode is to fire as soon as another flash in the vicinity goes off, kind of a "dumb" slave mode. (Some people call this "optical slave" mode instead of "wireless" slave mode described above, although both are technically optical.) In this mode, you would normally set all of the flash units on manual mode and set a flash output that balances the units the way you like, since any self-metering (such as from the thyristor in auto mode) would get confounded by the other flash unit(s). IOW, it's okay to trigger me optically, just don't expect me to meter for myself.

Not sure about the AF 500 FTZ, but I doubt that any of the legacy flashes support optical slave modes. But you can buy a cheapo optical trigger that mounts on the 500's hotshoe. Search your favorite online GBA retailer for "optical triggers". Don't spend more than $15 or $20.

Edit: Okay, so the 500 does support optical slave, that's good.

Oh cool do you know how to set it to that mode where its able to do optical (dumb) slave?

[Tanzer]

From the AF360FGZ operating manual:

Set the switch on the right side in the upper position.

Hold "light" button down for 2 seconds.

Press the "S" (select) button to toggle between Slave 1 (Wireless P-TTL) mode and Slave 2 (Optical dumb slave) mode.

Press "light" button to accept and exit.

[shaolen]

From the AF360FGZ operating manual:

Set the switch on the right side in the upper position.

Hold "light" button down for 2 seconds.

Press the "S" (select) button to toggle between Slave 1 (Wireless P-TTL) mode and Slave 2 (Optical dumb slave) mode.

Press "light" button to accept and exit.

Whoa it worked! However it doesn't seem to ever appear in the picture. is it just too slow or something?

[tuggie76]

Whoa it worked! However it doesn't seem to ever appear in the picture. is it just too slow or something?

It's probaly firing on the pre-flash with P-TTL, the camera sends a small flash for calibration milliseconds before the regular flash goes off. You'd need to disable P-TTL.

Tuggie76

[Tanzer]

Agreed that it is probably firing on the pre-flash; however, you cannot disable P-TTL on the on-board flash. Of course, you didn't say what camera you were using, or what flash you are using to trigger it in the first place, but I'm assuming you are using the on-board flash on a K-5 or something like that. Soooo .....

Mount either the AF500FTZ on the K-5. It will fire in manual only, meaning one single flash. Use that to trigger the AF360FGZ in dumb slave mode. You will have to set the power levels manually on each flash (as well as manual settings on the camera) to balance them. After all, you can't use one flash in manual, and one in a metering mode, and expect the overall metering to automatically work out. If one is manual, everything has to be.

You can swap them, mounting the AF360 on the hotshoe and using the AF500 in dumb slave mode, but just make sure you explicitly set the AF360 into manual mode. Otherwise it will default to P-TTL, and you're back where you started.

Good luck, let us know how it works out.

[Tanzer]

An update. Your AF360 will support lower power settings. The lower settings will allow nearly instantaneous recycle times, because the flash won't fully discharge the capacitor. If you use a setting like 1/16, you can get the flash to fire with your camera's on-board flash, twice in quick succession: Once for the pre-flash, and then a second time immediately after with the main flash. This will get your on-board P-TTL metering to work, within a range. This might work at 1/8 or 1/4 power, but I didn't try those ... an exercise left to the reader, as they say ...

[shaolen]

Hey thanks you guys. sorry i've been off of here for a while but yeah it's working now. This flash has turned out more useful than i imagined!