Problem with Pocket Wizards - camera isn't triggering it

[kevin_swan1]

<p>Hey guys,</p>

<p>I did a quick search, but couldn't find anywhere where this has already been asked. I just bought a pair of Pocket Wizards, and I have a question.</p>

<p>I want to be able to use an on-camera flash, together with an off-camera flash. I mounted a flash onto my camera's hot shoe. I then connected Pocket Wizard #1 to my camera's PC port. I took a second flash and connected the other Pocket Wizard to it. I turned everything on, and it works like a charm.</p>

<p>However, here's where I'm having a problem. If I turn off the flash on my camera's hot shoe, it appears that the camera is not sending the "flash" signal to its PC port (where Pocket Wizard #1 would send the signal to Pocket Wizard #2). It seems that if the camera doesn't detect a flash in its hotshoe, it doesn't send the "flash" signal to its PC port.</p>

<p>My questions are: 1) am I correctly interpreting what's happening here? and 2) Is there any way around this problem? I'm using a Nikon D300 with 2 SB-900's. Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks.</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>Can you mention more about how you have the exposure set up (especially shutter speed), and how the SB-900 in the hot shoe is set up (TTL? Manual?).</p>

[erwin paul photography]

<p>Real quick, I ran into a situation similar while back. I purchased 3 PW's new and I could not get to trigger it with my, Canon, camera.</p>

<p>Long story short, it turned out one of the PW's was bad. Swapping with one of the other PW's made it work. The bad PW does not work as a transmitter, but is okay as a receiver.</p>

<p>I have not much time now, but you might wanna check that out, just to determine if they fine, which they should be.</p>

<p>Erwin</p>

[kevin_swan1]

<p>Matt,</p>

<p>I have both flashes set to Manual, and the camera also set to Manual exposure. I set the aperture to 2.8 and set the shutter speed to around 1/10th (I was testing this indoors tonight).</p>

<p>Erwin,</p>

<p>I believe the Pocket Wizards are fine. They're brand-new, and when I press the "Test" button, the remote flash fires fine. Also, if I turn on the flash in the hotshoe, the remote flash triggers fine. It is only when I turn *off* the flash in the hotshoe that the remote flash refuses to fire. Like I said, it's behaving like if the camera doesn't detect an active flash in the hotshoe, then it's not sending the "Flash" trigger through the PC port (where the Pocket Wizard would relay it to the remote Pocket Wizard and flash).</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>How does it behave when you remove the SB-900 from the hot shoe? And, how does it behave when you put the transmitting PW in the hot shoe? Just reducing variables, here.</p>

[pete_s.]

<p>Try hooking up the PW to the SB900 pc sync instead of the camera.</p>

[picturesque]

<p>Does the same thing happen when you swap the two PWs?</p>

[kevin_swan1]

<p>OK, this is weird - I set everything up again tonight to try some of your suggestions, and it worked. The exact same configuration I had when I was first having the problem, only now it works. I'll keep an eye on this and see if I ever encounter the problem again. Thanks for your input guys,</p>

<p>Kevin.</p>

[picturesque]

<p>It's a long shot, but check your PC socket on the camera to see if it has 'dead spots'. Mine does. If the PC tip turns on the PC socket, you might have hit a deal spot by coincidence.</p>