Sekonic 308B won't fire my stobes via PC cable!!

[james_osborne]

Can anyone please help me troubleshoot this set-up?

 

I have an old Sekonic 308B light meter with PC socket, and a set of

just as old Prolinca 250 strobes. The Prolinca's have an odd (to me)

BNC style screw-in sync socket, and the sync cable that I got with the

lights terminateds at the other end in a standard PC plug.

 

The lights fire, the sync cable worked with and old SLR and the

lightmeter works generally, however when I connect the lightmeter via

the sync cable, I cannot get the strobes to fire. I have tried every

mode on the meter with no luck.

 

I just feel that this is a bit odd, the cable worked a few days ago

(however I now have nothing else to test it with since I am using my

D70 to fire the heads via the bult in flash). The lightmeter could be

broken, but it seems a bit unlikely...

 

Jim

[maxz]

Have you set the meter to "light measurement with cord"? (There should be a small arrow flash symbol with a "c" beside it). It sounds like you are in "flash light wireless mode" (the symbol in the upper left corner of the lcd is missing the "c"). Just press the mode selection button until you get the desired mode.

[garry edwards]

My guess is that it will be a problem either with the pc cord or its connection.

 

I use Elinchrom myself, made by the same people as Prolinca and sharing the same fittings. At 1 time, before radio tranceivers, I had 7 PC cords and often struggled to find 1 that actually worked. The problem is still there to a certain extent with radio because of bad connections between the receiver and the flash.

 

Your best cheap solution is probably in infra red trigger, which doesn't use an electrical connection to the flash

[steve_hovland]

In cordless mode, I place my 308 in the set

standing in a clear plastic box from the

office supply store. Press to start.

 

I then fire the setup using the button on one

of the flash units.

 

I often use a small flash on or near the

camera to trigger all the lights.