AF-540FGZ Problem

huskaluva · 12-20-2015, 05:01 PM

I presume I need to start the groveling process but curious if before doing that anyone has experience an issue or has a suggestion to try.

The gun will fire with shutter but it does appear out of sync or is not exposing the scene. It only appears to be firing full power no matter what settings I try in any mode.

The flash will zoom when I change the zoom ring.

I have cleaned contacts, the safety pin does move up and down.

Thanks for your time.

enoeske · 12-20-2015, 05:59 PM

what lens are you using? What mode is the flash in?

huskaluva · 12-20-2015, 06:47 PM

any glass. 16-50 da* 1.4 85 sigma. the flash all by itself in my hands running TEST.

any mode - PTTL Auto or Manual

Scintilla · 12-20-2015, 07:26 PM

If you're using it off-camera controlled by the camera's built-in flash, make sure it's set to "SL 1" slave mode (p. 52 on the manual). I discovered that setting it to "SL 2" (dumb optical slave) caused it to fire too early, as it was being triggered by the control flash's P-TTL preflash (which seemingly cannot be disabled, at least not on the K-30) instead of waiting for the main flash.

enoeske · 12-20-2015, 09:10 PM

Originally posted by huskaluva

any glass. 16-50 da* 1.4 85 sigma. the flash all by itself in my hands running TEST.

any mode - PTTL Auto or Manual

If the flash is in your hands, then it's not in PTTL mode. It might be in wireless PTTL. Are you trying to do off camera flash?

zan · 12-21-2015, 12:51 AM

If you trIed all the suggestions and you still have just full flash power then you probably have a problem with the flash IGBT transistor.

I have had the same problem with AF540FGZ II.

huskaluva · 12-21-2015, 02:56 AM

What was the repair cost? Back to manufacture or local repair?

---------- Post added 12-21-15 at 04:01 AM ----------

Pardon not being clear. All tests were on camera.. no OCF.

After trying all modes on camera, I removed the flash and tried all the modes by hand (changing power output) but to no avail - only full power at each release.

**seventhdr** · 12-21-2015, 03:30 AM

What is your shutter speed? It needs to be below 1/180th of a second to sync with the flash.

Any faster shutter speed will only expose a portion of the sensor UNLESS you have enabled HSS (High Speed Sync) on the flash unit.

For a lens where the camera cannot control the aperture, the flash will fire at full strength. This applies to K and M lenses, to A, F and FA (D FA too) where the aperture ring is off the A (automatic) position. For A, F FA D FA lenses when the aperture ring is on A and for DA lenses the camera should adopt P-TTL flash protocols and adjust flash output to the selected aperture. Sometimes when the contacts are not making a good connection the camera will think that it cannot control the aperture of the mounted lens.

So clean the contacts of camera and lens. Also clean the contacts between the flash and the camera.

Check that shutter speed is below 1/180 sec.

Check that the flash says it is in P-TTL mode.

Check it is in A(uto) Zoom mode.

Check you are not set to wireless operation. On switch should be all the way to the right.

Check that the sync switch is all the way to the left on green symbol.

Camera is in Av mode.

Then let us know what happens.

Regards

Chris

zan · 12-21-2015, 05:24 AM

Originally posted by huskaluva

What was the repair cost? Back to manufacture or local repair?

In my case the problem was just in the IGBT transistor and the flash was out of its warranty. The transistor is in the flash head (AF540FGZ II) and can be very cheap if you buy it online.

A local tv servis changed it and the flash started working normally.

Be very careful at disassembling because of the flash capacitor!!! There is about 500-600 volts even if you take all batteries out.

Oldbayrunner · 12-21-2015, 08:54 AM

Originally posted by huskaluva

The gun will fire with shutter but it does appear out of sync or is not exposing the scene. It only appears to be firing full power no matter what settings I try in any mode.

The flash will zoom when I change the zoom ring.

Thanks for your time.

Please elaborate further or post examples. If it is firing and out of sync normally you will have black underexposed portions on the photo. If it fired and is under exposed then your distance more than likely may be exceeding the GN range, which should be picked up if your settings are in auto zoom. How are you determining it is firing full power only? Because your first sentence is not describing that type of problem. If it were firing full power all of the time then usually your photos would be overexposing not underexposing, here again depending on if your are within the boundry of your GN distance.

I don't know how much experience you have using a flash but usually it is how one is using their flash and settings more than a problem with the flash itself, not saying there may not be one.

zan · 12-21-2015, 09:50 AM

Originally posted by Oldbayrunner

If it were firing full power all of the time then usually your photos would be overexposing not underexposing, here again depending on if your are within the boundry of your GN distance.

If the transistor doesn't work then the speedlight fires the pre-flash with full power and is not able to fires the main flash anymore. In my opinion this is the reason why you get underexposing
In manual flash mode it fires without pre-flashes, just main flash with full power and this is the reason why you get overexposing, of course if you don't need full power.

huskaluva · 12-24-2015, 01:03 PM

Here are three shots. One and Two in Manual / Manual. The first shot was flash 1/1, the second flash reduced to 1/64. The third shot is Av and flash in PTTL at +1.

tuggie76 · 12-27-2015, 06:03 AM

Originally posted by huskaluva

Here are three shots. One and Two in Manual / Manual. The first shot was flash 1/1, the second flash reduced to 1/64. The third shot is Av and flash in PTTL at +1.

I'm no expert, but with mine I tend to set the exposure to -1 or =.5, especially with full on flash, that may help with the first 2, possibly the third one the capacitor hadn't recharged yet and so did not flash, or the ambient light brought the shutter speed over 180.

Tuggie76

huskaluva · 12-27-2015, 06:30 AM

Originally posted by tuggie76

I'm no expert, but with mine I tend to set the exposure to -1 or =.5, especially with full on flash, that may help with the first 2, possibly the third one the capacitor hadn't recharged yet and so did not flash, or the ambient light brought the shutter speed over 180.

Tuggie76

Sure, I don't know that I would call myself an "expert" either, however, I would have imagined with the first two shots - that the reduction of flash power on the second image (flash reduced to 1/64) would have changed the overall exposure of the frame (without a camera setting change). The two first two images look the same. In addition, the 1/64 cycle took about the five second mark to recharge (like a full flash discharge).

The third image - the camera fired at 1/125 (below sync).

I have to lean on a flash issue at this point but thought, maybe, just maybe there was something I may be missing or did not know to try.

Oldbayrunner · 12-27-2015, 07:38 AM

I'm Puzzled, your exif in the third photo shows flash/manual.

Just out of curiosity, what is your setting in your custom menu for "release while charging"?

12-20-2015, 05:01 PM	#1
huskaluva New Member Join Date: May 2014 Posts: 7	AF-540FGZ Problem I presume I need to start the groveling process but curious if before doing that anyone has experience an issue or has a suggestion to try. The gun will fire with shutter but it does appear out of sync or is not exposing the scene. It only appears to be firing full power no matter what settings I try in any mode. The flash will zoom when I change the zoom ring. I have cleaned contacts, the safety pin does move up and down. Thanks for your time.

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12-20-2015, 05:59 PM	#2
enoeske Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Surprise, Az Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,136	what lens are you using? What mode is the flash in?

12-20-2015, 06:47 PM	#3
huskaluva New Member Join Date: May 2014 Posts: 7 Original Poster	any glass. 16-50 da* 1.4 85 sigma. the flash all by itself in my hands running TEST. any mode - PTTL Auto or Manual

12-20-2015, 07:26 PM	#4
Scintilla Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2013 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 347	If you're using it off-camera controlled by the camera's built-in flash, make sure it's set to "SL 1" slave mode (p. 52 on the manual). I discovered that setting it to "SL 2" (dumb optical slave) caused it to fire too early, as it was being triggered by the control flash's P-TTL preflash (which seemingly cannot be disabled, at least not on the K-30) instead of waiting for the main flash.

12-20-2015, 09:10 PM	#5
enoeske Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Surprise, Az Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,136	Originally posted by huskaluva any glass. 16-50 da* 1.4 85 sigma. the flash all by itself in my hands running TEST. any mode - PTTL Auto or Manual If the flash is in your hands, then it's not in PTTL mode. It might be in wireless PTTL. Are you trying to do off camera flash?

12-21-2015, 12:51 AM	#6
zan Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2015 Location: Ljubljana-Slovenia Posts: 48	If you trIed all the suggestions and you still have just full flash power then you probably have a problem with the flash IGBT transistor. I have had the same problem with AF540FGZ II.

12-21-2015, 02:56 AM	#7
huskaluva New Member Join Date: May 2014 Posts: 7 Original Poster	What was the repair cost? Back to manufacture or local repair? ---------- Post added 12-21-15 at 04:01 AM ---------- Pardon not being clear. All tests were on camera.. no OCF. After trying all modes on camera, I removed the flash and tried all the modes by hand (changing power output) but to no avail - only full power at each release.

12-21-2015, 03:30 AM	#8
seventhdr Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Christchurch, New Zealand Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,440	What is your shutter speed? It needs to be below 1/180th of a second to sync with the flash. Any faster shutter speed will only expose a portion of the sensor UNLESS you have enabled HSS (High Speed Sync) on the flash unit. For a lens where the camera cannot control the aperture, the flash will fire at full strength. This applies to K and M lenses, to A, F and FA (D FA too) where the aperture ring is off the A (automatic) position. For A, F FA D FA lenses when the aperture ring is on A and for DA lenses the camera should adopt P-TTL flash protocols and adjust flash output to the selected aperture. Sometimes when the contacts are not making a good connection the camera will think that it cannot control the aperture of the mounted lens. So clean the contacts of camera and lens. Also clean the contacts between the flash and the camera. Check that shutter speed is below 1/180 sec. Check that the flash says it is in P-TTL mode. Check it is in A(uto) Zoom mode. Check you are not set to wireless operation. On switch should be all the way to the right. Check that the sync switch is all the way to the left on green symbol. Camera is in Av mode. Then let us know what happens. Regards Chris

12-21-2015, 05:24 AM	#9
zan Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2015 Location: Ljubljana-Slovenia Posts: 48	Originally posted by huskaluva What was the repair cost? Back to manufacture or local repair? In my case the problem was just in the IGBT transistor and the flash was out of its warranty. The transistor is in the flash head (AF540FGZ II) and can be very cheap if you buy it online. A local tv servis changed it and the flash started working normally. Be very careful at disassembling because of the flash capacitor!!! There is about 500-600 volts even if you take all batteries out.

12-21-2015, 08:54 AM	#10
Oldbayrunner Pentaxian Join Date: Mar 2013 Posts: 1,665	Originally posted by huskaluva The gun will fire with shutter but it does appear out of sync or is not exposing the scene. It only appears to be firing full power no matter what settings I try in any mode. The flash will zoom when I change the zoom ring. Thanks for your time. Please elaborate further or post examples. If it is firing and out of sync normally you will have black underexposed portions on the photo. If it fired and is under exposed then your distance more than likely may be exceeding the GN range, which should be picked up if your settings are in auto zoom. How are you determining it is firing full power only? Because your first sentence is not describing that type of problem. If it were firing full power all of the time then usually your photos would be overexposing not underexposing, here again depending on if your are within the boundry of your GN distance. I don't know how much experience you have using a flash but usually it is how one is using their flash and settings more than a problem with the flash itself, not saying there may not be one.

12-21-2015, 09:50 AM	#11
zan Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2015 Location: Ljubljana-Slovenia Posts: 48	Originally posted by Oldbayrunner If it were firing full power all of the time then usually your photos would be overexposing not underexposing, here again depending on if your are within the boundry of your GN distance. If the transistor doesn't work then the speedlight fires the pre-flash with full power and is not able to fires the main flash anymore. In my opinion this is the reason why you get underexposing In manual flash mode it fires without pre-flashes, just main flash with full power and this is the reason why you get overexposing, of course if you don't need full power.

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12-27-2015, 06:03 AM	#13
tuggie76 Pentaxian Join Date: Oct 2011 Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,215	Originally posted by huskaluva Here are three shots. One and Two in Manual / Manual. The first shot was flash 1/1, the second flash reduced to 1/64. The third shot is Av and flash in PTTL at +1. I'm no expert, but with mine I tend to set the exposure to -1 or =.5, especially with full on flash, that may help with the first 2, possibly the third one the capacitor hadn't recharged yet and so did not flash, or the ambient light brought the shutter speed over 180. Tuggie76

12-27-2015, 06:30 AM	#14
huskaluva New Member Join Date: May 2014 Posts: 7 Original Poster	Originally posted by tuggie76 I'm no expert, but with mine I tend to set the exposure to -1 or =.5, especially with full on flash, that may help with the first 2, possibly the third one the capacitor hadn't recharged yet and so did not flash, or the ambient light brought the shutter speed over 180. Tuggie76 Sure, I don't know that I would call myself an "expert" either, however, I would have imagined with the first two shots - that the reduction of flash power on the second image (flash reduced to 1/64) would have changed the overall exposure of the frame (without a camera setting change). The two first two images look the same. In addition, the 1/64 cycle took about the five second mark to recharge (like a full flash discharge). The third image - the camera fired at 1/125 (below sync). I have to lean on a flash issue at this point but thought, maybe, just maybe there was something I may be missing or did not know to try.

12-27-2015, 07:38 AM	#15
Oldbayrunner Pentaxian Join Date: Mar 2013 Posts: 1,665	I'm Puzzled, your exif in the third photo shows flash/manual. Just out of curiosity, what is your setting in your custom menu for "release while charging"?