Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

I am using ultra compusene to control White Lighting lights.
Shooting a Canon 50D.
Lights will not fire when tethered to my laptop and the PC cord goes through the compusene.
The light will fire when the PC cord is connected directly to the sync plug of the light.
Suggestions??

We will need to look into this, as it has been a while since we offered this product. We will get back to you ASAP!

TS

CTC, did you push the shutter button in your 50D or button in your laptop?

From my experience, if I tethered my camera, and fire the shutter thru laptop/computer button (EOS Utility) none of my flash will ever fire (580EXII, old Sigma 430 EF, as well as my studio strobes). What I got are underexposed images or even black screen. But if I push the camera shutter button or wireless remote, everything work well, flashes fire, strobes fire too.

Maybe this will help you... :)

If you take the computer out of the set up and connect to the compuscene, do the lights fire at that point? This will establish if the computer is part of the problem.

TS

Thank you for the suggestion. I tried both the camera shutter button and the remote shutter button in the EOS Utility. It almost acts like there is one side of the PC connection is not connected (such as the negative side). One thing for sure is that the circuit is not being closed to fire the strobes. The 50D PC polarity is not an issue. I even tried different PC cords.

Yes the lights fire if I connect the camera directly to the compuscene.
I can leave the computer connected and then connect directly to one light and it will fire.
The light will fire by using the shutter button on the camera and the light will also fire using the remote shutter button in EOS utility.

What lights are you using? I would suspect there may be a voltage issue as the camera is connected to a computer. The Compuscene has about a 9V sync voltage, and if you are using UZ, X, Zeus or AB lights, they have a lower sync voltage (<6V), and therefore may not have the same issue. USB has a sync voltage of around 5V, and it could be a safety feature in the camera.

This system was designed long before digital cameras became accessible to the typical user, so we say with any certainty.

TS

I am using White Lighting ultra zap 800 and x1600.
Using the Compuscene in conjuction with the D50 the lights will fire. The will not fire only when connected to the PC.
I have a feeling that I know where this is going --- it ain't.
Thanks

Without having all materials to be sure, it does seem there is an incompatability.

TS

...just go to Menu > Live View function settings > Silent shoot. > make it Disable
Good luck