[Michael Rothman]

Think I will. When I bought my Speedotrons I was sold a wireless system for $50. You get what you pay for. It would only trip the flash 1/2 the time off my Fuji S9000. VERY embarrassing infront of Models The warrantee expired so...

I'm returning a defective lens I over paid for on ebay, so as my buddy said, you already spent the $$ so buy the pocket wizard. As soon as the return clears paypal, I will.

Still the question remains, WHY was this happening?

[JeffScottSF]

Dave, you talked me into it. I just ordered a set of RD616 wireless receivers on eBay from MrStudioOne, total cost with shipping $27.50.

This was after I received a less-than-informative reply to an email sent to the PocketWizard support folks about whether my P-TTL gear was compatible, and what adapters, if any, might be necessary:

"A PocketWizard that is used as a transmitter will work on any standard
hot shoe, TTL or not. If this hot shoe is different than what is found
on most cameras, and the camera has no PC outlet, there is no way to
connect the transmitter. A remote flash also need some sort of synch
outlet to connect the receiver to. A PocketWizard will protect a camera
from high synch voltage, so Safe-Synch units are not necessary."

The adventure continues... Hi ho, hi ho...

[Michael Rothman]

Not using the Pocket Wizards. I had no problems with my K10D and a studio flash setup, but I didn't like using the hotshoe adapter and kept getting tangled up in cables.

Pocket Wizards are not for convenience. They are for the safety of the photographer and the models.

Cough up enough for a pair, they're cheap enough.

Well I spoke with Pentax tech support and think they solved the problem well not really they just explained the WHY.

Seems the shoe itself is not a contuctor, just the little contacts on the floor of the shoe. So the Safe Synch has no way to complete the circuit as the flat part that slides into the camera is ground and is looking to be in electrical contact with the sides of the shoe. The pocket Wizard has a set of contacts on it's base that make contact with those of the Pentax hot shoe. Simple yet disappointing.

Now to buy those Wizards...

[xecutech]

Maybe we need to see pics of the models to determine the problem? Just kidding....

[Alvin]

Well I spoke with Pentax tech support and think they solved the problem well not really they just explained the WHY.

Seems the shoe itself is not a contuctor, just the little contacts on the floor of the shoe. So the Safe Synch has no way to complete the circuit as the flat part that slides into the camera is ground and is looking to be in electrical contact with the sides of the shoe. The pocket Wizard has a set of contacts on it's base that make contact with those of the Pentax hot shoe. Simple yet disappointing.

Now to buy those Wizards...

Michael,

Sorry to hear about the safesync, but wish you luck with the wizards.

[dlee]

Hi Michael

Just off-hand.
What was the shutterspeed set at?

Grasping at straws here.

David

[jfdavis58]

Hi, jumping in here with my results.

Wein safe Sync does NOT seem to work with my K10 and standard PC triggered flash-any mode setting. I did try removing the safe sync and shorting the contacts with one lead of my VOM-POP, flash did fire, cable and sync do work.

Seems that until we get some notion of the signals present on the Pentax hotshoe/K10, that we are stuck with proprietary flashes and perhaps the Sigma unit.

PTTL preflash triggers all my photon based slaves pre shutter--also useless.

[Ray Pulley]

Hi, jumping in here with my results.

Wein safe Sync does NOT seem to work with my K10 and standard PC triggered flash-any mode setting. I did try removing the safe sync and shorting the contacts with one lead of my VOM-POP, flash did fire, cable and sync do work.

Seems that until we get some notion of the signals present on the Pentax hotshoe/K10, that we are stuck with proprietary flashes and perhaps the Sigma unit.

PTTL preflash triggers all my photon based slaves pre shutter--also useless.

I do not have a safe sync, so I cannot comment on the operation of that device. However, I just shot about 50 studio portraits yesterday with my K10d using my Chinese radio slave as I always do.

I put the little sender into the hotshoe of the K10D (the sender has only a center pin, which, as far as I know is simply a flash triger signal only on all Pentax bodies), put the receiver into my H-Prong to 1/4" adapter cable and then into the Lumedyne I was using as a hairlight, and then let the monolights all trip off the optical slaves.

I shoot in M mode, and the flashes all syncronized just fine up to the max of 1/180 at whatever aperture I was using.

I move the radio receiver around to set each light independently, and it tripped them all just fine from the hotshoe of the K10D just as it does on my K100 and DS bodies.

Over at DPreview, some were having trouble when using X sync and radio slaves and studio lights, but they seemed to have more success when using M mode instead of x sync. You might try that.

This week, I also modified 2 Nikon Speedlights, (model 25) to remove the Nikon TTL pins from the foot (VERY simple to do if you have a decent soldering iron), leaving only the center pin, and they work perfectly in auto and manual mode on all of my Pentax bodies. No P-TTL, but I hate the pre-flash anyway and find auto to be more reliable.

Ray

[jfdavis58]

An afternoon of frustration! On the Safe sync the center contact is a small spring loaded steel ball. With it off any camera it will pop every flash I have when I complete the circuit from rail to ball with a metalic object. With it on the camera, the little ball depressed, it fires nothing--BROKEN??? I think so. Back to shop. Without the safe sync the cameras will fire the flash when using a non-isolating HS to PC device every time.

[Photomy]

Logic says that you were on the right track. For some reason the hotshoe pattern on the Pentax does not match up properly with the Wein shoe. Test this by trying other third party devices such as a cheap Vivitar and another simple shotshoe extension with a PC cord coming out. If all of these others fire, then in points to some problem in the layout of the Wein relative to the Pentax hotshoe. Why? I have no idea. There are also in-cord safe sync devices which should solve this problem. Paramount Cords sells this.

[jfdavis58]

I got one of those Wein Safesyncs to protect my K10. It did an excellent job: nothing from the flash got through and they didn't flash.

I just had to know why.

So here is the answer I found: the little ball that makes contact with the center hotshoe contact is spring loaded. The K10 Hotshoe is very tight. When the ball/spring is totally compressed it breaks connection with the internal circuitry in the SafeSync.

And this is provable for any Safesync as follows: connect and charge your studio flash with safesync attach to strobes but off the camera. Using a stout metallic object like a pen knife blade complete the circuit by connect the softsync rail to the ball with the knife--should pop the strobes. Repeat, but use the knife to carefully depress the ball firmly into it's socket before making contact with the rail--no pop! Slowly let the spring push the ball out while maintaining contact to knife and rail. About 1/2mm out from full compression the strobes will pop.

[davemdsn]

I am now very glad I did not get a SafeSync. I like my cheap wireless unit, it hasn't missed a shot. I also like being able to go wireless with my 540 now without any attachments at all. Now I am wireless no matter what setup I am using.

[jfdavis58]

Smart man. Mine is going back this morning as defective/very low quality, want money back. I can limp-by with the optical wireless afforded by the onboard/360/540 system while I save for some radio slaves.

[*isteve]

Smart man. Mine is going back this morning as defective/very low quality, want money back. I can limp-by with the optical wireless afforded by the onboard/360/540 system while I save for some radio slaves.

Another vote for wireless. Even a cheap IR trigger is better than a sync cord.

I have some minimagic 2 channel radio triggers that work fine with studio strobes though you need to keep the shutter speed below 1/125 for some reason (no such problem using them to fire my 540 remotely using a PC hotshoe - I think studio strobes are slower off the mark and burn slower....I kept catching the rear curtain.

[Photomy]

I do not have a safe sync, so I cannot comment on the operation of that device. However, I just shot about 50 studio portraits yesterday with my K10d using my Chinese radio slave as I always do.

I put the little sender into the hotshoe of the K10D (the sender has only a center pin, which, as far as I know is simply a flash triger signal only on all Pentax bodies), put the receiver into my H-Prong to 1/4" adapter cable and then into the Lumedyne I was using as a hairlight, and then let the monolights all trip off the optical slaves.

I shoot in M mode, and the flashes all syncronized just fine up to the max of 1/180 at whatever aperture I was using.

I move the radio receiver around to set each light independently, and it tripped them all just fine from the hotshoe of the K10D just as it does on my K100 and DS bodies.

Over at DPreview, some were having trouble when using X sync and radio slaves and studio lights, but they seemed to have more success when using M mode instead of x sync. You might try that.

This week, I also modified 2 Nikon Speedlights, (model 25) to remove the Nikon TTL pins from the foot (VERY simple to do if you have a decent soldering iron), leaving only the center pin, and they work perfectly in auto and manual mode on all of my Pentax bodies. No P-TTL, but I hate the pre-flash anyway and find auto to be more reliable.

Ray

Ray while you were in there with the soldering iron you should have figured out out to turn on AF assist light and rigged a separate switch and mounted it on the side of the flash. Might have been a handy item to save the function of. What do you think?