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Mudduck wrote:Ok bought a cheap slave flash(sunpakd18t) to get my toes wet. Worked good close but not at distance. Found the sensor was on the flash side of the unit. I disassembled it and moved the sensor to the top of the unit. Worked great when testing in a 40 x 60 dark building for about 10 photos then all the sudden my photos whould turn up black when the slave flash activates. I changed no settings. Camera still works fine without slave flash. Any suggestions??
NZcaver wrote:Does your camera fire a single flash with each shot, or is there a quick pre-flash or two before the 'main' flash?
Used it as a slave for flash fill in those "emergencies." It worked great for about 40 pictures, but now the light sensor reacts so slow to my main flash, my camera never catches its light. I've tried changing batteries, cleaning the battery contacts, and even the light sensor itself and it still doesn't work right. It does, however, still work properly when seated on a hot shoe.
OpenTrackRacer wrote:Before I started bringing a DSLR I was using a point and shoot with full manual controls. I'd hand hold it (or set it on something for side lighting) and simply open the shutter for 2 seconds or so. In that time I would manually trigger an old flash I was holding with my other hand. It's not the cleanest or quickest method but it did produce good results.
Mudduck wrote:NZcaver wrote:Does your camera fire a single flash with each shot, or is there a quick pre-flash or two before the 'main' flash?
It fires a quick two best we can tell. the camera is a Kodak EasyShare C613. I realize this is sub-standard equipment but as I said cave photography is something really new to me(with respect to "nice" photos) and I like to dip a toe to see what direction to go in before taking a big step. The thing that boogles my mind is why it worked great at first. I checked multiple times to be sure the "automatic" settings were'nt changed between practice shots.
NZcaver wrote:This can result in the flashgun triggering with the pre-flash, but not with the main flash immediately after it. Resulting in... dark photos.
pub wrote:NZcaver wrote:This can result in the flashgun triggering with the pre-flash, but not with the main flash immediately after it. Resulting in... dark photos.
If this is the case, try using the "Fill" setting for the on-camera flash, see photo below:
In the "Red-eye" setting, "The flash fires twice—once, then again when the picture is taken."
NZcaver wrote:Hmmm, DSLRs. I have one, but it doesn't go caving. Too heavy, too bulky, too expensive. There are numerous 'mid-size' digital camera models with full manual settings and hot shoe mounts which can produce superb quality images. They're smaller and cheaper than DSLRs, too. Even some compact cameras without a hot shoe have manual settings which also disable the digital pre-flash. Particularly Canons. A single flash makes triggering a remote (optical) slave much simpler.
OpenTrackRacer wrote:Well, I sure has heck won't be bringing my 40D underground but you might be surprised with what you can find. I picked up a well used Canon Digital Rebel (300D) with an 18-55mm kit lens for $150.
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