Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

I'm having a problem with my flash setup. It's inconsistent

Equipment:
Canon 7D
Alien bee b800
Cyber sync cst transmitter set to ch1
Cyber sync csr + receiver set to ch1 and frequency 1

Problems noticed:
-inconsistent flashes even with trying two new batteries
-receiver doesn't allow model light to be adjusted OR flash output to be adjusted
-430ex2 works consistently every time so it's not cameras hot shoe
-flash fires randomly at times while handling the camera.

I've tried reseating the batteries and hitting the test button on transmitter it blinks red even with new Duracell batteries. Sometimes it flashes sometimes it doesn't. This killed me on a photo shoot the other day and I needs get this solved ASAP any help is appreciated.


-joe Liberto

Do you have a vertical blue bar under channel 1 on the Cyber Commander graph? If not blue, do you have an outline? If you have either one, at the very bottom, do you have a white (matches the text in the corners) or gray (matches the lines in the graph) bar under the green bar when CH1 is selected?

If you have a white dash and a vertical outline but no blue bar, press up and hold for several seconds (lets just say 10 seconds for thouroughness). The blue bar should appear and start to rise.

If you have an empty vertical bar and a gray dash, make sure the CC is on ALL or CH1 and not GRP. If not on GRP, then the light is in standyby mode.

If you have no vertical bar or outline at all, then the light needs to be defined.

If you have a blue bar, and noneo f the conditions above apply, try a different frequency (say....11) ansd ee if you have any better luck.

Let me know which circumstnace applies, and I can assist further.

I don't have a cyber commander

Then, by this statement:



Do you mean with the receiver connected, adjusting the slider on the back panel does not result in a change in output of the flash or model lamp?

Or do you mean it cannot be adjusted remotely?

If it is cannot be adjusted remotely, then you need the Cyber Commander to do that.

If you mean the slider has no effect, then I suspect you have the telephone style cord connected. If this is the case, then your results are to be expected. The receiver is expecting an input to translate through the telephone jack to the light, which overrides the back panel slider. The Cyber Commander is what gives this signal. In its absence, the receiver is only going on what is stored in its memory.

The remote needs to be connected via the 1/8 to 1/8" round sync jack (only). When doing so, the light will respond to the adjustments made directly to the back panel.

Oh ok awesome, but what about the flash inconsistent flash operation? That's really my problem

When using the telephone cords with no definitions going through the telephone cord, it is possible the light will fire at some times, but not at others. See if the consistency improves with the regular cords, and if not, we will work from there.

If a Cyber Commander is involved, the inconsistency is not a problem.

Thank you very much ill test it out tomorrow, and ill let you know