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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
07-07-2010, 03:47 PM
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Very interesting. I'm glad my troubleshooting was correct, that it was the Sigma that was causing the problem. I'm curious if purchasing this cable resolved the problem. I have contacted the author of that page to find out.
In any case, it's good to know. I love the Sigma flashes, but I'll have to avoid them in the future if my Skyports can't reliably trigger them. As an on camera flash, however, I still love it!
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
07-07-2010, 09:07 AM
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Just need to revisit this issue!
I have been having great success with the trigger system. Then last week, at a wedding, it refused to work. It would fire maybe 1 out of every 4 exposures. It was extremely annoying as I was working in direct sunlight (no other choices with their venue) and was trying to use the flash to help fill in shadows. Eventually I just had to keep snapping the shutter over and over until it went off!
I figured out the problem was that I had my backup flash attached to the remote trigger. I recently purchased a Sigma EF-530 DG to be a backup flash. Wonderful flash when attached to the camera! I absolutely love it! But it gave me nothing but trouble off camera, not firing on over half the times I tried to trigger it. However, I put my Pentax 360FGZ back in the remote trigger and it fired reliably every time.
I am at a loss to understand this? I've been told it doesn't matter what flash you attach to an off camera system. That's the beauty of off camera, you can buy used flashes or cheaper flashes. Can anyone help? I'm considering buying another receiver so I can fire 2 flashes remotely for some other work I want to do and I'd rather not have to buy another flash when I already have 2.
Thanks!
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
05-21-2010, 04:16 PM
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What I really want is a 70 to 200 mm f/2.8!!!
There are 3rd party lenses for this, why not a Pentax lens?
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
02-19-2010, 02:15 PM
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Everything seems to be working consistently well now. Hopefully I've seen the last of the problem. As far as shutter speeds, I was using between 1/60 and 1/180. I noticed that the flash would not fire at all at 1/250, and figured that must have been a limitation of the flash capability (just like you said). At the correct speeds, it was firing, just too late. I am getting consistent performance from it again.
I am taking it to a friend's wedding tonight. Thankfully, I am not the primary on this one, he just wants me to get guests and such, so I will be able to give this a good test I hope. :)
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
02-19-2010, 01:19 PM
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Could it really have been that simple? Like you suggested, I cleaned the contacts on the body of the camera, and cleaned the contacts on the lens. I then cleaned the contacts on the hot shoe of the camera and the contact on the transmitter. BOOM it works perfectly again! I will keep you updated, but perhaps a contact was just dirty and slowing it down...it would only have to be slowed down by a fraction of a second to make it useless, after all.
That might explain last night why it worked when I changed the lens...perhaps I got a good clean connection and it started working for me...interesting!
In any case, thanks for your continued help! :D I will let you know if I have any more trouble!
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
02-19-2010, 01:04 PM
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The problem is not that the flash doesn't fire. It does. It tests fine and when I press the shutter I see and hear the flash fire. However, the shutter is closing before the flash lights. I took a picture of the flash and I see the red "ready" light on the flash but no actual light when I snap a picture. EVERY setting is exactly the same...I left it that way when I put the camera equipment down last night, satisfied that it was finally working. I simply turned the flash back on, set it to manual, turned the camera on, and shot...and the flash is firing too late. :(
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
02-19-2010, 12:45 PM
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UNBELIEVABLE!
Just like that, I am having the same exact problem as I did last night! The flash is triggering too late to be of any use. The hard part is, I did everything exactly the same as I did last night. Red eye is definitely off, the flash is set to manual, and I didn't change any settings. I didn't change the position of the flash or what I was shooting. No matter what I try, I can't get it to work today with either lens!
This is unbelievably frustrating! I don't dare take it on my next portrait session or to a wedding if it going to work sometimes and not others and leave me absolutely no way to figure out what is wrong! Anyone?
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
02-18-2010, 08:04 PM
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Thanks Peter! The camera was not in red eye mode but I think the problem was that when I had that lens on, I was in P-TTL mode on the flash. I just set the flash to manual and it is now firing properly on both lenses! Now I am excited to play with it!!! I think this is going to really open up a lot of new options for me! :)
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
02-18-2010, 06:57 PM
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UPDATE: At the time of my troubles, I was using my Pentax 50mm/1.4 lens. I continued playing with it, and tried my 18-55. Now it seems to be working! I still have a lot to figure out about placement and distance of the flash, but it is most definitely working now.
I tried the flash on every setting, and yes, manual was one of them. I didn't think the TTL or red-eye would work though, as I am using a PC to hot shoe adapter to go from the receiver to flash. I thought for sure that would lose me any of my TTL function.
The good news is that I do seem to be able to make it work with my 18-55 lens, but I am still open to ideas. I would love to be able to use the system with all my lenses! Thanks everyone for your help!
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
02-18-2010, 06:35 PM
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So I finally decided to jump into the world of off camera flash! It's been a day I've been looking forward to for quite some time!
Imagine my joy as I opened my new Elinchrom Skyport system, attached the receiver to my Pentax FGZ360 flash, put the transceiver in my Pentax K20D's hot shoe, pressed the button and remotely triggered my flash! I was so happy!
But then I started noticing that it didn't appear the flash was having any effect on my photos. I started testing with and without flash, and the pictures were no different! I was firing at about F4.5 at 1/60 to 1/90 of a second. The flash is clearly firing too late to be of any use! Imagine how my joy quickly turned to frustration! I simply can't find any troubleshooting information about this.
More Info
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Pentax K20D
Pentax FGZ360
Flash is no more than 10 feet away at any given time when triggered. It triggers the flash. One time when I set my exposure to 1/2 second, the flash didn't fire until the very END of the exposure. The flash seems to be firing as my shutter closes, not opens!
Does anyone know what is happening?
Please help!
Paul
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