Originally posted by vizjerei How about your flash batteries? It sounds like the flash is not getting enough power from the AA after the long run
Thanks for the thought. I did replace the batteries in the Metz, that was my first thought.
Yesterday I played around with all of this a bit more and discovered something weird. I could trigger the flash unit by pressing the test button on the FlashWave2 transmitter (in the camera's hot shoe). Pressing that button reliably caused the flash attached to a FlashWave2 receiver to fire. But clicking the camera's shutter was NOT having the same effect. To be honest, I can't make sense of that at all.
I replaced the AA batteries in the FW2 receiver. I have just played around a little more with the system and everything seems to be working reliably again. So at the moment I'm going to guess that there were weak batteries somewhere - perhaps inside the receiver. I'm very good about carrying extra batteries to a shoot and will start carrying even more, knowing that I might be replacing batteries in the receivers as well as the flash units themselves. I'll also get a couple new spares for the transmitter. That's an odd battery, though. A23S 12V. Never seen one like it.
Still not sure why the test button would trigger the flash when the camera's shutter would not. Made me think there must be a connection problem between the camera and the transmitter. But maybe not. Of course I tried taking the transmitter out of the hot shoe, then putting it back in and tightening the connection. Made no difference.
So I guess it was batteries.
*
Last question. Can anybody give me an idea how many shots the batteries in the transmitter and/or the receivers should be good for? I can easily take 100 shots doing wedding formals, and if I start using these units at wedding receptions, well, that could be quite a few more shots - hundreds.
Will
P.S. Note to anybody lurking here: The testing and practicing I've been doing is what I always do with something new like this and I recommend it to others. I don't get new stuff like this and then count on using it at my next paid shoot. It seems like a good idea to become thoroughly comfortable with new gear before relying upon it in a "combat situation".