Inon Z-XXX Prototype at Paris Dive Show

[Chris Ross]

1 hour ago, Nemrod said:

An Inon strobe defaults to pre-flash regardless of the magnet or the switch. That switch does nothing as long as sTTL is selected on the mode dial. I suppose there are cameras that have real time TTL strobe exposure with no pre-flash. That is interesting that there are two TTL and two M modes?

 

 

What INON does and it doesn't explain this very well is that it gives a somewhat brighter pre-flash so that the camera sees this and turns down the main flash as it thinks the subject is closer.  When the strobe fires for the main flash the ACC adjusts for a longer pulse than what the strobe on the camera delivers to get the right exposure.  ACC stands for  Advanced Cancel Circuit.

 

This may seem strange, but they do this so that the on camera strobe uses less battery power as it turned down for the main flash.  This is largely around dealing with compact cameras without manual mode  on their built in flash and small batteries which pretty much don't exist any more, even the TG-6 offers manual flash.  So effectively they don't have a pre-flash cancel.  If you push the button in on TTL it still works but you don't get the battery savings and the strobe exactly mimics the duration of both flashes.

 

The ACC button (aka bastard button) is required as the strobe will treat the single manual pulse as a pre-flash and won't fire the main flash as it doesn't receive the second signal.  The strobe fires when this happens and syncs properly but the exposure is way too low and seems to be about equivalent to about 2 on the power dial.

 

Just speculating that they may not include ACC on the new strobe and have just gone to a regular pre-flash cancel setup so the strobe doesn't fire on the pre-flash.

 

On the question of TTL, all digitals require pre-flash as far as I know as they need something to set flash power.   In the bad old days film cameras had TTL that shut off when they registered enough light reflecting off the film surface.  Apparently doesn't work reliably on digital sensors. 

[Nemrod]

2 hours ago, Dave_Hicks said:

Well, that's wrong.

 

Even the screen shot you shared instructs that you need to Push in the button to Position 1 when using Manual strobe power control on a non-preflash camera. Except for Olympus shooters, pretty much everyone is using Manual mode with these strobes.

 

 

I agree, I do not think I said any different. I was discussing the sTTL mode of the strobe. Of course, yes, if the strobe is selected to Manual mode then the pre-flash/no pre-flash switch becomes effectively active.

Edited April 5 by Nemrod

[Nemrod]

1 hour ago, Chris Ross said:

What INON does and it doesn't explain this very well is that it gives a somewhat brighter pre-flash so that the camera sees this and turns down the main flash as it thinks the subject is closer.  When the strobe fires for the main flash the ACC adjusts for a longer pulse than what the strobe on the camera delivers to get the right exposure.  ACC stands for  Advanced Cancel Circuit.

 

This may seem strange, but they do this so that the on camera strobe uses less battery power as it turned down for the main flash.  This is largely around dealing with compact cameras without manual mode  on their built in flash and small batteries which pretty much don't exist any more, even the TG-6 offers manual flash.  So effectively they don't have a pre-flash cancel.  If you push the button in on TTL it still works but you don't get the battery savings and the strobe exactly mimics the duration of both flashes.

 

The ACC button (aka bastard button) is required as the strobe will treat the single manual pulse as a pre-flash and won't fire the main flash as it doesn't receive the second signal.  The strobe fires when this happens and syncs properly but the exposure is way too low and seems to be about equivalent to about 2 on the power dial.

 

Just speculating that they may not include ACC on the new strobe and have just gone to a regular pre-flash cancel setup so the strobe doesn't fire on the pre-flash.

 

On the question of TTL, all digitals require pre-flash as far as I know as they need something to set flash power.   In the bad old days film cameras had TTL that shut off when they registered enough light reflecting off the film surface.  Apparently doesn't work reliably on digital sensors. 

 

Thank you for that explanation. I never could see that with several compacts I have tried with my  Inon strobes. 

 

 I had a film SLR that had off the film real time flash exposure, or at least I was thinking it did. But digital as you say, I cannot think of any. All digital use a pre-flash approach to TTL strobe exposure.

 

I think, as you suggest, that the two positions on the mode dial are possibly then ACC-sTTL/sTTL and thus no longer a need for the switch and again explains why there are a correspondingly two Manual modes?

Edited April 5 by Nemrod

[Chris Ross]

7 minutes ago, Nemrod said:

 

Thank you for that explanation. I never could see that with several compacts I have tried with my  Inon strobes. 

 

 I had a film SLR that had off the film real time flash exposure, or at least I was thinking it did. But digital as you say, I cannot think of any. All digital use a pre-flash approach to strobe exposure.

 

I think, as you suggest, that the two positions on the mode dial are possibly then ACC-sTTL/sTTL and thus no longer a need for the switch and again explains why there are a correspondingly two Manual modes?

I think it may be more like the existing S-TTL and S-TTL low which are there on the current dials of Z240 and Z330,  I can't see a reason for switching off ACC unless it doesn't work well with some cameras.  The fact the ACC switch has gone and been replaced by two manual modes suggests a regular manual mode and one which ignores the pre-flash.

[Nemrod]

I am sorry I have caused an argument. The sTTL mode when selected overrides the "bastard" switch /ACC cancel switch. The switch does nothing in sTTL (ACC) mode. When the strobe mode is selected to Manual mode the now active ACC switch must be properly selected for pre-flash or no pre-flash expected. The ACC switch does not select between two types of sTTL, one ACC and one not, but both utilizing the pre-flash for exposure control when the strobe is in sTTL mode. 

[Chris Ross]

1 hour ago, Nemrod said:

I am sorry I have caused an argument. The sTTL mode when selected overrides the "bastard" switch /ACC cancel switch. The switch does nothing in sTTL (ACC) mode. When the strobe mode is selected to Manual mode the now active ACC switch must be properly selected for pre-flash or no pre-flash expected. The ACC switch does not select between two types of sTTL, one ACC and one not, but both utilizing the pre-flash for exposure control when the strobe is in sTTL mode. 

OK I just dug out the manual and read it again and it made my brain hurt but, yes it (ACC) works in manual mode and switches off in TTL mode.  The INON strobe magnifies the pre-flash so the camera puts out a lower power main flash.  The fact that they have two manual modes now means either they have given up on ACC and have regular flash cancel or the ACC bastard switch has been combined into one of the manual modes.