DubiousDrewski
journeyman
Reged: 09/01/2008
Posts: 50
|
|
So I'm in the middle of shooting (just practice, there's no model here today, thankfully!) When suddenly, my flashgun stops firing in optical wireless mode. It's been working fine all night up until now. I didn't change a thing, didn't touch it while it sat up on its tripod - it just stopped responding.
I then put fresh batteries in, I checked that I was still on channel 1 on both camera and flash, I have everything in full manual, gun on wireless slave mode. I moved it right up to my camera to factor out lost line-of-sight. I even mounted it on my camera again and it does still fire just fine, so the bulb's not toast.
Can anyone think of anything I might have forgotten to check?
|
DubiousDrewski
journeyman
Reged: 09/01/2008
Posts: 50
|
|
This forum's dead. Someone tell the admins that they made too many categories, which dilutes the activity and spreads it too thinly. Bad design.
I cross posted this in two other forums and got 2-4 replies in each already.
|
Lounge Lizard
Old Wrinkly
Reged: 17/01/2004
Posts: 17885
Loc: Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
|
|
Quote:
This forum's dead. Someone tell the admins that they made too many categories, which dilutes the activity and spreads it too thinly. Bad design.
Wrong! Your post is a bad design. This is the Digital Capture board and I'm not sure what a dodgy flash has got to do with digital capture. And as it's the Digital Capture board and not make-specific, we can't tell what make flash or what make camera you are having a problem with. You might know, but we don't. If you want people to help, make it easy for people to help and don't expect them to be mind-readers.
Quote:
I cross posted this in two other forums and got 2-4 replies in each already.
Not here I hope. 
--------------------
Lounge Lizard
(aka David Steel and owner of The Gallery)
Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.
Winston Churchill
|
Monobod
'Phantom' of the forum!
Reged: 03/04/2003
Posts: 5672
Loc: Just West of Norwich, Norfolk
|
|
MODS please note:
This is a Pentax flashgun by the sound of things AF 540 FGZ so perhaps a move to the Pentax forum might help this fellow.
I agree it would also help if we knew what camera he is using. 
--------------------
David.
-----------------------------------------------
Photos hosted by Flickr.
www.flickr.com/photos/monobod/
-----------------------------------------------
I see the world thro' a viewfinder, but the world watches me via CCTV!
|
GeoffR
Reged: 31/05/2003
Posts: 3570
Loc: Bucks
|
|
I really have no idea why an AF540 should stop responding to remote signals but in general there are only two possible defects.
1. The command transmitter has failed, shut down, been selected off
2. The receiver has failed, shut down, been selected off
Troubleshooting requires either an additional flash that responds to the commander or another camera that can send the commands. If neither is available a visit to a repair centre seems in order.
|
DubiousDrewski
journeyman
Reged: 09/01/2008
Posts: 50
|
|
Whoops. Sorry for not mentioning that I'm using a Pentax K10.
Strangely enough, after giving the flashgun some alone-time, it started working again(After about 15 minutes). I didn't change a thing!
Now why would it do that? I can't have this happening on a shoot! This flashgun is the only thing that can trigger my strobes!
|
Lounge Lizard
Old Wrinkly
Reged: 17/01/2004
Posts: 17885
Loc: Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
|
|
Quote:
Now why would it do that? I can't have this happening on a shoot! This flashgun is the only thing that can trigger my strobes!
Overheated perhaps? If it's critical and likely to cause a problem, consider a backup flash trigger. I use low-cost IR triggers.
--------------------
Lounge Lizard
(aka David Steel and owner of The Gallery)
Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.
Winston Churchill
|
IvorETower
Little Buttercup
Reged: 15/11/2006
Posts: 1630
Loc: Camberley, Surrey
|
|
You (the OP) didn't mention how many flashes you fired before it stopped working. It's quite likely if you fired 20 or 30 in quick succession that it got hot, so it shut down to cool off.
If you read the instruction manual, it may tell you about the number of consecutive flashes that can be made before the unit needs to rest and recover
|
DubiousDrewski
journeyman
Reged: 09/01/2008
Posts: 50
|
|
I did indeed fire many shots. Much more than 30, but it was not in quick succession. I was using the 12 second self timer so that I could position myself(The practice model for that evening) in front of the camera. So the flash was firing once every 30-60 seconds at most.
And I would agree with the overheating theory, except that the flash unit still fired normally when mounted on the camera. Why would just the photocell overheat? I've never heard of that. Anyway, thatnk you all for the replies so far.
|
Monobod
'Phantom' of the forum!
Reged: 03/04/2003
Posts: 5672
Loc: Just West of Norwich, Norfolk
|
|
At least it doesn't sound as if it is broken. 
--------------------
David.
-----------------------------------------------
Photos hosted by Flickr.
www.flickr.com/photos/monobod/
-----------------------------------------------
I see the world thro' a viewfinder, but the world watches me via CCTV!
|
Previous
Index
Next
Threaded
Edit
Reply
Quote
