Norman lamps won't stop firing!

Hi, I'm totally new to studio lighting, so of course here's something I just can't figure out. I had a setup of

two Norman ML-400 monolights and was shooting with my Nikon D70 and (one) SB-600 flash. The flash

was mounted on my camera and not attached to the lights whatsoever. Everytime I took a photo and my

flash went off, the lamps automatically flashed as well. I don't want this to happen for every photo, and

can't seem to figure out how to turn this automatic firing off. Any suggestions?

The strobes have built in slaves, if you plug in a hardwired cord it turns off the slave inside the head. I have not shot with our Norman studio lights in a while, but this is how I remember them working. You could cover the sensors with black gaffers tape if you had to,but I do not think you do.

You will find that the Normans do not sync when tripped by the SB600, unless you use it (the SB600) in manual mode. It emits a preflash when used in TTL mode that triggers an optical slave in your studio strobes power pack. Others who have actually succeeded with this technique may advise you more precisely... t

Like Tom says. Shoot in manual mode on the flash (camera too for studio strobes). Either Meter the flash, or chimp it in.

 

The studio is about controlling light anyway, so TTL should really be avoided. Set a consistent exposure to begin with, then shoot away. Each frame from the shoot will match, vs. some too light, some too dark, some right, 1/2 not, etc.