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Use of Quantary MS-1 as slave flash

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Jonah

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I'm wondering if someone can help me regarding the use of Quantaray MS-1.

I used to own a Nikon 950 and I used to trigger the quantarays with the flash from the camera. I now own a D30 and everytime I trigger the quantaray I "see" the flash go off when I'm taking the picture but the resulting photograph doesn't show the light coming from the quantaray flash. What should I change in my D30 settings? Does this problem have something to do with sync speed or 1st/2nd curtain settings??

Thanks.
 
Your D30 apparently has a pre-flash. THis is a common method of TTL flash control in digicams. Check in the Canon forum as I'm sure it can be turned off.
montero said:
I'm wondering if someone can help me regarding the use of Quantaray
MS-1.

I used to own a Nikon 950 and I used to trigger the quantarays with
the flash from the camera. I now own a D30 and everytime I trigger
the quantaray I "see" the flash go off when I'm taking the picture
but the resulting photograph doesn't show the light coming from the
quantaray flash. What should I change in my D30 settings? Does
this problem have something to do with sync speed or 1st/2nd
curtain settings??

Thanks.
Click to expand...
 
padeye said:
Your D30 apparently has a pre-flash. THis is a common method of
TTL flash control in digicams. Check in the Canon forum as I'm
sure it can be turned off.
montero wrote:
Click to expand...
Or possibly get a Wein digital peanut slave trigger or a Digi-flash slave flash, both of which can be told to fire the slave on the second flash.
 
Thanks for the replies. I had the pre-flash off since I got the camera. Anything else that might be causing it.

Thanks
 
Is your shutter set to sync speed or slower? 1/200 I think. You'll get a partial frame exposure if it's higher. Front or rear curtain sync should not matter but give it a try. Take a shot of the flashtube on the quantaray to make sure.
montero said:
Thanks for the replies. I had the pre-flash off since I got the
camera. Anything else that might be causing it.

Thanks
Click to expand...
 
... with most Canon digitals. This has been confirmed by me and few others. Even if you disabled the pre-flash, the camera is still emitting "something" that cause optical slaves to fire prematurely. It has nothing to do with Sync speed. On my Canon G2 with 550ex, I have to put my 550ex on "Manual" or disable ETTL to make it work correctly. I don't have a D30, so I do not know the correct way to turn off ETTL -- check out one of your Custom Functions. You should consult your manual or ask someone in the Canon SLR forum. After you manage to turn of ETTL or switch to TTL, I am very sure it should start working -- it did for me.

Regards,
--
Simon-Ph
 
I have a D30 and I don’t believe that you can turn the preflash off, in camera. You can trigger the lights using a 550Ex set to manual. Other manual flashes should work also.

Regards.
Greg
padeye said:
Your D30 apparently has a pre-flash. THis is a common method of
TTL flash control in digicams. Check in the Canon forum as I'm
sure it can be turned off.
Click to expand...
 
montero said:
I'm wondering if someone can help me regarding the use of Quantaray
MS-1.

I used to own a Nikon 950 and I used to trigger the quantarays with
the flash from the camera. I now own a D30 and everytime I trigger
the quantaray I "see" the flash go off when I'm taking the picture
but the resulting photograph doesn't show the light coming from the
quantaray flash. What should I change in my D30 settings? Does
this problem have something to do with sync speed or 1st/2nd
curtain settings??

Thanks.
Click to expand...
Hi. I have a d30 and use flash to trigger strobes, so I'm sure I can help but I do not understand your question, nor am I familiar with the quantaray ms-1. Please be more specific. I am assuming the quantarays are flashes? What are you using to trigger them, the built in flash on the d30?

I'll watch for an update.

Mike

BTW the 995 does not have a preflash system, and the d30 does, so I have a sneaky suspicion about that.
 
Get a digi-slave flash or a Metz 34 CS-2 digital slave flash which can be set to ignore the pre-flash from your camera's built-in flash. I have a Metz 34 CS-2 digital flash as a slave flash with my Canon PowerShot S30, and I never had any problem with it. See my example photos with the slave flash at

http://www.pbase.com/james_s30/slave_flash

Jaems
montero said:
I'm wondering if someone can help me regarding the use of Quantaray
MS-1.

I used to own a Nikon 950 and I used to trigger the quantarays with
the flash from the camera. I now own a D30 and everytime I trigger
the quantaray I "see" the flash go off when I'm taking the picture
but the resulting photograph doesn't show the light coming from the
quantaray flash. What should I change in my D30 settings? Does
this problem have something to do with sync speed or 1st/2nd
curtain settings??

Thanks.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for all the replies. I think everyone is right -- it must be the pre-flash of the D30. I thought I could turn it off but apparently one cannot.

thanks everyone.
 
Since you can not turn off the pre-flash of your D30, I guess the solution is to get an external/slave flash which can ignore the pre-flash.

Interestingly, the much cheaper Canon PowerShot S30/S40, when in full manual mode, does not have the pre-flash.

James
montero said:
Thanks for all the replies. I think everyone is right -- it must
be the pre-flash of the D30. I thought I could turn it off but
apparently one cannot.

thanks everyone.
Click to expand...
 
I bought the Quantaray MS-1 for use with my Canon S30. The pre-flash does not activate it (good sign). Both the S30 flash and the Quantaray activate simultaneously when I take the photo. But I still have a problem: all photos with the Quantaray appear darker than just the S30 alone.

I'm at a loss as to why this is happening.
 
John,

The preflash probably IS triggering your Quantaray. It's way too fast to see. Turn your Quantaray towards the camera and take a test shot. If the tube isn't lit in the picture, the Quantaray is triggering with the ETTL pre-flash.

If there's no way to put the built-in flash on the camera into full manual mode, then the preflash is there for good.

Wein makes "digital" slaves which can be set to ignore preflashes from digital SLRs. You could try that if you're determined to trigger from your built-in flash.

You could also get a cheap hotshoe mounted flash, set it to low power, and bounce it off the wall or ceiling to trigger your slave flashes.

Duncan C
-----------
john394 said:
I bought the Quantaray MS-1 for use with my Canon S30. The
pre-flash does not activate it (good sign). Both the S30 flash and
the Quantaray activate simultaneously when I take the photo. But I
still have a problem: all photos with the Quantaray appear darker
than just the S30 alone.

I'm at a loss as to why this is happening.
Click to expand...
 
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