I Need Help!

[DolphinSam]

I need help with my camera/strobe synchronization. I have an Olympus 4040Z camera housed in the Olympus PT-010 housing and I have the Ikelite Digital DS-125 strobe. I use the Ikelite TTL Slave Sensor to use the flash from the camera to trigger the strobe. Sounds good on paper, but I can't get it to work. When I hit the shutter on the camera, the camera flashes and then there is probably a 1/2 second delay before the strobe fires. Obviously, the light from the strobe is too late to help illuminate the shot. Has anyone figured out how to make these three pieces of equipment work together? OR BETTER YET - does anyone know if there is a way to connect the strobe directly to the camera housing which eliminates the slave? Thanks!!

 

[Dee]

Sorry...I can't help with Ikelite.

 

[alcina]

Write to Ike...he's on this board. He'll help if he can.

 

[ReyeR]

When I hit the shutter on the camera, the camera flashes and then there is probably a 1/2 second delay before the strobe fires. Obviously, the light from the strobe is too late to help illuminate the shot. Has anyone figured out how to make these three pieces of equipment work together? OR BETTER YET - does anyone know if there is a way to connect the strobe directly to the camera housing which eliminates the slave?

Ok, 1/2 a second is a very long time in the strobe and camera world. If there is indeed such a big delay that you can notice then there may be something wrong with the controller.
Test the strobe in manual mode (on land): Set the C4040 in M mode, select a shutterspeed of 1/125s and an f-stop of 5.6. Switch the DS-125 to 1/4 power. Aim the DS-125 at something about 5ft away and take a photo of it. Make sure you aim the sensor at and a little behind the camera's flash and you also have the camera's flash blocked. Are you getting reasonable illumination on the subject?

 

[DolphinSam]

Thanks for the message. OK I did the set up as you recommended and -- the strobe's flash was in sync with the camera flash. I'm thinking I might have had the slave aimed too far out from the camera flash, would that have caused the problem. You asked if I was getting reasonable illimunation? Yes, but it was from ambient light. Is there a way I can set this with a direct link from strobe to housing and eliminate the slave??

 

[coyotte]

I heard that you can't have a direct link between the strobe hand your camera and have a TTL measurement; for that, you need an Ikelite housing or an Olympus strobe

I use the Ikelite DS50 with the slave sensor and I enjoy it, good results
you have to aim at the built-in strobe and that's all

 

[DolphinSam]

Thanks for your suggestion and thanks to all that responded. This is a great forum!

 

[ReyeR]

Is there a way I can set this with a direct link from strobe to housing and eliminate the slave??

Not with the PT-010, unless you're into DIY and drilling holes in the housing. As far as I know the Ikelite housing for the C4040 doesn't have a bulkhead either but they might do a custom job for you. The L&M Tetra housing features two ports that accept Nikonos style bulkheads but the housing is quite expensive (http://www.uwimaging.com/products/photo_housings/tetra_3030/strobes.htm).

You asked if I was getting reasonable illimunation? Yes, but it was from ambient light.

You need to try the setup in low light to make out if the strobe is in sync with the camera. I should have made it clear - when I say 'reasonable illumination' I mean a reasonable exposure from the light of the DS-125 (not ambient light or the camera's flash).

I'm thinking I might have had the slave aimed too far out from the camera flash, would that have caused the problem.

Yes, in TTL you need to aim the sensor carefully (at and a little behind the camera's flash) as the sensor can get confused by the light of the strobe bouncing back from the subject.