Strobe synch problem?

[a_mattison]

I bought an beginners light kit from B&H (Impact 2 strobe 200W/S total) light kit to try to make portraits of my daughter a little more professional looking. I'm synching with the flash on the camera pointing straight up using the optical triggers on the Impact flashes.

The problem is that the flashes ARE flashing... but the only light that I apparently get in the photo is from the modeling lights. ??? To get a semi-decently lit shot (in manual) I was at 1/60, ISO 400, with a 50mm 1.8f lens at 1.8f.

To prove to myself that the flash didn't seem to be timed right I turned the modeling lights off and the photos went dark. Help!

Oh... camera = Canon T1i and this is my first try at full manual.

 

[RobNZ]

You need to set your strobes to ignore the first preflash that your camera fires for TTL, so at present the strobes are firing on the preflash and not when the shot is actually taken, which is a split second later.

Somebody posted exactly the same thing the other day, and that was also the issue there.

 

[RobNZ]

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...ry/225457-white-lightning-ultra-1200-a-2.html

Same issue here by the looks.

 

[a_mattison]

Ok. This makes sense... but can you tell me specifically what I need to do on the T1i? I can't figure it out based on these posts and can't find the one from the other day. I am having exactly the problem described on the post you linked. thank you for your help!

 

[RobNZ]

I have a T1i as well and I cant see any menu option that would allow what you need.

On one of my speedlights that has optical triggering I have 2 slave modes, the S1 mode triggers the flash on the first light it sees, the S2 mode tells it to ignore the preflash and fire on the 2nd, so that is how I have done it in the past, when testing and using the pop up to trigger.

Maybe your strobes have a simliar option?

Another workaround would be to use a speedlight on your hotshoe set to manual mode thus avoiding TTL metering and the preflash, that is assuming you have a speedlight.

Maybe someone else will know of another workaround.

 

[Blake.Oney]

Even if you're using the camera's flash you should be able to switch it to manual. You have a different camera, but for mine I just go to the shooting menu and I can either use ttl, or use whichever power setting I want it at.

 

[fokker]

Canon's don't have that option for popup flash ^ at least not that I've ever come across.

 

[Buckster]

A couple of inexpensive workarounds:

1. If your lighting kit came with a sync cord, and it's long enough to reach from the camera to one of the lights, you can get a cheap hot shoe to PC adapter (about $15-$20), park it on your hot shoe, plug in the sync cord to one light and have that light optically fire the second light. You need the adapter because your camera body doesn't have a sync port. If the lighting kit didn't come with the sync cable, you could get one of those as well and use the method. Cost will depend on length.

2. Get a radio trigger set. You can get the Chinese triggers sets on ebay for less than $50, and that will be much more versatile and practical for you than an extra cable strung across your shooting area. There are folks on the forum here that are using them, and can steer you towards the better models.

 

[table1349]

A couple of inexpensive workarounds:

1. If your lighting kit came with a sync cord, and it's long enough to reach from the camera to one of the lights, you can get a cheap hot shoe to PC adapter (about $15-$20), park it on your hot shoe, plug in the sync cord to one light and have that light optically fire the second light. You need the adapter because your camera body doesn't have a sync port. If the lighting kit didn't come with the sync cable, you could get one of those as well and use the method. Cost will depend on length.

2. Get a radio trigger set. You can get the Chinese triggers sets on ebay for less than $50, and that will be much more versatile and practical for you than an extra cable strung across your shooting area. There are folks on the forum here that are using them, and can steer you towards the better models.

:thumbup:

 

[Dao]

A couple of inexpensive workarounds:

1. If your lighting kit came with a sync cord, and it's long enough to reach from the camera to one of the lights, you can get a cheap hot shoe to PC adapter (about $15-$20), park it on your hot shoe, plug in the sync cord to one light and have that light optically fire the second light. You need the adapter because your camera body doesn't have a sync port. If the lighting kit didn't come with the sync cable, you could get one of those as well and use the method. Cost will depend on length.

2. Get a radio trigger set. You can get the Chinese triggers sets on ebay for less than $50, and that will be much more versatile and practical for you than an extra cable strung across your shooting area. There are folks on the forum here that are using them, and can steer you towards the better models.

+1

On top of that, there are some optical slave that can work with pre-flash. But radio trigger works better. (even those cheap chinese made one)

 

[redtippmann]

I would get 1 radio trigger and receiver. Then for the 2nd flash use the optical trigger. That way you only need 1 set of radio triggers. And you won't have any light coming from the camera so it will look even more professional!

 

[a_mattison]

Thanks for the help! I picked up a radio trigger set today and even my first round of photos of my daughter look fantastic. There is more tweaking to be done though.

 

[Patrice]

Way back in the dark ages before pocket wizards I often used a really cheap flash on the hot shoe to trigger optical slaves. Attaching a piece of developed but unexposed film to the front of the on camera flash suppresses the visible light so that the camera flash does not influence your exposure. Multiple pieces of red candy wrapper works as well. The optical triggers on the slaves react to infra red light just as well as white light.