? Synching 4600 with Slave Strobe

[bronccat]

Hi All

I bought a used Sealife DC310 last year and flooded it first dive (anybody want to buy a housing? LOL)

I generally am the "hall monitor" when we dive while my wife takes pictures but I would still like to have something handy for the occasional shot.

I have several Reefmaster SL 9601 strobes and last year I picked up a used Coolpix 4600 for 12 bucks on Ebay.

I was going to get a housing and pick up a few cheap spare cameras - but I am having an issue getting the flash to synch.

The 9601 is firing - but the picture (in the mirror) isn't showing it - only the flash on the 4600.

So, is there a trick to doing this or do I need a different camera?

Thanks!

 

[Larry C]

Is your flash an SL960, an SL961 or and SL960D? If it is an SL961 or and SL960D, you can set it to cancel the preflash signal from the digital camera. If it is an SL960 it is designed for a film camera and won't cancel the preflash. On some cameras, you can set the camera on "slave" flash and it won't preflash. The problem is that your strobe is firing in response to the first flash, but the camera is synchronized to a certain number of preflashes. This is how the camera knows how to set its automatic exposure settings in response to the flash and set the flash for the correct exposure.
If it is the digital strobe, use the preflash settings at various positions until it shows in the mirror. If it is the SL960 without preflash, look for a slave setting in your camera menu and try it with that.

 

[bronccat]

Thanks Larry.

It's a SL-96010.

When I set the camera to fill flash there is no visible pre-flash (versus setting to red eye setting)

The other setting I haven't tried is the slow synch setting - this might work.

There is no slave setting per se.

Thanks!

 

[Larry C]

The 96010 is a SL960 head. You'll have to find the right flash mode on your Canon to sync. You might also need the optical cable if you don't have it already.

 

[bronccat]

Thanks again Larry

I am going to try a few more things and where that takes me