Quantaray MS-1 Flash Booster (slave)

Several years ago I picked up a Quantaray MS-1 flash booster from the Ritz Camera store in the Orange Mall. The store is no longer there, but I still have the flash. The reviews are still on the ritzcamera.com site HERE.

I bought it for macro work, but it was a pain to get the exposure just right. So after burning two rolls of Velvia to try to get it right, I gave up and tossed it in a bag.



While I'm waiting for some other strobe goodies to get here, I thought I'd give it another try with the Nikon D80. The results aren't perfect, but I'm gaining ground.

I can't find the little stand it came with, but it does have a shoe mount. So I dug up my PC Sync to hotshoe adapter, mounted it on a mini tripod, and stuck the slave on it.

The biggest challenge using this device with the D80 was the Nikon's i-TTL flash metering method. It fires a short burst prior to taking a photo so the exposure can be calculated. The downside here is that the short burst triggers the slave flash. Yikes!

I was baffled. I couldn't find a way to disable the preflash on the D80!

I found there's a setting called "PV Lock" that can be assigned to the FUNC button on the front of the camera. Once assigned, pressing the FUNC button turns off the preflash for that session. Changing the camera's mode or turning it off will clear the PV Lock setting, and you'll have to press the FUNC button again.

Kind of a PITA, but ultimately functional.


I was able, playing with the aperture and the exposure compensation settings on the D80, to get the balance between the on-camera flash and the slave to something that didn't resemble shooting into the sun. That's something I was never able to do with a 35mm camera. Only with digital could I do that (or a Polaroid back...)