Newbie - setting up soft box - electric shock!!!

Jessarah13 · Mar 21, 2015

Hi.
Never done this before but I just purchased a 2 head soft box kit - strobe - and have just started using it with my camera, a canon 50D - first few days it was working fine and was playing around with it but then yesterday I started to notice tiny electric shocks off my camera - today well lets just say they have become even more powerful to the point I nearly threw my camera!!!
I am not using now until I work out what is going on - Just setting up the second soft box to see if perhaps the other is faulty?? My other thoughts are the soft box is too powerful for the camera in regards to voltage??? pfft I don't know - the photography place I purchased from assured me this kit would be suitable for me and my camera???

unpopular · Mar 22, 2015

You are certainly having an isolation problem, either in grounding or in the trigger coil. What brand are the strobes?

If the trigger voltage is running directly down the sync cord, then this is certainly a very dangerous situation. Most strobes and monos will mechanically isolate the trigger coil from camera sync. The trigger is a very high voltage, ranging from several hundred to several thousand volts.

The camera trigger on the other hand will be a 5v signal that completes it's circuit when the shutter is synchronized and then opens the trigger coil that discharges the tube. This is done via an optical isolator that keeps the two systems separated.

An optical isolator consists of a clear insulating window with an LED on one side and a photodiode on the other. When the LED is on, it allows the high voltage to run through the diode. This physically separates what's going through your camera, and what is triggering the strobe. No component of the strobe should ever be in electrical contact with the sync cord, even under some catastrophic grounding fault condition. All modern strobes should use them.

In old designs they ran the high voltage trigger through the camera directly. It was unsafe then and modern cameras are not designed to deal with that kind of stress, making it less safe now.

I doubt that isolation was left out entirely, but if it is possible that there is some kind of fault in the circuit's grounding or trigger that is sending high voltage back through the sync cord.

Bear in mind, even simple low power strobes store a LOT of electrical energy, enough to injure or even kill you (never mind your camera).

I'd advise strongly that you demand a refund, less you can be certain the problem isn't elsewhere. There are ways to isolate your camera, such as optical triggers and special isolating shoe adapters, but in my opinion, from what you're saying, these units are NOT safe to use no matter what.

Jessarah13 · Mar 22, 2015

My husband is going to take the light set back tomorrow.
I will label which wires, light etc i was using at the time so they can check it and then work out the problem.
I think i will ask for a refund…

Jessarah13 · Mar 22, 2015

The brand is Visico.
It is a start up 2 head soft box kit.
Comes with trigger setup aswell.

I obviously was using the sync cable. Im wondering if i was plugging in wrong spot, but i have checked over the camera manuals and i am correct.
The camera i have is a Canon 50D

Designer · Mar 22, 2015

Make sure your camera has not been damaged.

tirediron · Mar 22, 2015

Okay, I'm confused. You're getting an electric shock from your camera? What part of the body are you touching when you feel the current?

unpopular · Mar 22, 2015

I'm also a little confused. The camera is plastic, right?

Designer · Mar 22, 2015

unpopular said:
I'm also a little confused. The camera is plastic, right?

Mine has metal parts all over it.

tirediron · Mar 22, 2015

Designer said:
unpopular said:

I'm also a little confused. The camera is plastic, right?

Click to expand...

Mine has metal parts all over it.

As do mine, but most of the bits I touch are plastic/rubber/non-conductive.

tecboy · Mar 22, 2015

I think she meant a tiny spark coming out of a transceiver attached to the hot shoe bracket.

Jessarah13 · Mar 22, 2015

I am just as confused as you all are!
The first initial shocks were not so bad - just felt like a bit of static build up and I thought it odd as yes most of the camera is made from a hard plastic! But there are of course metal pieces all over...
The shocks were coming from all different places so it was very hard to isolate where exactly! It happened every time I took a shot so if you can imagine how you hold a camera with both hands on the side - there were times it felt as though it was radiating out from the battery compartment/memory card or the other side where you plug in the leads.... There is of course some metal loops for where the strap attaches to the camera so could hand been those too.
The first few times I used the soft box I never noticed any shocks... But after a few days it started off light and by yesterday they were very strong! Strong enough for me to jump and almost throw my camera - thankfully I had the strap around my neck! I was too afraid to even test the 2nd light!! Needless to say I had a shocking headache all day afterwards!!
We have rung the company we purchased off and they are equally confused and very concerned so we have dropped it off today to get looked at!

I am keeping my fingers crossed that nothing has been damaged to my camera - I can't see that it is damaged - it's still taking pics and all previous photos are still on the memory card!

tirediron · Mar 22, 2015

Wow... that's an oddball. I've never heard of that. The only thing I can think of is perhaps the PC cord is defective and shorting out; I'm not sure how that would energize the camera body, but... it's a theory. PLEASE let us know what you learn. I'm very interested in this!

Jessarah13 · Mar 22, 2015

Oh and no not coming from the hot shoe - we were using the sync cable... Did try the wireless - well hubby did and didn't get shocked ??

Jessarah13 · Mar 22, 2015

I know it's completely odd as yes that was the first think I looked at after getting shocked was looking for the metal on the body of the camera but it didn't quite correlate to where I was getting shocked!? I did take a shot afterwards and kept hands away from the strap where there is metal loops inbuilt to the camera but again I was shocked...
Will keep you posted

unpopular · Mar 23, 2015

It couldn't have been a damaged or shorted PC cable alone.

As I said above, the voltage that runs through the PC cable should be completely harmless, even if you stuck it on your tongue, under normal, modern design circumstances all you'd end up doing is [maybe] triggering the strobe (not that I'd recommend licking PC cords). Shorting the PC cord is exactly what your camera does normally.

For any kind of current that you could actually feel to be running from the strobe to the camera would indicate something is *very* seriously flawed. This should NEVER, EVER happen.

I suppose there is some slight possibility that your camera is at fault, and that maybe (somehow) the energy is coming from the battery and looping through the PC cord, but that seems pretty unlikely. If this is the case, then the built in flash would likely be somehow involved.