A6500 + TRT s-Turtle Manual + 2x YS-D3s

[Mo.Diver]

Hello,

My rig consists of different bits and pieces from different distributors so no one was actually responsible to give me the support I needed so I decided to post my problem here and hope someone can help me figure it out.

First, let me start by stating my rig components.
- Sony A6500
- Rokinon 12mm F2.0
- SeaFrogs housing
- TRT s-Turtle Manual
- 2x Sea&Sea YS-D3 MKII
- 2x SeaLife fiber optic cables

I setup everything in place and the strobes fire with every shutter click. My camera is on manual mode and I'm experimenting at home before my dive trip. I put the strobes on manual mode and they fire with every picture but I don't necessarily see the light in my picture. I don't change anything in the settings and my strobes fire every time but sometimes I see their light in my pictures and sometimes I don't.

I removed the trigger and went back to firing with the camera's built-in flash and everything works great.

I tried looking for an update or a way to setup the trigger to my camera and strobes but the TRT website says it doesn't have to be setup since it is a manual trigger.

Could my trigger be faulty? Because once I removed it everything works great. I only have issues when I'm using the trigger.

Could it be my fiber cables as they might be single core? but my strobes fire with every shutter click.

Would anyone recommend a set of settings that I could try?


Thanks!

 

[Barmaglot]

I removed the trigger and went back to firing with the camera's built-in flash and everything works great.

This suggests that you have pre-flash cancellation enabled in the strobes, as the pop-up flash always fires two pulses for TTL. Did you disable it when you switched to the TRT trigger?

 

[Mo.Diver]

This suggests that you have pre-flash cancellation enabled in the strobes, as the pop-up flash always fires two pulses for TTL. Did you disable it when you switched to the TRT trigger?

Yes! Cancelled pre-flash from my strobes when using the trigger but then had to activate it again when using the camera's flash.

That also took me a while to figure out.

 

[Barmaglot]

What flash mode do you have selected in the camera when the trigger is attached? I don't have a TRT trigger, but I use a UW-Technics one with my A6300, and I set the flash mode in-camera to WL for manual operation (single pulse).

 

[Mo.Diver]

I do the same, Wireless (WL) with the trigger.

How is the UW-Technics working for you? What strobes are you using? Are your cables multi-core?

 

[Barmaglot]

The UWT trigger works well, except for the times when the tiny CR1220 batteries run low mid-dive and I lose the ability to fire strobes. I can pop up the camera flash, and if the trigger turns off completely then it will fire, but there's a range where the batteries have enough charge to keep the trigger on (which overrides the pop-up flash) but not enough to produce a sufficiently bright pulse to trigger the strobes.

I use Retra Pro strobes with multicore cables.

Speaking of cables, have you tried holding the trigger LEDs directly up to the YS-D3's sensor to see if it will work that way?

 

[Mo.Diver]

I was doing more research over the weekend. My strobes fire every time so I'm certain that my cables deliver enough light.

However I also noticed that rotating the cable rubber plug in the housing insert makes my strobes fire or not. That's why I'm more suspicious that my wiring setup is the issue here. Either that or my trigger Leads might need to be repositioned inside the housing.

I decided I'll borrow my friend's cables to see if they work better for me before I order a new set.

 

[Barmaglot]

Another thing worth checking; have you tried cleaning the fiber optic ports on the housing? Dirt/lint can accumulate there and cause light transmission problems; I've seen that cause issues with strobe triggering.

 

[VsubT]

What shutter speed are you using? Might try dialing it way longer to see what you get. Settings shorter than 1/250 can be problematic for strobe sync. Sorry if this is basic, but it’s worth checking.

Another little thing to check is the plug port on the strobe. I’ve seen frustration from folks plugging optical cables into the slave port instead of the main trigger port without realizing they’re different.

Lance

 

[Barmaglot]

What shutter speed are you using? Might try dialing it way longer to see what you get. Settings shorter than 1/250 can be problematic for strobe sync. Sorry if this is basic, but it’s worth checking.

Good point, except that with this camera it's 1/160s rather than 1/250s. With the internal flash up, shutter speeds above 1/160s are locked away, but with a trigger attached - at least my UWT one - they're available and they put the trigger into HSS mode, which uses different timings from regular mode, and requires HSS support from the strobes (currently only offered by Retra). It's been a while since I tried it, but as I recall, if I select shutter speeds above 1/160s and leave my Retra Pros in regular mode (rather than special HSS mode), I will get a fully or partially dark exposure.