flash photography

stevet1 · Oct 11, 2017

When I use an automatic flash, and a Power Winder A, why does my flash only go off every other time?

tecboy · Oct 11, 2017

What flash and camera are you using?

tirediron · Oct 11, 2017

Hard to say for sure without a lot more information, but my immediate guess is that the power capacitors in the flash simply haven't had time to recharge.

stevet1 · Oct 12, 2017

Thank you.

I'm using an Achiever 260T as the flash. (It mounts on the top) for the flash and a Canon AT-1 as the camera. The film speed is set at 1/60 with 200 ISO and I think I had the f stop st at 5.6. The aperture ring does have an A setting, but when turning the aperture ring, it seems to stop just shy of the actual letter A.

The flash unit has sat in a box for several years, and I just got it out yesterday.

Thank you for your help.

Overread · Oct 12, 2017

All flash units require time after firing to recharge the capacitors before they can fire again. The higher the power setting the more of the capacitor is drained and thus the longer the recharge time. So if you use a very low power setting on the flash you can sometimes fire quicker; whilst if you use a very high setting the recharge times will be longer.

Most flash units have a little light on the back that shines or changes colour to denote that the flash has achieved a recharge and is ready to fire.

I would guess that you're shooting too fast for your flash at the power setting the flash is set too; thus its unable to keep up with the camera.
Better/higher end flash units often have improved recharge times; many can also take an external power-pack (which vary from battery cells down to more affordable AA battery packs) which can greatly improve the recharging speed.

Bebulamar · Oct 13, 2017

Although the Power Winder A only shoots 2fps but still that too fast for the flash to keep up. If you want to shoot at that rate you need to get a much bigger flash.

benhasajeep · Oct 15, 2017

I agree with the others. Using the winder your exceding the flashes recycle rate. If you can bring the flash down a could stops in power. It just might recycle as fast as the winder. Also ensure you have fresh batteries in the flash. Weak batteries will also slow the recycle time down.