Studio Light inconsistency driving me crazy!!

[curiousworld]

I am having issues with my studio light. It works perfectly for the first 30 mins of a shoot and then it is unreliable. There is no logic to it and it does drive me crazy as I do miss good shots as it does not go off. I have to turn it off and on again and that seems to fix it until the next time. The last shoot I did, 15% of the time the flash did not go.


I have the beeper on and it is recycling but not always flashing and I have fresh batteries in my wireless transmitter and this never fails when I hit the test button.


I am using a Smick light, Micansu, SD 600.


Can anyone shed some light (no pun intended! :laugh: ) on this issue as it is getting worse!!

 

[HalftoneStudio]

If it always fires when hitting test on the transmitter, it sounds like there is a bad connection between the camera and transmitter. What type of transmitter are you using? If it's connected via the PC terminal it may be a bad cord. If it's hot shoe based, make sure the transmitter is fully inserted into the hot shoe. I've had times when I've had a similar issue and it turned out the transmitter was not completely seated. Otherwise, you could clean the terminals on the transmitter and hot shoe with a pencil eraser first then with an alcohol swab and see if that helps.

 

[Village Idiot]

Like when trouble shooting anything that has multiple points of failure, you need to be able to test each individual item. Fire your strobes by hand for as long and as many times as you do when shooting to the point when they start failing. If that works, do the same with the triggers. If the trigger work, replace the cables connecting the triggers to the strobes.

It's all trial and error until you know exactly where the point of failure is occuring.

Oh, and wrong forum section. You probably would get more view in the equipment section or the noob dump.

 

[tirediron]

Because it's a time/progressive problem, I'm inclined to suspect that it may be heat related, but as VI indicated, you'll need to check each component on it's own to isolate it.

 

[table1349]

First place to check, ALWAYS in this situation is the cable between the wireless receiver and the head. If you have a cable between the body and the transmitter check it also. Most common part to malfunction in setups like this seems to be cables. Especially if you are using cheap triggers, although most of the cables with triggers are average in quality. If it is a cable get a replacement from here. Top notch quality. FlashZebra.com

If not then you will just have to systematically check every aspect as described above till you find the issue. Good Luck.

 

[gsgary]

Try turning off the modeling light after you have set it up for the shadow play you want and see if it still happens if it works ok it is heat related and the fan is not good enough, i had a look and they look a bit cheap

 

[Mike_E]

When was the last time you opened the case and blew out the dust?