Thanks for the clarifications, I think that I see now more clear what is happening, but let me answer point by point, and try to clarify how this thing works (or how I think it works)
Originally posted by Hattifnatt I will test more tomorrow, maybe the exposure actually changes but the flash and trigger LCD's are not in sync
Ok, I think you have no problem here. Regarding the EV compensation for the flash, you will notice that you can set a compensation on the Flash itself, and also on the trigger. Well, the key here is to understand that both settings are local and independent, they will never sync up. When you set EV on the AD400's LCD, this is a local compensation that the flash knows, but it's not related with the EV compensation you set on the trigger, that is, both compensations will sum up.
In fact, you have four ways to change a flash exposure compensation:
1. On the flash itself, you press the SET button, dial the wheel, done
2. On the trigger, so you select the group, dial and set the compensation
3. With camera on M mode, you can use the +/- EV compensation camera setting
4. On camera, flash function, you can configure a compensation for the flash too
This is a super-flexible way to change compensation. My preferred and most used method is 3.
All above ways are independent, and will sum up to the final compensation you set for the flash. As an example, If I set -1EV on flash, -1EV on the trigger, and -1EV on camera (in M mode), I'll have a total compensation of -1 + -1 + -1 = -3. Believe me, I made the test a minute ago (to be 100% sure), changing every compensation one at a time.
So, I think you have nothing wrong related to what you see on the display or on the trigger. This setting will not sync, doesn't work this way.
Originally posted by Hattifnatt I didn't try to see if it works if I only set it on the trigger. I set it active on both flash and trigger. Then I noticed when I disable it from trigger, the icon still stays active on flash.
Ok, second mistery. I think again you have nothing wrong here. But let me explain how I think it works. When you change the HSS status on the trigger, you'll see nothing on the flash, this is correct behaviour. But you'll notice that, when HSS is OFF on the trigger, you can't go above 1/180 speed on your camera, this is the only apparent effect. If you set HSS to ON, then yes, you can go beyond this speed.
When you fire it's when you'll notice that the HSS status on flash is set, and the flash will fire in the correct HSS mode. You don't need to change anything on the flash, just in the trigger, but remember that nothing changes on the flash LCD before you shoot, just when you shoot.
So again, I think regarding the HSS mode, your flash and trigger are OK.
Originally posted by Hattifnatt I was using Av mode. Did some tests and I thought the exposure was not affected... maybe -1 was not enough to see a change and I should have tested with -3
Please repeat your tests with more compensation and be sure you put enough distance from your flash to your subject; your flash is really powerfull, maybe it can't go so low to compensate for -1 or so.
There is another point about the pre-flash. I noticed, when I put the flash too near a subject, that the exposure is not correct, but the problem is not that the flash can't set a low enough output power, I think the problem is with the pre-flash. I measured that the preflash is 1/8 of the total power, so if you are really too near to your subjetc, I think the pre-flash is so powerful, that the camera doesn't know what to do, and calculates a wrong exposure. Just put a little more distance, and the problem dissapears.
BTW, do you see a pre-flash, don't you ?
Last edited by morenjavi; 10-16-2019 at 06:05 PM.