Monolights not firing correctly

[amie_cochran1]

<p>I am a beginner when it comes to lighting. I just purchased the complete 3 light 480 w/s srobe kit from Steve Kaeser and started playing with it today. What I'm noticing is that the light that I plug the remote trigger into fires fine, however the others that are supposed to slave off that one, only fire at a very low output. Even if I turn the output on them all the way up it still doesn't make a difference. If I plug the remote into another light, that one will fire at whatever setting it's on.<br>

Is this common for monolights?<br /></p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>No, that's not normal. If the light can be triggered at all, it should fire at whatever power setting you have it set to. Are you sure the other units <em>are </em>firing? Do these units have optical slave sensors/triggers built in, and are they enabled? Is there anything <em>else</em> plugged into those units (other than the power cord) when the radio receiver is not plugged into them?</p>

[amie_cochran1]

<p>Yes, the other units do fire, however very low. They have optical slave sensors built in and as far as I can tell they are enabled as long as the light itself it on. (This is a very beginner kit from what I can tell). There is nothing else plugged into the lights.<br>

For example: (I am working in my living room so the lights are not more then 4 feet apart, so distance shouldn't be a problem). I was playing with all three lights... two in the front with soft boxes, and on pointed at the backdrop with barn doors and a red filter. When I plug the remote sensor into one of the lights in the front (with soft box) you barely see the red on the backdrop. But when I plug the remote into the light aimed at the backdrop the whole thing lights op bright red. None of the settings on the lights were changed (all set to hightest power just for testing) and the only change was which light the remote was plugged into.<br>

Thanks for your help.</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>Do these strobes have modeling lights? Are you sure that you're not seeing red from the modeling light, through the gel, on the backdrop?</p>

[amie_cochran1]

<p>Yes they do have modeling lights, but they are not on. My problem is that if all three lights are set on full power, only the one that the remote is plugged into fires at full power. The others fire at a lower output. And it changes with which ever light the trigger is plugged into.</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>I do understand what you're saying. I'm just trying to establish why it seems that way. Can you <em>see</em> (with the naked eye) that that's the case, or is it only apparent in your recorded images?<br /><br />What shutter speed are you using?</p>

[er1]

<p>1. What shutter speed are you using?<br>

2. Have you taken light readings from each strobe separately?<br>

www.premo.smugmug.com</p>

[devon_mccarroll]

<p>Do you by chance have your popup flash up on your camera? I'm wondering if it's emitting a pre-flash that's optically triggering the other two heads in advance of the one with the receiver on it.</p>

[fullmetalphotograper]

<p>I have a dumb question, how much power are you dropping when when you switch setups. How many f/stops difference is your flash meter reading? I suspect like Devon if you are using an on camera flash or built in flash then your flashes are being triggered early or even firing twice back to back giving you an uneven exposure.</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>We haven't heard back from Amie yet, but the reason we're asking about shutter speed: it's possible that there's just enough lag in the way your radio trigger fires the first strobe, and the way that the optical slaves in turn fire, that your flash synch shutter speed it just a hair too fast for the slaves to be doing their thing (peak output) during the shutter's correct position over the sensor. See if you observe the same thing when shooting at, say, 1/60th as you do when at your normal fasted synch speed (which I'm guessing is around 1/250th, or 1/200th).</p>

[amie_cochran1]

<p>First let me say thanks for trying to help me out, I really appreciate it.<br>

When I first opened the kit, I set all the lights up on their stands and plugged them in (to make sure they worked). I turned all three on and test fired (via the test button on the back) and noticed even with the naked I that the one I test fired put out way more light then the other two, no matter which one I test fired it was the same. But to be sure what I was seeing was correct, I set up my camera and a remote trigger.<br>

I started using a light meter (the first time using that as well) and I kept getting different readings so I thought I was doing it wrong. I did not meter each individual light. I guess that would be the best way to tell if they were all putting out the same output. I will try that.<br>

I guess the main thing I wanted to know was that if you are using a monolight setup... all the lights should fire at whatever setting you put them on (lets say highest output) no matter if they are directly triggered or triggered by their optical slave. Because mine are definetly not.<br>

Thanks for all your help.</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>The triggering method should have nothing at all to do with the output, so if you really are seeing that and can reproduce it, there's something wrong. I'd talk to the manufacturer once you have some hard data.</p>

[amie_cochran1]

<p>This may just serve to show how much of an amatuer I am, but I was playing around with them some more and discovered that if I block out the windows in the living room (One wall of my living room is pretty much all glass so I have a lot of ambient light coming in) then all the lights fire correctly.<br>

I have experience using pack and head type lights, not so much with monolights. So now my question is, when you are using monolights, does the amount of ambient light play a role in how well the lights trigger? I.E. you couldn't use monolights on lets say the beach because of the sun? Will I only be able to use these lights in a room that is mostly dark to begin with?</p>

[hjoseph7]

"when you are using monolights, does the amount of ambient light play a role in how well the lights trigger? "

 

No, ambient light should not play a role on the power output of a strobe,l unless maybe that's the way you strobes were designed to work(but tell you the truth, I never heard of that) There is definately something fishy here . I would call the manufacturer and ask if this is how the strobes are suppsed to work. If not, return them immediately.