FAQ> Equipment FAQ > Understanding Strobes

Although there are many different strobes, and many different manufacturers, they all share similar parts and controls.

The bottom of a MonoLight strobe.

In this shot you can see the umbrella slot in the strobe's reflector. This allows it to be used with an umbrella, so you don't have to buy a special umbrella holder as is required with many other strobes.

It actually an umbrella- CAPABLE reflector, but all pros and manufacturers just call them umbrella reflectors.

Here's a front view of an umbrella reflector attached to a strobe;

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Here's a top view of the PS-300 strobe, with the parts labeled for easy identification (the reflector has been removed for this shot).

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The back of the PS-300 Pro Strobe, showing most of its controls. Most other monolight strobes have similar controls.

After we've plugged our strobe in, and turned it on,

• the "ready" light goes on to let us know when the strobe is charged and ready to fire;

• the "test" button lets us fire the strobe to test its proper functioning;

• the "sync" terminal lets us attach a sync (or PC) cord to the sync terminal on our cameras to control the firing of the strobe with the shutter button on our cameras;

• and the "optical slave sensor" lets us fire the strobe automatically with the flash of any other strobe or flash unit.

• The Safety Fuse protects us and our strobe from electrical spikes or shorts, the On/Off switch turns the unit on and off;

• and the Power Plug is where we plug in the power cord.

Here's a picture of a MonoLight strobe on a light stand with an umbrella attached (the umbrella goes through the slot in the reflector, and slides into the umbrella hole in the base of the strobe or the bulb holder).
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