Comments on: Vivitar 285 HV Flash

By: Photography Questions & Answers | Digital Photo Buzz - Digital Photography reviews and tips

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 13:26:16 +0000

[...] be automated and these are really inexpensive at around $85. I reviewed these awhile back here: Vivitar 285 flash review and you can see how I used these for off camera lighting here: Photography lighting for night [...]

By: Photography Lighting For Wedding Night Portraits | Digital Photo Buzz - Digital Photography reviews and tips

Sat, 23 Jul 2011 17:27:03 +0000

[...] Vivitar 285 Flash [...]

By: An Intro To Off Camera Lighting | Digital Photo Buzz - Digital Photography reviews and tips

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 06:11:54 +0000

[...] and just accept the light that the flash automatically pushes out. Check out a review we did on the Vivitar 285 flashes. shoe mount [...]

By: Using Exposure Compensation for flash photography | Digital Photo Buzz - Digital Photography reviews and tips

Tue, 28 Sep 2010 19:21:15 +0000

[...] High Speed Sync and Flash photography Off camera lighting for weddings Creative lighting for first dance photos Vivitar 285 HV Flash [...]

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 13:16:28 +0000

Hi Kelly,

It depends on the type of pocketwizard. The newer Pocket Wizard FlexTT5 Transceiver have a hot shoe on top so you can just pop the flash on the top of the pocketwizard and your done. For the pocketwizard plus models you would need a hot shoe adapter, that has a hot shoe you slide the flash into and then a miniphone plug that goes into the top of the pocketwizard. Here is one that I have used:
Hotshoe to miniphone adapter

By: Kelly

Kelly — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 04:32:42 +0000

That’s great…thank you so much. Another question, to connect the pocket wizard to the vivitar flash, am I going to need a special cord? I just got the flash and pocket wizard today and am not sure how to connect the two.

Thanks!

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 06:15:44 +0000

Hi Kelly, Yes, with the pocketwizards you do need to have 2 of them. One will sit on top of your camera and the other will connect to the flash. Some pocketwizards at Receivers (they only will work on the flash) others are Transmitters (will only work on the camera to transmit the signal) and others are transcievers (work on both which is usually what I prefer). If you are shooting with a canon you should check out the new PocketWizard flex units, they work just like any other pocketwizard but also allow you to use the TTL on your flash as well as a high speed sync. I'll be doing a review of these sometime in the next few weeks so look out for that. Amazon always has them for a good price, here are a few links to check them out: PocketWizard MiniTT1 Pocket Wizard FlexTT5 Transceiver Let me know any other questions. Thanks, Mark

By: Kelly

Kelly — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 02:45:27 +0000

We’re new in the wedding photography industry and are purchasing lighting for the reception. I’ve read your posts about dance floor lighting and they were very helpful! One question I have is about the Pocket Wizards…and this may sound like a dumb question…but do I purchase one Pocket Wizard for the flash and one for the camera??

Thank you so much for the great information!

By: Creative lighting for first dance photos | Digital Photo Buzz - Digital Photography reviews and tips

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 06:46:52 +0000

[...] Depending on the size of the room I will normally point it towards the ceiling and have it around 1/2 power. This will bounce off the ceiling and give a good overall light covering the dance floor from above. Then I will setup a smaller unit like a Vivitar 285 ( Vivitar 285HV Auto Professional Flash) or just a canon speedlight. I will adjust the power of this depending on the distance to the middle of the dance floor and how dark the room is. This will be used sometimes as the main light or a dramatic backlight depending on what angle I shoot from. To read a review of the vivitar 285’s read this review we did, Vivitar 285 flash review [...]