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02/02/2005 05:53:52 PM · #1 |
Hi guys,
I just got back from the local camera club model night. It was a total failure for me not a single image. I'm sure you guys will be able to tell me why.
OK, so first of all there were two big studio lights with umbrellas (not sure of the brand, sorry). Each light had a PC cable, and a light slave triggered both lights.
Now I strolled up for my turn, connected the PC cable to my 10D and got error_99, something wasn't quite right when the lights were connected.
So - no problem I thought. I fixed the 550ex to the camera and pointed it at the ceiling. The flash triggered the two studio lights no problem.
Every frame was dark as though I'd missed the sync
What was I doing wrong ?
Why didn't the PC cable work with the 10D ?
any ideas ?
Falc
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02/02/2005 06:06:54 PM · #2 |
I experienced the same thing with my Old Digital Rebel. I tried to use my 420EX speedlite to fire my AlienBee (B-800) slave and my pictures were all dark. I just think that I had the sync speed set too fast on my camera. I didn't have too much time to fool around with it, but I believe that there is a lag between firing a flash at a slave to trigger it and having the PC sync connected.
As far as why the PC cable gave you an error, really not sure. The only thing that I can think of is that the voltage from the strobe was too much for the camera, Not sure though.
I've been lucky enough to upgrade to the Canon 20D recently. I still haven't had a chance to connect my Alienbee to it and test it out. Can't wait though....
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02/02/2005 06:18:30 PM · #3 |
Be VERY careful!!!! You will blow out your camera hooking it directly to studio ligting, depending on how much power they have. There is a thread in here somewhere about a guy that lost 2 cameras. In 1 day! You will need some lightlinks or remote trigger. I also tried to flash my studio lights to set them off, and couldnt figure it out either?
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02/02/2005 06:25:03 PM · #4 |
If the speedlight is set to TTL then when it preflashes to get the TTL info, it will trigger the strobe lights. You need to make sure your flash is set to manual mode. I'm not a canon guy, so I can't offer much more than that.
-danny |
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02/02/2005 06:56:42 PM · #5 |
The 420EX has a switch for slave mode not sure about the 550EX?
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02/02/2005 07:31:31 PM · #6 |
You probably got dark frames because your shutter speed was faster than 1/200th". Check the EXIF data on the images (even though they are dark). This will tell you the settings you were using. The Canon 300D and 10D won't sync with any strobes faster than 1/200th" (except the high-speed sync on the 550EX, 580EX or Metz-54xx). If the shutter operates faster than this, you will get dark or completely black frames for each exposure.
To keep this from happening, you need a voltage safe solution that mounts to the hotshoe if you have a 300D. The 10D (as well as the 20D) has a PC Sync port but that can damage your camera if the lights you connecting to have more than 6v on the line. Using a hotshoe adapter (with voltage compensation) or a wireless adapter will protect you in any circumstance from this voltage. You can also use the 550EX, 580EX or Metz-54xx in manual mode (as has been said before, without TTL enabled) to trigger the strobes (most models of strobes require you to unplug the sync cord that is attached to them in order to enable the light trigger in the strobe units). Even using some of these high-end flashguns on your camera you still cannot go faster than 1/200th" on the shutter speed.
As for speed of operation whether you have your camera connected via PC Sync outlet (as on the 10D or 20D) or use a hotshoe adapter (either wired or wireless) or whether you just use one of the high end flashguns in manual mode, you should get exactly the same results due to the speed the light is traveling, the fast response of the strobes and the short flash duration of most strobes. All these things contrive to mean that the strobes should receive the signal to trigger them and then respond in less time than your shutter will be open so you should be able to utilize any of these methods to achieve the proper exposure. Now that still doesn't take into account whether you metered properly or not but I'm betting (based on my own series of blacked out frames) that when you look at your EXIF data you'll find that the shutter was somewhere around 1/500th" or something like that.
Kev
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