Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

I have a Nikon D800, SB-910, SB-800, 1 cybersync transmitter, and 2 cybersync receivers. When I have both stobes off camera and the transmitter on the hot shoe of the D800, both strobes go off. However, when I have one strobe on the camera (with the transmitter connected to a sync port either on the strobe or camera) and a receiver connected to the remote strobe, the remote flash does not go off. A guy I know who uses the D600 doesn't have this problem. What am I doing wrong?

Set up the flashes off camera, and ensure the CST will trigger them via the hotshoe as you describe in the first example.

Remove the CST from the hotshoe, and connect it to the camera via the sync cord, but leave both flashes off camera. Do the flashes fire?

If not, then the sync cord is likely not fully connected or is faulty. First, be sure the cord is fully inserted into the CST. You should not be able to see any of the metal on the plug.

You can test the cord by unplugging the cord from the camera (leaving it plugged into the CST), and locating the pin and shield contacts on the PC connection of the cord (i.e. the pin and metal round contacts of the end you just pulled out of the camera). Using a bare metal object (paperclip, tip of a ball point pen, etc.), touch the shield and pin at the same time. This should trigger the remote flash. If not, try again and look the LED on the transmitter. Does it flash red? If not, then it is probably a bad cord.

If the CST does flash red, then there is a settings issue. Do both flashes have the remote functions turned off completely (i.e. no master, no slave)? If not, turn them off.