Wein Products W990560 (SSHSHS) Safe-Sync Hot Shoe To Hot Shoe,Black

Having made the transition into digital photography from my old medium format days I was not yet prepared to surrender my powerful vintage flash units (they are still one third to twice the lighting ability of the best on-camera flash Canon has to offer). But given that my flashes fire at 45v and Canon digital cameras only tolerate 6v on the hot shoe, I was stumped.Though skeptical of its claims and not just a little worried for my camera if the thing did not work, I purchased this Wein voltage reducer based on Wein's longstanding professional reputation. Before attaching it to my Canon cameras I used my voltage meter to measure the reduced voltage off-camera with several vintage flashes (the unreduced native trigger voltages originally measured in at 205v, 200v, and 45v).Surprisingly the Wein safe-sync reduced the voltage from all the flashes to less than 1v by my measurement for all three flash units (I am using an anolog voltmeter). Now I was concerned in the other direction: would the thing even allow the flashes to fire consistently at such a low voltage?Live testing has produced this result: Firing the flashes off-camera using a sync connection via the Wein reducer has so far proven very reliable (no missed flashes on early tests); however, firing dedicated flashes installed directly on the Wein is a hit and miss proposition. I am guessing that the weight of a dedicated flash allows both units to shift a bit and misalign just enough to cause some missed flashes.My learning point is to always connect the vintage flashes to the voltage reducer via a sync connection and move the vintage flashes off-camera. Since I have only had the reducer for a week there is nothing I can say with regard to durability except that I did contact the company and they noted the reducer has a warranty and other photographers use the reducers for years without problem. Nonetheless, I will keep testing the reducer on a regular basis to ensure it continues to keep the voltage under 6v.In spite of the dedicated flash issue, I am giving the unit a full count on stars because it honestly works for what I need.-----Update one month later: The Safe Sync is still going strong and I have now used it to sync up with my studio strobes via sync cable. Not one missed flash, yet.

Most older flash units were never designed to use with modern digital camerasMy best advice is save your old flash for your film camera and buy a dedicated unit for your digital cameraWhich will provide you with all the flash options thats designed to have with your specific make of cameraI know this will disappoint people who still want to use their old Sunpak or MetzThe Wein product was very hit and miss and i never knew if it would fire the flash so i have to say it was a failure in my experience If your old flash can connect to your digital with a PC cord then thats a far better option than using the hot shoe and providing you are confident of setting the flash settings to match your digital camera

This is a handy device if you have an older electronic flash you want to use on your hotshoe equipped digital camera, a feature common to $500 and up cameras. The hotshoe contains an electronic circuit that prevents harmful voltage from older electronic flash units from damaging sensitive digital camera circuits.I purchased the Safe Sync Hotshoe so I could use my ancient Vivitar HD-285 flash unit from 25 years ago with my Nikon D3100. I still use the flash on my now-vintage Nikon film cameras, but wanted to use it on my digital camera. I suspected there could be some voltage issues in using the old unit on my camera. I'm glad I checked before I tried, because I learned you can instantly destroy the camera's circuitry with the voltage at the hotshoe of these older units. So, I started looking to see if there was some adapter to match the two. Fortunately, I found the Wein adapter.The hotshoe mounts snugly on the camera as you would expect, has a flash test button, and it is very sturdy. Some of the older flash units aren't light and that extra strengh is needed. The unit also has a special feature in the slot on the hotshoe. It is designed to grip the flash unit more snugly. This is a useful feature and works well. The hotshoe also has the dreaded pc plug, needed with some flash units and useful in some off-camera flash applications.For closeup shots of small items I sell on eBay (seller id: guitarlance2094, check out some of my photographs), I set the flash unit for 1/16th power, bounce the light and leave the camera on automatic. In other applications, such as regular family events, parties and so forth, I increase the flash output as needed, but leave the camera on automatic. Practice and taking a few test shots in advance of an event is the best way to get desireable results.This camera/flash combination won't win any beauty contests, but if you don't want to shell out $300 or more for a factory flash unit it does give you the opportunity to recycle older flash units at a much lower cost.The hotshoe does its primary duty extremely well, and that's to protect your camera's circuitry. This is a sturdy, well-built unit and for my needs I give it a thumbs up.

I have been using this device for a couple of years. It works well with several flash units, including an old Vivitar 285. I was surprised today when it failed to trigger an older Bowens studio flash. The Bowens' trigger voltage is 12 volts, the same as many of my other flashes that still work properly. The Bowens unit was checked out and it works with other camera's with a built in PC connection. The Wein device will not fire the Bowens from the camera or it own test button. When I called Wein, I was informed that the owner and only engineer was out and will only reply to email and then only if he feels like it. They did offer to take the unit back for service but it is not broken, just not well designed.

One such accessory that photography lovers usually need. This one does what we expect perfectly, with a very fair price. I have it since 2011 and it is working well.