This one is for all of you Strobists out there who can’t get enough power with the battery set up they are using.
So here is what we’re talking about.
If you will be shooting for an extended period of time, like an event, and need to rely on your portable flash for light, you have a few choices: carry LOTs of AA batteries, or use a pro battery pack that should keep you gong and recycling that flash fast.

Now the portable flash, SB800, 580 EX, needs power to run its screen and all of its cool features like TTL and remote functions. That would require batteries in the unit as well as the external battery pack.
Since the flash doesn’t know where to pull it’s power from, it pulls from both.
You will burn through those AA”s like crazy, trust us.
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Here’s where the dummy part part comes in: The flash only really needs 3 batteries to operate the functions and the screen.

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Dummy is placed at the top of the array.

By adding a dummy or non functioning battery, you complete the electrical connection, yet pull the actual ka-flam (technical term) flash power from the external rechargeable battery pack. That will also limit the chance of your flash circuiting out.
The dummy battery is pretty cheap actually, $7.50 and worth the investment.

OK, a little dry and not earth shattering a little tip for ya. You save money on batteries, and don’t fry your flash. Not so dumb.

Also, some folks had commented on this video and wanted to know more and where to get the dummy.

By the way, we love Frazer’s honesty and thank him again for sharing with us.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 3rd, 2008 at 6:44 pm and is filed under Photo News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.