HELP! Strange and Wacky Flash Problem

evilcartman · 09-14-2015, 12:08 AM

I have one of those inexpensive JY-670 Ringlights. It works fine on my K5 but on my K3 and K3II it only fires once. If I make an adjustment or fire a test, it will fire on the next shutter release. And then it will not fire again until I make some sort of flash adjustment or fire another test. No matter how many shutter releases i trigger or how long I wait.

All settings are on manual. Tried at various shutter speeds. 100/s 120/s and 160/s

Here are the troubleshooting steps I have taken:

Both K3s works fine with other hotshoe flashes, Ving850 and Pentax brands and Metz.

The K5iis will rapid fire the ring light no problems.

So the camera and flash shoes work fine when connected to other things.

I tested ring-light with a hot-sync shoe cable, and got the same strange behavior.

I then put one of those little cowboy studio transmitters on the hot shoe. It only has one pin. Fully manual. I plugged a PC cable into the flash and the transmitter. There is a red light and buttton on top of the transmitter. I press the button in rapid succession and you see the red led light up and the flash pops like it should. But when I press the shutter, again, only the first release gives me a red light and a flash pop. Subsequent releases to not trigger flash NOR do they trigger the transmitter LED. Back in the same boat. If I pull out the PC cable from either the flash or the transmitter, then the red light blinks with every shutter release but of course there is no longer a flash connected to pop.

And of course the flash works properly when I connect on of the Cowboy studio receivers to it.

So my conclusion is that this flash (mine is a Viltrox branded one, Neewer makes a branded one too. real strobe not LED) and ONLY this flash is connected to a K3/ii and ONLY K3/ii by any hard wired connection, even through a simple 1 pin interface, the flash will only fire once. Wirelessy it will work fine. Problem is the ring light is made to use on camera.

Does anyone have any idea what is happening here? The sanity you save could be mine.

08amczb · 09-14-2015, 12:31 AM

I don't know what happening, but I would try using a low/high voltage converter between the camera and the flash. It works whith a thyristor, so it separates the electrnycs in a way.

evilcartman · 09-14-2015, 08:21 AM

It's a 6v battery powered flash. Do they make anything like that? Where would it go? In the hotshoe?

08amczb · 09-14-2015, 08:32 AM

It goes on the Hot shoe and has a hot shoe on the top.
The flash fires if you connect the middle and the rail - the tow contact - by a wire. Doing this (triggering) by another circuit might helps.

evilcartman · 09-15-2015, 04:32 PM

Originally posted by 08amczb

It goes on the Hot shoe and has a hot shoe on the top.
The flash fires if you connect the middle and the rail - the tow contact - by a wire. Doing this (triggering) by another circuit might helps.

That indeed provided a workaround. Don't like the wobbly controller but it works for now. What I've discovered is that almost all of the K cameras of have this problem and that it was eventually solved by one of the firmware updates. I was searching for a K-3 but when I expanded the search I found out the K7 and K5 and 5ii to have this problem initially and then it went away with subsequent firmware updates. The K-3 an K3ii both still have it with the latest firmware updates although I heard that the first K-3 firmware did not have this problem. But I can't downgrade so I can't really test it.

I would love to know what's going on in terms of voltage or whatever is causing the problem. It is quite a baffling problem. But thanks for the work around in the meantime

08amczb · 09-16-2015, 01:01 AM

Glad to hear your problem solved.

stevebrot · 09-17-2015, 10:18 AM

Originally posted by evilcartman

I would love to know what's going on in terms of voltage or whatever is causing the problem.

Out of curiosity, did you measure the trigger voltage? Your ringflash should behave the same as any other non-dedicated flash. Did you check out this thread detailing a similar problem with the Yongnou YN 560?

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/115-pentax-k-5/162331-mounted-yn-560-flash-problem.html

In that thread it appears the flash at some point in its cycle presents an (transient?) incompatible voltage. The two hardwired solutions (capacitor or resistor) would indicate something like that.

Edit: There seem to be a number of users on this site who use the JY-670 on the K-3 (going back to release in 2013) with no issues. Perhaps there is some variation in the flash's circuitry for units "in the wild"?

Steve

Last edited by stevebrot; 09-17-2015 at 10:28 AM.

09-14-2015, 12:08 AM	#1
evilcartman Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 69	HELP! Strange and Wacky Flash Problem I have one of those inexpensive JY-670 Ringlights. It works fine on my K5 but on my K3 and K3II it only fires once. If I make an adjustment or fire a test, it will fire on the next shutter release. And then it will not fire again until I make some sort of flash adjustment or fire another test. No matter how many shutter releases i trigger or how long I wait. All settings are on manual. Tried at various shutter speeds. 100/s 120/s and 160/s Here are the troubleshooting steps I have taken: Both K3s works fine with other hotshoe flashes, Ving850 and Pentax brands and Metz. The K5iis will rapid fire the ring light no problems. So the camera and flash shoes work fine when connected to other things. I tested ring-light with a hot-sync shoe cable, and got the same strange behavior. I then put one of those little cowboy studio transmitters on the hot shoe. It only has one pin. Fully manual. I plugged a PC cable into the flash and the transmitter. There is a red light and buttton on top of the transmitter. I press the button in rapid succession and you see the red led light up and the flash pops like it should. But when I press the shutter, again, only the first release gives me a red light and a flash pop. Subsequent releases to not trigger flash NOR do they trigger the transmitter LED. Back in the same boat. If I pull out the PC cable from either the flash or the transmitter, then the red light blinks with every shutter release but of course there is no longer a flash connected to pop. And of course the flash works properly when I connect on of the Cowboy studio receivers to it. So my conclusion is that this flash (mine is a Viltrox branded one, Neewer makes a branded one too. real strobe not LED) and ONLY this flash is connected to a K3/ii and ONLY K3/ii by any hard wired connection, even through a simple 1 pin interface, the flash will only fire once. Wirelessy it will work fine. Problem is the ring light is made to use on camera. Does anyone have any idea what is happening here? The sanity you save could be mine.

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09-14-2015, 12:31 AM	#2
08amczb Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Posts: 796	I don't know what happening, but I would try using a low/high voltage converter between the camera and the flash. It works whith a thyristor, so it separates the electrnycs in a way.

09-14-2015, 08:21 AM	#3
evilcartman Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 69 Original Poster	It's a 6v battery powered flash. Do they make anything like that? Where would it go? In the hotshoe?

09-14-2015, 08:32 AM	#4
08amczb Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Posts: 796	It goes on the Hot shoe and has a hot shoe on the top. The flash fires if you connect the middle and the rail - the tow contact - by a wire. Doing this (triggering) by another circuit might helps.

09-15-2015, 04:32 PM	#5
evilcartman Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 69 Original Poster	Originally posted by 08amczb It goes on the Hot shoe and has a hot shoe on the top. The flash fires if you connect the middle and the rail - the tow contact - by a wire. Doing this (triggering) by another circuit might helps. That indeed provided a workaround. Don't like the wobbly controller but it works for now. What I've discovered is that almost all of the K cameras of have this problem and that it was eventually solved by one of the firmware updates. I was searching for a K-3 but when I expanded the search I found out the K7 and K5 and 5ii to have this problem initially and then it went away with subsequent firmware updates. The K-3 an K3ii both still have it with the latest firmware updates although I heard that the first K-3 firmware did not have this problem. But I can't downgrade so I can't really test it. I would love to know what's going on in terms of voltage or whatever is causing the problem. It is quite a baffling problem. But thanks for the work around in the meantime

09-16-2015, 01:01 AM	#6
08amczb Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Posts: 796	Glad to hear your problem solved.

09-17-2015, 10:18 AM	#7
stevebrot Otis Memorial Pentaxian Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Vancouver (USA) Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 42,007	Originally posted by evilcartman I would love to know what's going on in terms of voltage or whatever is causing the problem. Out of curiosity, did you measure the trigger voltage? Your ringflash should behave the same as any other non-dedicated flash. Did you check out this thread detailing a similar problem with the Yongnou YN 560? https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/115-pentax-k-5/162331-mounted-yn-560-flash-problem.html In that thread it appears the flash at some point in its cycle presents an (transient?) incompatible voltage. The two hardwired solutions (capacitor or resistor) would indicate something like that. Edit: There seem to be a number of users on this site who use the JY-670 on the K-3 (going back to release in 2013) with no issues. Perhaps there is some variation in the flash's circuitry for units "in the wild"? Steve Last edited by stevebrot; 09-17-2015 at 10:28 AM.