VERY ODD MALFUNCTION

Lensflare

Lensflare

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Simon Everett
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Ok, on a job, everything working fine. D4s, SU800 on top, 2x SB900 and 1x SB800 set up......all going well, then suddenly NOTHING fires when the camera is tripped.

Hmmm, stroked my beard a bit, scratched my head a bit, had a think......turned everything off. Turned it all back on, checked channels and all the other obvious things - red lights lit on the back, everything seems normal....no flash fires.


Hmmm. Take one SB900 and put it on the camera as master - it doesn't fire and neither do the other two. Did this in sequence with each flash unit in turn. Same result, NO flash fires, BUT the flash head zooms, so it is connected and talking to the camera (same with all three of them) and to cap it all, when the shutter is fired the red lamp on the back of the flash blinks - it thinks it has fired!

Had to give up with the flash and finished under ambient, natural light ony - jobs fine.

Got home and decided to check on my spare D3....exactly the same result. Both camera bodies fail to fire all three flash units and the SU800.

Very strange. ONE flash going down on the job I could understand - these things happen. ALL THREE and the SU800 at the same time? Most odd. Then for it to also be the same with the D3 that stayed at home all day.....I can't work it out.

So, you super sleuths with some electrical engineering knowledge, whaddayoufink?
 
EMP?
 
steve_lyt said:
Is there charge in the flash charged up. I know this is a taking the obvious and you may have already tried it
Click to expand...


How owuld I check - this is THREE different flash units remember, all gone haywire at exactly the same time. ALL were free standing, so only triggered optically by the infra red gadgetry, not even radio triggered.

What is EMP??
 
elecro magnetic pulse
kills all electronic gadgets its a millitary gadget
 
holty said:
elecro magnetic pulse
kills all electronic gadgets its a millitary gadget
Click to expand...

Often caused by an atomic bomb explosion - but you'd probably have noticed that going off in your vicinity :LOL:
.
 
Does it flash if you press the flash button on the unit?
 
All I can think is some weird surge that's just taken out the bulbs, but seems highly highly unlikely. As above does the test flash button fire the flash?
 
Probably a stupid suggestion, but i'll suggest it as most people would say i'm stupid anyway..... is this a sync speed issue? Did you change your shutter speed faster than your flash sync speed without high speed sync?
 
Moey said:
Probably a stupid suggestion, but i'll suggest it as most people would say i'm stupid anyway..... is this a sync speed issue? Did you change your shutter speed faster than your flash sync speed without high speed sync?
Click to expand...

Nope - the D4s and SB system works at all shutter speeds - this doesn't work at any speed. They don't fire, full stop.

Now, to throw even more wierdness into the mix, just tried the 'test button firing' in A mode to see if the tubes actually discharge. BOTH SB900s are not firing at all, but the red lamp on the back flashes when pressed as a test, and blink for a second or so. The SB800 works, and so it was tried with the SU800 - it worked, yet it dint today....odder and odder. The whole lot is going back to be tested and fixed where necessary - b****r work, I am going fishing for a few days!
 
Moey said:
Probably a stupid suggestion, but i'll suggest it as most people would say i'm stupid anyway..... is this a sync speed issue? Did you change your shutter speed faster than your flash sync speed without high speed sync?
Click to expand...

I thought that it just doesn't allow you to set it to higher than the flash sync speed?
 
Lensflare said:
Nope - the D4s and SB system works at all shutter speeds - this doesn't work at any speed. They don't fire, full stop.

Now, to throw even more wierdness into the mix, just tried the 'test button firing' in A mode to see if the tubes actually discharge. BOTH SB900s are not firing at all, but the red lamp on the back flashes when pressed as a test, and blink for a second or so. The SB800 works, and so it was tried with the SU800 - it worked, yet it dint today....odder and odder. The whole lot is going back to be tested and fixed where necessary - b****r work, I am going fishing for a few days!
Click to expand...

When you had them all set up, you didn't accidentally have the SB800 set as slave did you?
 
No - it stays set the same - and looked the same. How do you set it as a slave, to do what?
 
Nah I was just thinking if you accidentally set it as slave instead of being triggered by the SU800, then it wouldn't have fired given that the SB900s didn't fire.

So the SB800 doesn't fire if you attach it to the camera's hotshoe?
 
Everything was working fine, triggered by the remote commander - then they just packed up....test at home, none worked triggering with SU or SB900 (both tried) - test button test, 900s are not firing, the 800 is, and it fires from SU800 too - on the D4s. Swapping to the D3 changed nothing.

In the field the SB800 went on stike too - and didn't fire from the SU800 at home on the D3...but now it does.

Something very odd about it all. What are the chances of three different flash units all going pop at the same time? Especially when hot even attached to the camera and being fired optically.
 
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Pothole? Given your mode of transport, it's possible that a jolt FUBARed the all at the same time - perhaps unlikely but possible.
 
Electromagnetic & Radiofrequency Interference can adversely affect electronic circuits ... things such as taxi radios, fridge motors, welding equipment etc starting up, lightning all can cause products to malfunction and need re-booting, I've had this happen a number of times with electronic security equipment, what environment were you working in?
 
They have been posted off for repair. It will be interesting to see what they say. new tubes for the SB900s are only £35 each, so it isn't the end of the world. OK, plus labour, but it is cheaper than new flash heads!
 
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