Studio Lighting problems w/ Nikon D70S

[phototrouble]

I an just getting into doing portraits. I have two Britek HS-2000 strobes. When I attach my Nikon D70S with a sync cord to the Britek lighting, the strobes will only fire when my pop-up flash on my camera is up. When the pop-up flash is up, the extra light from my pop-up flash washes out the photo. How do I get the strobes to fire without my pop-up flash?

 

[Big Mike]

Welcome to the forum.

What mode are you shooting in? When using studio lights, you should be using manual mode.

 

[phototrouble]

I am shooting in manual mode.

 

[Big Mike]

Do your lights have a built-in optical slave trigger (Can they be triggered by another flash going off)? If so, maybe something is wrong with the connection from the camera to the strobe...which would cause the lights to fire only when the pop-up is fired.

Check the cord connection at both ends. It could be the cord itself.

My studio strobe will fire a test flash when I connect the cord to the camera...that way I know the cord & connections are good...do yours have this feature?

 

[LAW2]

I am new at this and can not speak first hand, but from what I have read the popup flash should be insignificant. Your studio strobes are much stronger. Maybe they are not even popping or your shutter time is long enough to capture the popup? I don't know.

 

[Big Mike]

The pop up may not be very powerful...but it may be adding unwanted light.

It may be possible to adjust the studio lights to a higher power (thereby reducing your working aperture) and setting the FEC on the pop-up to it's lowest setting. This would help reduce the affect of the pop-up but it does not solve the problem. The strobes, when connected to the camera, should fire without the pop-up.

 

[zedin]

What sort of adapater are you using for your sync cord? I never had a problem getting studio strobes to fire with an adapter in my hotshoe so I could plug in a sync cord.

 

[JIP]

What sort of adapater are you using for your sync cord? I never had a problem getting studio strobes to fire with an adapter in my hotshoe so I could plug in a sync cord.

I agree if your strobes will only fire when your pop-up goes off you have a slave triggering them you need to check all possible connections into your lights. From looking at the website just briefly those lights have slaves onboard so if you are not synching properly the strobes will only go off through the slave so check your connection.

 

[CannedHeat]

This may sound overly simple and it's just a temporary fix, but could you just not put some electrical tape over the pop up flash? Just a shot...

 

[craig]

Check and see if there is a synch/slave button on your flash unit. You will need it to be on synch.

 

[fmw]

I use a D50 for product photography with studio strobes. I assume the D70 will work in a similar mannter. In addition to using manual exposure you need to turn off the camera's flash unit. That is done in the menus. The hot shoe will still remain active. Good shooting.

 

[fotogenik]

ever hold your finger on your pop up flashes surface and fire it. It gets hot. I would not be putting any electrical tape (or anything else for that matter) on there and firing it.