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Why I like flash-extenders

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BSK

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Below is a BLACK-FLASH picture across a food plot at night. Normally, one of the downsides to black-flash cameras are their limited flash range. But using a powerful flash extender (also black-flash), I'm able to see bucks' antlers fairly clearly at long distances. The buck in the center of the picture is right at 80 feet from the camera, and the clearly illuminated treeline in the background is right at 135 feet from the camera. A buck standing right against those trees can still be identified. I also like how the separate flash extender mounted slightly below the camera unit produces a shadow effect that helps highlight objects. If you notice, the buck in the center of the image is actually casting a shadow against the trees in the background. A flash extender has got to be pretty powerful to cast a shadow 135 feet away! Yet neither unit--camera or extender--produces any visible light. Those bucks have no idea they're being flashed.

 
Ahuntin1 said:
I need to try a few of those out. Is there any issue with the camera shutter not synchronizing with the flash extender?
Click to expand...

I use Uway flash-extenders and Uway cameras, so the extender plugs right into the camera and is controlled by the camera's menu settings. But when you buy an extender, it comes with a photo eye that can be two-sided taped to the front of any black-flash camera's flash array and the photo eye triggers the extender when the camera flashes.
 
I've been buying all my trail-cam equipment from Rick Amato of CamOnline (http://www.camoutdoorstore.com/). He lists the VH200B (which is the only Uway camera I like) for $195.95 and the Uway IRB-2 black-flash flash extender for $79.95

But if you email Rick at [email protected] and tell him Bryan Kinkel of Tennessee sent you, I'll bet he'll give you a better deal than his list price. Rick's a super guy even if he is a yankee from New York (at least he's from upstate).

I keep buying more of these cam and extender combinations every year. So far, no failures. The night pictures have a lot of grain, but they are fairly sharp, in that things in the images do not have blurry edges. I can put up with grain as long as I can zoom in and see what I want to see clearly (antler configuration at distance).
 
Nealmeally said:
I need one, well bout 5 actually.. Makes a huge difference.
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For this "in between" period (in between summer set-ups over bait, and rut set-ups over scrapes), these flash extenders can be invaluable. The sequence of camera set-ups I've found that works best is: bait in the summer (and I like salt-licks in most situations), food plots or other concentrated food sources in the transition from summer to fall, followed by scrapes around the breeding season, and lastly back to food sources post-rut. In the summer-fall transition and post-rut set-ups, flash extenders are needed. In the summer and breeding season set-ups, they are not.

I'm rapidly acquiring a whole bunch of these flash extenders, although I kind of feel guilty during those phases when they're not needed. :)
 

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