Nikon Pocket Wizard nuke strike in TTL

JonathanRyan

JonathanRyan

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Anybody experiencing this?

I'm using an SB800 via PW TT5s in TTL mode. Periodically, the system will go into nuke strike mode where every exposure is fired at full power. This is somewhat vexing as you can't tell from camera position that it's happened and the shots are irrecoverable.

Once it goes into nuke strike, the only option is to power off the receiver and flash and back on to clear it. So far the only pattern we can find is that it tends to happen when I'm shooting relatively fast (3 - 4 quick shots) and ONLY when I'm doing important stuff - I can't reproduce it under test conditions. But it's real and it happens enough to be really really annoying.

Anybody?
 
I had it happen at my last wedding, during the 1st dance (the only time it ever happened).

Fortunately I could save them, as the triggered flash happened to overlight the background - getting me some quite unique high key 1st dance shots:D. Not something I'd rush to recreate - but not ruined either. And I just switched it off - no time to see what was wrong during the first dance.
Just to add - mine are Canon.
 
Pocket wizards do pick up interferrence from canon flashes, they sell a cover to go over the pw to stop this , nikons may have that problem as well but never heard of it.
 
Definitely not interference. (Actually I'm pretty sure that's a Canon only thing).

Once they got it in their heads to nuke strike it was full power every flash until we rebooted.

Not the first time this has happened either :(
 
flashted said:
Pocket wizards do pick up interferrence from canon flashes, they sell a cover to go over the pw to stop this , nikons may have that problem as well but never heard of it.
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That's a US issue, the UK ones run a different frequency and don't suffer the same.
 
never had anything like that Jonathan - although I use mine with sb-900's. I do have the odd issue with the AC3 doing odd things. Do you use one and does the issue persist if you remove it?
 
Phil V said:
That's a US issue, the UK ones run a different frequency and don't suffer the same.
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The US frequency is worse, but UK versions also suffer. With my Canon 270EX (one of the best for RF) range was about 30% higher than 580EX (one of the worst) and neither could match the massive line-of-sight range I got with most other 2.4 triggers.

I also found the PW's lower frequency to be better at finding its way around obstacles and through walls, but either way most radio triggers have more range than you'll normally need.

Not that this is any help to Jonathan :D
 
Had it happen twice in the year or so I have had them and same thing, turning them off and on resolves it, but on so few occurences couldn't really say if there was a particular pattern to it. :shrug: TBH, until now have put it down to user error, but maybe not....

on 800 and 900 btw
 
Yv said:
Had it happen twice in the year or so I have had them and same thing, turning them off and on resolves it, but on so few occurences couldn't really say if there was a particular pattern to it. :shrug: TBH, until now have put it down to user error, but maybe not....
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Definitely not user error (he says modestly :) ). After it started I got my assistant to watch me very closely to see if I was doing anything daft. That's how we came up with the theory about bursts of shots but that's not certain.

Slightly weird and very very annoying.

@Hugh - I was using TT5 on the SB800 and a TT5 on both a D3S and D800. AC3 on one of them and I swapped it from one camera to the other when the weirdness started. Doesn't seem linked to the AC3 - though it was all single flashgun TTL. It didn't happen when I used your triggers ;)
 
I've been corresponding with Pocket Wizard about this. I'm sure they won't mind my sharing their most likely explanation:

We did see an intermittent bug a while ago where there were intermittent full power bursts with the D3s and D700 (D800 was not yet released). It only happened when the camera had fallen asleep and the shutter button was "mashed", meaning pressing quickly without a half press. It happened about 3% of the time and would be intermittent, so the very next image would be fine. Not exactly the same as what you've seen, but might be worth either lengthening the time before the camera sleeps (via the custom settings menu) or just being very sure to pause ever so slightly on the half press.
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They also mentioned firmware versions on cameras and triggers (there was a new one for TT5 this week). But my money is that it's a variant of the sleep problem. I was using 2 cameras at once and it's likely one slept. It would also explain why I've been unable to reproduce it in testing.

BTW great support from PW. As you'd expect from such an expensive product ;)
 
That makes sense Jonathan. Seems like that after it's gone to sleep, the whole rig has to wake up and re-send the settings data before the firing command, and that takes a few ms?

Thanks for the update :)
 
HoppyUK said:
That makes sense Jonathan. Seems like that after it's gone to sleep, the whole rig has to wake up and re-send the settings data before the firing command, and that takes a few ms?
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Basically yes. And if you think about it, a TTL flash firing full power is one that only got part of the instruction from the camera. If the flash misses the first measuring pulse then the camera will think it needs to dial in full power. Everything wakes up in time for the "fire" command. And boom.
 
JonathanRyan said:
I've been corresponding with Pocket Wizard about this. I'm sure they won't mind my sharing their most likely explanation:



They also mentioned firmware versions on cameras and triggers (there was a new one for TT5 this week). But my money is that it's a variant of the sleep problem. I was using 2 cameras at once and it's likely one slept. It would also explain why I've been unable to reproduce it in testing.

BTW great support from PW. As you'd expect from such an expensive product ;)
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Interesting and worth remembering for the future, should it happen again, see whether this might be related. Thanks Jonathan :thumbs:
 
Are you using the AC3 Zone controller? I've never had this problem, but I use the zone controller, so maybe that makes a difference. You should get the AC3 anyway... it's only £60 and it's brilliant.
 
Pookeyhead said:
Are you using the AC3 Zone controller? I've never had this problem, but I use the zone controller, so maybe that makes a difference. You should get the AC3 anyway... it's only £60 and it's brilliant.
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JonathanRyan said:
I was using TT5 on the SB800 and a TT5 on both a D3S and D800. AC3 on one of them and I swapped it from one camera to the other when the weirdness started. Doesn't seem linked to the AC3 - though it was all single flashgun TTL.
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Though I agree about the awesomeness of the AC3. If only (1) it was built into the TT1 (srsly, what it the point of the TT1?) (2) it had a focus assist light

Then I wouldn't bother ever using an SB900 on top of a TT5. Unless I was on a tripod.
 
How much cheaper would a TT5 be if they hadn't developed and built the TT1? Now what's the point of the TT1?

If it was £100 it might have been worth the hassle, but it's about £3 more for the TT1 at Amazon right now :bonk:

(Canon prices quick search)

And who needs the G Wizz trunk, the PW's stack nicely, they're the neatest stuff to put away in my bags.
 
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