Zeikos ZE-DS12 Digital Pro Slave Flash: Customer Reviews & Product Details

Bought 2 of these at once because they were so cheap, but we know cost is directionally proportional to performance. Both seemed to function ok as a slave on the 1st 5 or so fires from a master flash. Then the first one went dead for optical triggering, then the other ones press to test fire function went inoperative. Considering the return/replacement policy; customer having to pay shipping and the low cost of this item, its not worth my time and effort to even bother with returning these. As I ended up with 2 of 2 defective units, chances are I would end up with 2 more defective units, then get stuck with shipping charges again to return those. Not bitter, suspected there would be a performance, construction or quality issue when I purchased at such a low price.
Hoped to get at least one good one but that didn't pan out.

This flash appears to be nicely built and well finished. For its price, it doesn't appear to be cheap. It has two switches. One of the switch works as a power on/off switch as well as to select "Normal Mode" i.e., mounted on camera hot shoe triggered by the camera circuitry, or "Slave On Mode", where the flash can be used as an optical slave triggered by the camera's on-board flash. The second switch is a programed slave mode selector, where you can set the preflash occurances between One preflash up to 4 preflashes. If your camera made 3 pre-flash bursts before the actul photo illumination flash, you can set the slave selector to S3 and it will sync properly with your camera.

I tried using the flash in slave mode with a Sony Alpha DSLR, a Sony H10 point and shoot and a Panasonic point and shoot. The flash worked perfectly at S3 setting with both the Sony H10 and the Panasonic point and shoot. However it did not work with the Sony Alpha preflash anywhere between its S1 to S4 preflash range. Although I kept the Red Eye mode off on the Sony Alpha, the flash appears to fire along with the Alpha's preflash and before the exposure is made. This was a disappointment, since I have primarily purchased this flash to be used as a slave with my Sony Alpha system. This is a the only reason why I am giving it a 3 Stars. Otherwise, for any point and shoot camera, this could surely get a 5 star rating for what it does and at which price it does it.

Definitely a good handy lighting tool to have with a point and shoot set up. Not recommended for DSLR, at least for the Sony Alpha system. I have not checked it with any other DSLR brands (Canon, Nikon, Olumpus, Pentax etc), as such I cannot make a comment vis-a-vis compatibility of this flash in slave mode with other DSLRs.

However, if you are using this flash as part of a wired or chanel based wireless flash trigger under a studio set up, then it should work since the on-board preflahes are no longer there.