cannon Eos 350D & Elinchrom studio lights problem

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Cottier

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Hi I have a Cannon Eos 350D & Elinchrom studio lights system ( 2 lights). I cant get the Slave function to work. One light is wired up to the Light from the hotshoe & fires on shutter being released with Camera on Auto or P setting. The other sometimes does but more often doesen't. I've moved the cable to the other & same thing happens. I don't have a hand held meter & use the camera in fully manual. But I usually get both lights to flash & an exposure thats acceptable ( for rudimentary shots which is fine for what I'm doing).Does Anyone have any advice? Or point me in the right direction? All help gratefully accepted...
 
I'm a bit confused that you are talking of the lights firing in Auto or P - then go on to say that you use the camera in fully manual.

What settings are you using?

What's the environment you are working in? (Describe the room, the light sources, the distance between lights etc)

Is the slave feature turned on?
 
Looking at your 4 previous posts on here didn't you ask the same question in 2008 and it's the TTL Pre-flash of the on-board flash causing the Elinchrom lights to flash before the shutter is actually triggered? As a result, when the shutter is triggered the flashes have already fired hence you getting a dark shot?

The answer previously was a hotshoe trigger which does not fire Pre-flashes.

Steve
 
Actually, looking at your post it looks like you're using a cable trigger to one light but the second isn't triggering optically. Is the second light definitely configured to fire as an optical slave?
 
stevelmx5 said:
Actually, looking at your post it looks like you're using a cable trigger to one light but the second isn't triggering optically. Is the second light definitely configured to fire as an optical slave?

YES I have them Both set to Slave ON. & use in a semi dark / Shaded space about 15 ft from camera ( camera in middle ) so 30 from each other.
Click to expand...
 
cymruchris said:
I'm a bit confused that you are talking of the lights firing in Auto or P - then go on to say that you use the camera in fully manual. NO I mean I;m not doing as the manual suggests ie fully manual with light meter.

What settings are you using? "P"

What's the environment you are working in? (Describe the room, the light sources, the distance between lights etc) Lights 25-30 ft apart. Semi dark Shade. ( natural light penetration but not direct)

Is the slave feature turned on? YES On both lights
Click to expand...
 
Is there a reason why the lights are so far apart? What are you shooting?

Usually for studio shoots you'd shoot in M..

You want to set the aperture and shutter speed to the light output and subject matter.....

When I shoot in studio - I'm always at 1/160th of a second in M mode, and then adjust the F stop to suit...
 
Last edited:
Thank you for the fstop info.
Im shooting furniture.
Would the Exposure 'prevent' the flash which is slaved up from actually firing?
 
Cottier said:
Thank you for the fstop info.
Im shooting furniture.
Would the Exposure 'prevent' the flash which is slaved up from actually firing?
Click to expand...

The optical slave needs to be able to 'see' the main flash clearly. If it's too far away, or the ambient light level is high (eg bright daylight falling on the slave cell) it won't work.

Move the slaved head closer, see if it works then. If it does, then suggest a cheap radio trigger set to sort the distance issue.
 
HoppyUK said:
The optical slave needs to be able to 'see' the main flash clearly. If it's too far away, or the ambient light level is high (eg bright daylight falling on the slave cell) it won't work.

Move the slaved head closer, see if it works then. If it does, then suggest a cheap radio trigger set to sort the distance issue.
Click to expand...

What he said ^^^
 
Hi Chris,
Thanks for your help. I'll try that today & see how it works. I often wondered how the cell can see the flash as its at the back of the Light!.
Could you suggest a suitable radio (inexpensive) slave sink that would fit an Elinachron D-Lite? ( I assume it has to fit into the Cable 'Synchro' socket ?) - Steve
 
Thanks to Richard as well ^^^

I'm still trying to envisage who has a 25ft sofa... Can the lights not be closer together?

I don't have experience of inexpensive radio triggers - I use the Elinchrom Skyport.. But whatever you choose - make sure you have one transmitter and two receivers, one for each light.

And it's sync - not sink :) Good luck.
 
Cottier said:
Hi Chris,
Thanks for your help. I'll try that today & see how it works. I often wondered how the cell can see the flash as its at the back of the Light!.
Could you suggest a suitable radio (inexpensive) slave sink that would fit an Elinachron D-Lite? ( I assume it has to fit into the Cable 'Synchro' socket ?) - Steve
Click to expand...

Maybe Yongnuo RF-602 (Amazon?). Make sure you get the extra sync cables, D-Lite sync socket is standard size.
 
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