[Qwntm]

So I was shooting a senior portrait today with my Vivitar 285 in the hot shoe for fill flash and I changed the WB setting to flash sync and my hot shoe quit working/flash wouldn't fire. I set the WB back to AWB and the hot shoe started working again. So I shot the whole thing with AWB, no biggie in RAW.

I got home and noticed the custom setting that would give you AWB with flash and set that to "2" unchanged, and now my hot shoe works whatever WB I set.

BUT, my hot shoe also works when I set that custom setting back to "1" AWB. SO in other words I can't replicate the problem...

I'm running Firmware 1.03 and wonder if this is a bug? Anyone know why my hot shoe shut down today, or is it just faulty? Thanks for any ideas...

[octavmandru]

What version is your 285?

Reason I'm asking is the trigger voltage. Viv had a couple of versions of the 285, one which was unsafe to use with modern hot shoe.

Octav

[Qwntm]

What version is your 285?

Reason I'm asking is the trigger voltage. Viv had a couple of versions of the 285, one which was unsafe to use with modern hot shoe.

Octav

Hi, good point, but it's a brand new 285, latest (cheapie) Chinese production. Worked fine on my Panasonic G3 and now works fine on my K-5... Not sure what I did.

[philbaum]

Its remarkably easy to have things happen which will stop the flash. Perhaps:

a. the shutter speed crept above 1/180s and you didn't notice (happened to me more than once)

b. If the flash is not locked down against the hot shoe, its possible for the flash to creep slightly out of the hotshoe, not enough to fall off, but enough to disengage the hot pin from its contact. (happened to me more than once)

if either of these conditions happened, and you inadvertently fixed the problem without noticing - it'd be a mystery.

If your system is working now, then thats a good trend

[Qwntm]

Its remarkably easy to have things happen which will stop the flash. Perhaps:

a. the shutter speed crept above 1/180s and you didn't notice (happened to me more than once)

b. If the flash is not locked down against the hot shoe, its possible for the flash to creep slightly out of the hotshoe, not enough to fall off, but enough to disengage the hot pin from its contact. (happened to me more than once)

if either of these conditions happened, and you inadvertently fixed the problem without noticing - it'd be a mystery.

If your system is working now, then thats a good trend

MYSTERY SOLVED! WELL DONE!

The shots where the flash quit working were at 1/400th and 1/500th, and I just replicated the issue. The hot shoe shuts off when the shutter speed exceeds 180th. It only seemed like it was somehow related to the WB at the time, but the WB had nothing to do with it. In the heat of the shoot, I didn't want to troubleshoot this. But I suspected it might be something like this...

Thanks!!!!

[wizofoz]

I have had the same thing happen to me, twice (but a year apart, so I had forgotten what the cause was.) It's true that the hot shoe shuts off at speeds above sync except if you have the flash and camera set up for High Speed Sync. HSS speeds are unlimited, but the flash power is greatly diminished.

[Rupert]

Otis would like to award you an honorary degree in "User Error". Don't feel bad, I have several dozen of them hanging on my office walls....Otis gives me a new one most every day or two.....

Otis advises....RTFM!
[IMG] [/IMG]

Regards!

[octavmandru]

OMG, Rupert...
Otis Review strikes again.