PC Socket on D300 with Flash in Hotshoe?

[jasonsmith]

Guys

I only recently got my D200 and have shot one wedding with it. I love the

camera I might add - a significant improvement over my D200.

 

During the wedding I had a Hotshoe mounted SB800 but I also attached a pocket

wizard to the top of the flash which I intended to fire from the cameras PC

Socket. This didnt seem to work so wondering if the D300 wont fire the PC

terminal when a flash is mounted in the Hotshoe. I have looked through the

whopping 300 page manual but cant find any reference to this. Even when firing

the PW from the SB800 PC Socket this seemed intermittent. Does any one know if

this is the case with the D300

[doccamera]

I use a Stroboframe Quickflip 35 and Pro-T with a couple of extra 1/4 inch 20 holes drilled into the upper arm so I can mount my flash on an SC-17 or SC-29 TTL extension cord in the middle of the cross bar. Then I mount the Pocket Wizard or JTL Trigger on the Stroboframe Hot shoe adapter that comes with the unit, in an adjacent hole that I drilled. I then attach the wireless trigger Directly to the side of the SB-800 (flash synch outlet and TTL extension outlet are under the rubber cover on the left side of the flash).

I never have a problenm with missed flashes that way.

I checked the D300 repair manual and I can't find any reason why you are experiencing this issue.I would however check the connecting cord you are using in the configuration above and see if you experience the same problem. If it has the same symptoms, it is the pc cord or the connector on your Pocket Wizard that is bad.

[doccamera]

Here is a photo of my setup. Same for any flash bracket made. It only takes drilling a few well-placed sloppy 1/4 inch holes in a couple of places on an aluminum bracket and a couple of 1/4 inch 20 short bolts or accessory handles.

[frank_skomial]

Jason,

 

I guess you mean "I recently got my D300" ?

 

I got D300 and returned it after 1 week of testing. If was not that much better over my D200. I did not get to testing flash on the D300.

 

However, the D200 PC socket of the side of the camera, and the SB-800 side PC sync socket, both trigger studio flashes 100 % of the time.

 

I cannot imagine why would "D300 wont fire the PC terminal when a flash is mounted in the Hotshoe".

 

D200 does it perfectly well all the time, so something must be wrong with your D300. This cannot be D300 "improvement" over D200.

[tom_luongo1]

Page 363 says not to use the sync terminal when using rear-curtain sync with a flash unit on the hot shoe. Can't imagine why that's the case but it is also a limitation of the D200.

 

By the way, the "Getting to know the camera" diagram near the beginning of the manual is much better than the index for finding these things.

[frank_skomial]

With D200 tested in the REAR shutter sync mode, when flash synchronization is set to REAR curtain, there are 3 cases:

 

1. No internal flash and no hot shoe mounted flash used. Studio strobe connected to the PC sync socket on D200: Fires OK all the time.

 

2. When built-in flash is poped up, (of couse there is nothing in hot shoe), the Studio strobe connected to the side socket on D200 does not fire.

 

3. SB-800 in the hot shoe, (of course built-in flash not used), the studio flash connected to the side PC socket on D200 body fires OK.

 

 

So, if D300 does not behave like D200 in the case 3. you have discovered a "new" feature of D300, in the REAR shutter curtain synchronization.

[tom_luongo1]

I didn't test this. I just read the manuals. They say don't use the sync terminal with a flash on the hot shoe but they don't say why.

 

D300 - p. 363

D200 - p. 180

 

If it does work, then you're the one who has discovered a new feature. Either that or you've invalidated your warranty. ;-)