HSS not working

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dancook

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Dan
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I have a pair of PIXAPRO CITI600 manual flashes
https://www.essentialphoto.co.uk/product/pixapro-citi600-manual-battery-powered-twin-flash-kit/

I have the Eco 2.4 trigger

I pressed the HSS buttons on the flashes and the icon appears, cannot see an option on the transmitter.

Set my shutter speed on my Leica to around 1/250th - I see the black band, so HSS is not working.


Either I'm doing something wrong or my efforts will be fruitless because it will not work - however nothing came up to suggest it wouldn't work from the offset, so I'm not sure.
 
What trigger you using Dan

HSS is a function as much of the trigger as the lights, but it needs signal from the camera too.

Its a complicated cocktail we've come to take for granted.
 
Phil V said:
What trigger you using Dan

HSS is a function as much of the trigger as the lights, but it needs signal from the camera too.

Its a complicated cocktail we've come to take for granted.
Click to expand...

https://www.essentialphoto.co.uk/pr...trigger/?product_options[Camera+System]=Nikon

this is the trigger, it's only in Canon/Nikon - I have the Canon one.

But a Leica camera - I spoke to the support of essentialphoto - they said "The HSS on the ECO trigger would automatically activate when it goes above the camera sync speed." - so I guess for a start there's a communication issue between the transmitter and camera that doesn't do this.
 
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Can't see anything in the manual (I'd found the trigger before your 2nd post) I may be wrong, but I think the HSS fire signal on Canon comes from an outer pin, so perhaps the Nikon version would work on the Leica. But it's a guess.
 
Phil V said:
Can't see anything in the manual (I'd found the trigger before your 2nd post) I may be wrong, but I think the HSS fire signal on Canon comes from an outer pin, so perhaps the Nikon version
would work on the Leica. But it's a guess.
Click to expand...

:) Argh, I almost went for the Nikon...
 
@mike weeks may be able to confirm, he works quite closely with Godox and Essential I believe.
 
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Thanks both, I will ask to replace the Canon transmitters for Nikon
 
dancook said:
if all this fails, maybe I'll have to buy a proper camera :(
Click to expand...

It's a mystery why camera manufacturers don't pay more attention to flash. They don't seem to give a damn and regard it as an afterthought at best.

Even Canon and Nikon are unhelpful with closed protocols and Canon sometimes changes things seemingly with the sole purpose of buggering up the third-party flash manufacturers that are actually supporting their bluddy brand, and filling in the huge shortfalls in their own product offerings (which they have never shown the least inclination to fill themselves).

In this new media age where camera manufacturers find themselves increasingly marginalised with tumbling sales, flash is one of the few areas where enthusiasts and professionals can genuinely enhance and differentiate their work. Please don't make it any harder, particularly at at this time when flash technology is really opening up.

rant/ :D
 
dancook said:
if all this fails, maybe I'll have to buy a proper camera :(
Click to expand...
HSS requires that the camera has TTL communication with the flash/transmitter, or at least it thinks it does. The camera will then send the fire command before the shutter opens instead of after the first curtain is fully open. From the link Mike posted, it looks like the TTL and fire pins of the Nikon hotshoe matches with Leicas... I couldn't find anything else to confirm that with a quick search.
 
sk66 said:
HSS requires that the camera has TTL communication with the flash/transmitter, or at least it thinks it does. The camera will then send the fire command before the shutter opens instead of after the first curtain is fully open. From the link Mike posted, it looks like the TTL and fire pins of the Nikon hotshoe matches with Leicas... I couldn't find anything else to confirm that with a quick search.
Click to expand...

Ah well, I was very much under the impression i'd never get TTL to work with 3rd party due to being Leica - but I didn't know HSS requires TTL communication to work, so that's that I guess.

At least I can use a strong ND filter without it affecting the rangefinder view.
 
dancook said:
Ah well, I was very much under the impression i'd never get TTL to work with 3rd party due to being Leica - but I didn't know HSS requires TTL communication to work, so that's that I guess.

At least I can use a strong ND filter without it affecting the rangefinder view.
Click to expand...
It doesn't actually require TTL communication as such... it requires that the camera thinks there is a TTL/HSS capable flash/transmitter attached so that it shifts the flash timing. And that requires more than just center pin/manual communication.

You don't need actual TTL communication from the transmitter, that probably won't happen with a 3rd party transmitter as the protocols/language are most likely different. But if the camera thinks it has communication (the right contacts) it could work.
That's the way the early manual Godox flashes enable HSS... the transmitter fools the camera into thinking there is a TTL/HSS trigger attached so the timing is set earlier. And the flash head is set (separately) to pulse whenever it is triggered.
 
mike weeks said:
Why not use the on board flash to trigger the optical slave on the AD600 then?

Mike
Click to expand...

Didn't know it was potentially possible.. so I've just tested..


First up, the SF-58, image from online - it's a monster compared to the Leica-M - but it's capable of TTL HSS (not manual it seems though)

When I tried it, it triggered the 600's but not consistently - usually one or the other depending on direction I fired. As for the HSS, the 600 did not fire in time with the exposure, so failed.


sf58.jpg

So I tried the SF-40 which is a little better balance - I had a stofen style diffuser on it.

It consistently fired both flashes, which is useful as I might need to use it tonight for a shoot. This Flash isn't capable of HSS though.

20160917-_MG_8399.jpg
 
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