Olympus TG-4 / PT-056 / UFL-3 Flash Problem

Hello.

I do not have an Olympus UFL-3 in front of me, so I might not be completely accurate here.

I believe on that strobe that there are two places that you can plug in the fibre optic.   First try the 'other' place.  I think you want to plug the fiber optic cable into the black receptical.   Then try to fire the flash.

If that does not make any difference:

The best way to figure out what is going wrong, would be to borrow a 'good' fiber optic.   I know that can be tough to do.

First question;    When you have the camera in the housing and shoot something, you DO see the flash on the diffuser panel, correct?   Just want to be sure that I understand your situation.

Try this-  remove the fiber optic cable from the housing and from the strobe.   Hold the strobe right up to the housing so that the light sensor is up against the white flash diffuser of the housing if you can.   (The strobe will be aiming the opposite way from the camera.)

Fire the flash in your TG-4; did the strobe fire?    If so, then I would really want to try a 'better' fiber optic cable.   If it did not flash, then that test was 'inconclusive'.

Please let us know how it goes.

When you are ready to use two strobes with your setup there are quite a few options available.

The simplest way is to leave your one-strobe setup as is, then physically mount your 2nd strobe.  Then run a fiber optic from the first strobe to the second (the 2nd will slave from the 1st.).   You may find that TTL does not work well in this case, but it should work for manual.

When you get your seocnd strobe, buy the 2nd fiber optic cable with no connector on one end.   Now remove the connector from your 1st fiber optic and you can insert the 'camera end' of BOTH fiber optic cables into this, and plug this into your fiber optic receptical on your camera housing.     You can also use this double hole bush which accomplishes the same thing; advantage is that you can quickly remove one cable because it is only a friction fit, the disadvantage is that it is only  a friction fit.

Hello.. new to the group and just now getting more serious about my pictures.. I have the TG4 and PT-056.. just bought the UFL-3 Underwater strobe and small arm..

I was told when I purchased the strobe it was wireless and didnt need the optic cable. I have looked and cant find anything on the Olympus site about this.. I leave for Tiger beach in two weeks and need to get myself together.. thank you in advance..

liz..

The UFL-3 is wireless, but it is not cableless. I believe you will have to get a proper fiber optic cable.

Inon does make a 'wireless' kit for their strobes. They have a different style of slave-sensor; their 'wireless kit' is basically a mirror for the sensor and a mirror (if necessary) for the camera flash. Yes, it works, but it is definitely not a convenience. Every time you re-aim or move the strobe, you might be misaligning the mirrors.

Fiber-optics designed for underwater use can not be damaged by water.  And they do not wear out, so unless you lose it or lend it to someone, it will last a lifetime.  They are very reliable method of triggering your strobe(s).

Thank you for the response.. I am agian new to the comapatiblity of what works with what.. I have the Tg4/UFL-3/proper fiber optic cable/and PT-056 cable.. unfortunately I can't get the strobe to fire as the other post mentions from another diver.. any suggestions it says the light will turn red, that said it turns a slight yellow reddish bit not red.??

ok... after blinding my husband I found that you have to move the knob all the way to the manual mode.... lord have mercy.. I work for a global manufacture and for some reason we as manufactures tend to be chanllenged how to manuals and clear wasy to use inter-chang able products..

thank you for the suport. I know I will have more questions..

Manual mode, indeed!
I'm kind of blind now too, but it was worth it
It's kind of confusing to have two positions marked RC A and RC B which do not seem to be working with the RC function of the camera. But then "Manual" does the trick.

karin-74 wrote:

Manual mode, indeed!
I'm kind of blind now too, but it was worth it
It's kind of confusing to have two positions marked RC A and RC B which do not seem to be working with the RC function of the camera. But then "Manual" does the trick.

i think this topic has been several years already, but i'll reply anyway.  The mode actually works. RC A, RC B, and manual mode all work if you get the camera setting correctly. To get RC A/B to work, you need to turn RC on. Then set the flash on the camera group A and B (with channel 1) with either TTL mode or M mode.  To use the manual mode, RC needs to be off. Then the flash on the camera needs to be set to "manual" (not fill-in). Then you can adjust the GN on the strobe using the dial know.  Because Oly camera has pre-flash, if you don't use "manual", but use fill-in instead (and strobe is set to manual knob), olympus camera will pre-flash and then flash, causing the camera to miss the strobe.