problems syncing my strobes to my camera's flash

[Ridge Meadows Photography]

hey all .. thanks for sticking your heads in here ..
I am having some problems syncing my 2 strobes with my camera's flash ..
I keep getting pix that look as if I am only using my camera's flash .. I even have pix of the umbrella's unlit .. seems to be my shutter is not open at the same time the strobes are going off ...

Any help or input would be awesome ..

 

[usayit]

What type of equipment? How are you syncing your strobes with your camera's flash?

Are you using optical triggers with a TTL digital flash like E-TTL (canon) or iTTL (nikon). If so, the preflash is the issue.

 

[Ridge Meadows Photography]

What type of equipment? How are you syncing your strobes with your camera's flash?

Are you using optical triggers with a TTL digital flash like E-TTL (canon) or iTTL (nikon). If so, the preflash is the issue.

Thanks for replying .. ..So your one of the 10 ..?

Sony DSCR1 is the camera ..
and yes syncing with camera's flash ..
My wife is sitting beside me with her camera on the couch .. just screwing around with some small 60w strobes we bought .. her camera seems to be working way better to actually pick up the flash .. I actually have pix of the umbrellas unlit ... hrmm .

 

[usayit]

Sony DSCR1 is the camera ..
and yes syncing with camera's flash ..

So it does seem that the issue is the preflash. Most Digital cameras fire off two flashes in close sequence. First flash is used to determine exposure and the second is to take the photo using the determined exposure. Optically triggered strobes get confused and trigger on the first flash.. the "preflash" instead of the second flash afterwards used to expose the photo.

Not really sure how to work around it for your particular camera. Some cameras will allow you to go into full manual mode which means the flash will only fire once to expose the photo (exposure will have to be determined by you). You camera also has a hotshoe which on some cameras can be used with a hotshoe to PC adapter to trigger the strobes via wire.

 

[elemental]

Is there a redeye reduction mode that can be deactivated? Those typically use a preflash that will disrupt your synchronization.

I think you may be out of luck with that camera, though. Many cameras (especially point and shoots) use metering preflashes that will prevent optical syncing. Even my digital SLR has a preflash that can't be turned off (Pentax K100D). However, I can just bounce a hotshoe flash as my trigger (which is nice because it's diffused and doesn't overpower my subject with the on camera strobe). If you can't get it to only flash once in manual mode and don't have a hotshoe you are unfortunately out of luck with that camera.