slave issues with my alpha.

[maximimaging]

I have a sony alpha and cannot fire my slave flash guns with it. so what did I do ? I went out and bought a hugely expensive dedicated flash gun so I could fire my cheapo slaves. Did it work? ...... NO. I have tried all possible settings and adjustments on my camera but to no avail. can anyone think of something I may have overlooked (not red eye reduction) Is it even posible to fire a slave with my camera. I think my camera is firing a pre flash to determine the best exposure and when it does so it activates my slaves.
HELP

 

[who?]

Tell us more about the set up and you might get a better answer.

How are you setting off the slaves? Optical? Wireless? What sort of triggers? Something dedicated to Sony? (I presume so because I understand that sony/minolta have some sort of different hotshoe?)

 

[Kev M]

As an interim turn your dedicated flash gun to manual and the lowest setting then you won't get a pre flash.