3/4 of my sb910's are misbehaving. Any idea ?

[nixgeek]

UPDATE: This was down to my muppetry. I had it on modelling instead of flash. Thank you all so much for your help!

Hi, I hope this isn't off-topic. I've just had that sinking feeling when I went to get my Nikon SB910 speedlights out of the cupboard and 3/4 of them won't test flash.

It seems strange to get 3 of them to misbehave, although it is possible they'd been put away broken (I don't test them before putting them away).

Before I spend hundreds of £ trying to get it fixed at a specialist. I wondered if the community had seen anything similar before?



I'm worried i've mistreated them by carrying them in my camera bag, or perhaps leaving the batteries in (although I can't see any battery related damage).

I've changed the batteries, and tried TTL and Manual on all power settings to no avail.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Soocom1]

How old are they?

 

[Original katomi]

Whilst I speak canon
Is that test flash on the flash unit or not firing via camera.
I have two third party canon compatible units that some times will not fire via camera
Dirty contact via hot shoe?
Have you tried full auto on camera,

 

[Braineack]

check your batteries/contacts.

 

[Derrel]

That looks kind of like the modeling light feature in which the Flash fires very rapidly at lowish power.

 

[nixgeek]

How old are they?

They are about 3 years old I think.

 

[nixgeek]

check your batteries/contacts.

Thank you, i'll get some switch cleaner on them to make sure there is no corrosion.

 

[nixgeek]

Whilst I speak canon
Is that test flash on the flash unit or not firing via camera.
I have two third party canon compatible units that some times will not fire via camera
Dirty contact via hot shoe?
Have you tried full auto on camera,

I'm very grateful you replied! I'm testing off the camera. It's just the test button on the back. I will clean the hotshoe and retest anyway.

 

[nixgeek]

That looks kind of like the modeling light feature in which the Flash fires very rapidly at lowish power.

I'll break the manual out and double check this. Thank you!

 

[JBPhotog]

As Derrel mentioned, you likely have them set as Modeling lights. Go into the flashes menu and check this setting, make sure they are set for 'Flash' and not 'Modeling'.

 

[nixgeek]

As Derrel mentioned, you likely have them set as Modeling lights. Go into the flashes menu and check this setting, make sure they are set for 'Flash' and not 'Modeling'.

So having just humiliated myself in front of the whole internet, thank you so much You were right. I spoke to my daughter (10) , she said she'd had them out and was fixing them for me

It's working fine now! User error!

 

[JBPhotog]

Anyone who proclaims to never err would be mistaken, I prefer to join the masses of mistaken people as there is lots to talk about.

 

[Derrel]

It's great to have a young kid who can fix your device problems! Do's nimble little hands!

 

[Original katomi]

No problem, user error happens. My daughter #borrowed# my mem card just before Iwas away at sea for a month replaced it with her small one.
This is one of the reasons I like this place so much we can say to each other, hi I need help with this

 

[Designer]

You were right. I spoke to my daughter (10) , she said she'd had them out and was fixing them for me

Oh, that's so cute!

Still, though, you should clean the battery contacts before replacing the batteries in the correct orientation.