D300 won't trigger Light Kit. HELP!

[savitri_wilder]

<p>I've had my light kit (Calumet 200) for almost a year now. It's been working but a few weeks ago I hooked it up to my camera, to the front of my camera with the cable that came with it, and it won't trigger it anymore. The light kit turns on. I can test it and all that and my on body flash still works but no light from the kit when I try to take a photograph.</p>

<p>I don't use it much but it's getting darker here in the UK and it'd be nice if I can take some product pics with it for some work I'm doing.</p>

<p>Is there anything I need to check on the camera?</p>

<p>I haven't tried a new cable to see if that's the problem. I can go to a shop this weekend and see if I can hook it up to another light kit. I only have one. To see if it's the connector on the camera. I hope not cause I'm not sure where to take it in the UK with my US insurance (USAF in the UK for a few years).</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

[savitri_wilder]

<p>Well, I figured it out. I messed around with the bracket settings. The e3, built-in flash mode, was set to -- on the Commander mode. I changed it to TTL and then to M and used each settings with and without the built-in flash and that exercise triggered my light strobe again. I set the Commander mode back to -- and it's now working as usual. Is that something that happens now and then?</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>The commander mode is strictly for use with Nikon's CLS system. Your studio strobes won't understand it. Just leave your pop-up flash down, and stick with the PC cable ... OR, if you're looking to optically trigger the Calumet unit, set the pop-up flash to manual only. NOT in the commander mode ... turn that off, and just set the pop-up to a very low power, like 1/64th, or as low as you can set it and still get the Calumet to optically slave. It's either use the cable (with the pop-up not in use), or use the pop-up on manual mode only.<br /><br />You may have also been having problems with a shutter speed that was over your flash sync speed. Be sure you're at or below 1/250th or 1/200th.</p>

[savitri_wilder]

<p>Matt, thanks for the tip (I love your work, btw)! I think it was the manual mode that did it. I was just pushing buttons based on the closest thing to what might be able to trigger an external light. It was luck but good to know exactly what can trigger a studio light!! I set everything back to how it was on the e3 area.</p>

<p>Yes, thought maybe it was the shutter but it wasn't that thus me entering the menu. Hopefully this will not happen again and if it does I'll go straight to the manual mode of the pop-up. Thanks again!</p>

[BernardMiller]

<p>Hi, Savitri! I'm also an American (nearly got my Brit citizenship now) living in the the UK--South London--and shooting a D300, and I've got one of those Calumet lights, too. Along with a beastly but very useful Speedotron kit I hauled over here from Atlanta!</p>

<p>You might look at getting a Wein SafeSync at some point. It mounts in your hot shoe and converts it to work with your sync cord--it allegedly protects your camera's electronics from voltage surges from the flash unit. The Calumet head should be pretty safe, but supposedly over time using the camera with studio flashes can degrade things inside the camera a bit, and the SafeSync guards against that.</p>

<p>If you're in the London area, feel free to give me a shout. I share a studio with a young fellow from East London whom I really think is going to be the David Bailey of the next generation; we have loads of fun and get to work with some really interesting folks. 'Twould be great to have a cup of coffee with a fellow Yank photographer, and you might fancy a look at our setup, which we let friends use regularly.</p>

<p>Cheers, and all the best!</p>