flash wont fire ..

[bigdazzler]

As some of you may or may not know the Sony hotshoe is different to other brands. Becasue of this I needed to get myself an adapter that connects my 42AM external flash to my PT04 receiver.

Problem is the flash wont fire.

Trigger and receiver are working as they should be. Im getting signal when I press the test button on the trigger and the shutter button on the camera. ie. the red led lights on both the trigger and receiver are flashing consistently each time i fire the test button or the shutter.

The trigger/receiver are also working fine on my monobloc head ( albeit in this case the receiver is connected to the head with a small sync patch cord)

I think its either a faulty adapter (flash > receiver) or there is a compatibility problem with the adapter and the 42AM.

Any other ideas ??

oh and the flash is working perfectly both on camera, and off, in wireless mode.

[bigdazzler]

Mystery solved after a bit of reading on strobist and flickr.

Simply put the flash on the camera, fire off a shot with flash, then remove the flash and connect to the receiver, and it will then fire.

Dunno why or how, and dont care, but i just tested it and it works ..

[MarkChap]

Darren
Have yo tried maybe firing with the tst button first ??

Might save the hassle of putting it on the camera first ???

Just a thought thats all

[bigdazzler]

yea I tried that Mark but no good .. ive figured out that the ONLY way it will work is if you attach the flash to the camera, fire a frame with flash, remove it and then connect it to the receiver, it then fires fine. I found a thread over at the flickr strobist group that discusses it in depth. Seems you need to do this after every time you turn off the power to either the camera, the flash, or the receiver.

[MarkChap]

Well aint that a pain

[bigdazzler]

at least its workin now it was more of a pain an hour ago when it wasnt ..

[JM Tran]

Sony's proprietary products and difference is a pain!

[hoffy]

Sony's proprietary products and difference is a pain!

Really? Much the way that every camera has a different lens mount since the days of M39 & M42 went the way of the dodo?

I actually find that the legacy Minolta flash mount (which I believe is an upgrade of the ISO standard, to give more contacts then the previous standard) is very good, once you have the right equipment. I used to think it was a pain, but it works faultlessly and is probably a bit more idiot proof then the old hotshoe.

[JM Tran]

Really? Much the way that every camera has a different lens mount since the days of M39 & M42 went the way of the dodo?

I actually find that the legacy Minolta flash mount (which I believe is an upgrade of the ISO standard, to give more contacts then the previous standard) is very good, once you have the right equipment. I used to think it was a pain, but it works faultlessly and is probably a bit more idiot proof then the old hotshoe.

but K&M stuff isnt original Sony 'proprietary' products, they simply bought the rights to it when K&M folded.

I am referring to how Sony tries to differentiate from other companies via little things

for example, at the camera store - we charge batteries from the compact cameras every morning after customers go through them everyday. The use of universal chargers is common in stores like us as they charge pretty much all batteries from cameras - except Sony ones - we killed a few batteries before contacting the Sony rep who said oh they will be ruined if you dont the proprietary charger that comes with the camera.

this forces customers to have to buy the exact same charger again should their original is broken or lost etc.

lets not even talk about Sony Memory Sticks for their cameras and its wonderful availability/compatibility, and how their size/type have changed from their older generation of digital cameras.

oh, and the slightly different hotshoe design - I love how I can swap my canon 580EXII and use it on my pentax or nikon bodies etc, and pentax and nikon flashes on canon and so on.

little things like this can be quite frustrating for Sony users in long term.

[hoffy]

I've typed 3 replies and deleted them all. You win, Sony sux.....

[JM Tran]

I've typed 3 replies and deleted them all. You win, Sony sux.....

Eh? why does Sony suck? and why would you delete your replies, unless they were derogatory.

I dont recall saying Sony sucks, as I am a big fan of the A900 and some of their lenses. I just dont like how the company tries to differentiate from industry norms in some aspects.

[bigdazzler]

I must admit that when I first started looking into learning a little about off camera manual flash I was a little annoyed at all the adapters I had to find and buy to get things up and running, and I momentarily questioned my decision to go with Sony... but for me, I love the cameras, so that outweighs the minor inconveniences of the flash system.

[bigdazzler]

for example, at the camera store - we charge batteries from the compact cameras every morning after customers go through them everyday. The use of universal chargers is common in stores like us as they charge pretty much all batteries from cameras - except Sony ones - we killed a few batteries before contacting the Sony rep who said oh they will be ruined if you dont the proprietary charger that comes with the camera.

this forces customers to have to buy the exact same charger again should their original is broken or lost etc.

i was considering buying a third party charger that charges two batteries simultaneously (the Sony one is well over $200), does this mean that if i use something like this it will fry my batteries ??

[JM Tran]

i was considering buying a third party charger that charges two batteries simultaneously (the Sony one is well over $200), does this mean that if i use something like this it will fry my batteries ??

hey for their SLR systems I think it should be ok, as I remembered charging them myself on the aftermarket chargers - it was the compact batteries for the point and shoots that tend to die on us from experience.

but dont quote me on the SLR batteries, I could be wrong, best to google for it before you do any purchase or damage