Fiber Optic Frustration

[bladephotog]

I have a Reefmaster digital flash I'm using with my Canon A85. The problem I have is sometimes it works sometimes it refuses to fire. I'll test fire it on the surface, which it always works, and then descend. It works on about half my dives. And it will either work at the start or won't work at all. I've had one dive when it started working midway throught the dive.

The fiber optic cable is mounted about 1 inch away from the housing in the Inon diffuser hole. I tried using it mounted on the housing when I first bought the thing but it did the same thing.

Any suggestions to make it more reliable. When it works it works very well. I shoot everything in manual and I can dial it in to my liking. I'm a photojournalist BTW so I know quite a bit about cameras but nothing about fiber optic strobes. Other than my works sometimes.

And I know I get what I pay for. But a considerable chunk of my money goes into my growing tech diving habit. Yikes! And frankly I've published quite a few pix using this setup. Just want to make it more reliable. Am I asking too much?

Thanks

 

[Peter Guy]

I got a Reefmaster SL960D last summer to use with my Minolta DiMage Xg. I had problems with setting up the fiber optic cable and used several different schemes. What seems to have finally worked is Velcro -- patch on the case below the internal flash and a piece of Velcro glued to the fiber optic cable. I cut the cable on a slant and so I just Velcro the cable to the case with the open fibre in front of the internal flash. This gives me the option of just using the internal flash or both the internal flash and the strobe.

Just curious -- I don't get a very good refresh time -- what is yours?

 

[RonFrank]

My Cuz has this setup, and I believe she uses Duct Tape!!

I'm sure RedGreen would approve!

I'm guessing that your issue is the way you have the fiber optic mounted, and not a faulty cable. However have you determined that it's NOT the cable?

 

[bladephotog]

Thanks guys. No, I haven't determined it's not a faulty cable. In fact I was thinking last night I should order a new one to try. And I think I'll try remounting the cable directly to the housing and see if that helps.

Peter, do you mean you basically stripped the wire so the bare fiber is sticking out, or just showing on one side?

And my recycle times aren't very good. However, I use lithium batteries which help. And I shoot with the flash dialed down. So my recycle times are okay. Not what I'd like. Just have to be more patient.

I even made my own diffuser out of the top of a tupperware container I had to even out the light and knock the power down a bit so I can shoot fill flash at 2.8 easier.

 

[Peter Guy]

I cut the end of the cord at an angle so that one side is open to the flash. This allows me to have the cord verticle to my case rather than having the end pointed at the internal flash. Now the only time it doesn't sync is when I've pulled the cord off the casing and it is just dangling somewhere!