Comments on: Got Me A Vivitar 285HV Flash

By: Tim Thompson

Tim Thompson — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 19:39:14 +0000

Angie,

This is a flash that was commissioned by Midwest to answer some of the wants of the Strobist. David Hobby writes about it at http://strobist.blogspot.com/2009/03/manual-flashes-two-debuts-and-adoption.html.

Although there seems to be some quality issues in the fit and finish, it sounds like it would be preferable to the Vivitars in terms of the flexibility (sync jacks, built in slave, etc.)

I’m far from being any kind of expert but I think the flexibility makes it a good choice.

By: Angie

Angie — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 18:16:03 +0000

I see that the Vivitar 285hv has been replaced by the LumoPro LP120 flash on Midwest photo exchange strobist kits. Is this a right flash to get these days?

By: Tim Solley

Tim Solley — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 20:03:22 +0000

Thanks for the comments guys. I got a chance to work with the Vivitar a little while on vacation in Colorado and I’m VERY happy with what I saw. The Wein slave also worked pretty good, even in full sun. However, I didn’t use it a ton, so the jury is still out. Thanks for the heads up on the Fotodiox slaves, I’ll check those out. The price certainly looks good. If the Wein truly turns out to be a dud, I’ll give it a try.

By: Tim Thompson

Tim Thompson — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 06:33:47 +0000

I never tried it with the on camera flash but one fotodiox seems to work fairly flawlessly, triggered by the 285, the other one a little less so. It’ll have to do until the budget allows for something else (Pocket Wizards, maybe?)

By: Travis Campbell

Travis Campbell — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 03:27:32 +0000

Yeah, I agree about the Weins. I bought one with my 285hv from mpex and the same situation. Moishe replaced with a fotodiox and things work much better now (my d40 on camera flash won’t trigger it, but my sb-800 will; guess I can’t have everything

By: Tim Thompson

Tim Thompson — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 06:50:04 +0000

I bought two of these flashes as part of the Strobist Kits from Midwest Photo Exchange. The flashes work flawlessly and I probably got the two kits for the cost of just a bit more than 1 Canon flash. However, the Wein Peanuts were no good and ended up going back and being replaced with two slaves from a company called fotodiox that seem to work considerably better.

No complaints on the flashes so far. Simple, powerful and great for off-camera use (and on camera, too, if necessary).