flash prob - me or equipment....help please

[zaskar]

hello and thanx in advance.
i have a canon 450d and a jessops 300afd flash.
my problem is that i cannot get the flash to use 1st curtain sync,
it seems to be stuck in 2nd curtain sync even after changing the settings in camera.
the pop up flash works in both sync modes.
could the flashgun be stuck in 2nd curtain sync, it has had a knock before but
i don't know if it was working or not before that as i am only just experimenting with it.
thanx a lot for your time.

 

[Thmaga]

Id be inclined to think that the problem lies with the camera and not the flash. The flash simply fires when the camera instructs it to, so first or second curtain sync shouldn't make a difference.
Not sure how to help though.

 

[zaskar]

thanx thmaga,
maybe it's an incompatibility problem or a problem with the message from cam to flash because the pop up flash works fine

 

[zaskar]

any more suggestions please

 

[Canon Bob]

If the body is set to 1st cutain sync then how are you establishing that it's sync'ing on the 2nd curtain?

Bob

 

[zaskar]

hi Bob,
i set a long exposure of say 2 secs so i can see when the flash is firing, and it always fires at the end of the exposure.

 

[zaskar]

any more help please???

 

[Canon Bob]

any more help please???

I'll be back in a short while

Bob

 

[Canon Bob]

You're not trying to use front curtain sync in Liveview by any chance?

Bob

 

[zaskar]

no Bob no live view
cheers, i'm baffled!!

 

[zaskar]

as i've said ,it works fine with the built in pop up flash, 1st curtain sync an 2nd curtain sync, both ok, it's just that the hotshoe flash always does 2nd curtain sync no matter what the setting??????????weird

 

[CT]

Is there a facility to change the curtain sync on the flash unit itself?

EDIT.

Answerring my own question it seems there isn't although there is on the Pentax compatible version.

It seems then that the camera is supposed to convey the settings to the flash which isn't happening due to either a compatibilty issue or a fault as you suspect.

Manual HERE.

 

[zaskar]

thanx ct, but no, there is no option to change curtain sync on the flash, it's just a really basic ttl flash from jessops, no buttons on flash except on/off

 

[CT]

I'm not familiar with the 450D at all, but just have a good dig round in your camera menus and make sure you don't have options for 'camera overrides flash settings' and 'flash overrides camera settings'

Failing that, how long have you had it - can you bounce it across the counter at Jessops?

 

[zaskar]

thanx again CT, i'll have to try another flash on my camera and see if that makes a difference, hopefully it will, then at least i know i just need a new flash and not a new camera...i'll post back with the results.
thanks for your time.

 

[CT]

No probs - hope you get it sorted.