wdeutsch

Just to follow up for anyone who encounters this in the future: I got brand new, quality 613 fibre cables (Thanks, Dave!), but they did not solve the problem. In trying to further diagnose, I can get the strobes to fire using the Nauticam triger, either with the strobe placed directly over the trigger (camera out of case) or directly over the window (camera in case), but the strobe is incredibly directionally sensitive when doing so. Only a slight tilt on any axis, and the strobe will not fire. No matter the orientation of the cable ends when using a cable, I cannot get the strobe to fire. So, I think it's likely a combo of the weak(ish) signal of the nauticam trigger and the poor pickup of the YS-D2 strobe that is the issue. For now, I'll just switch back to using sync cables. I'm debating whether to disassemble the nauticam trigger and attempt to replace the LED elements with brighter ones, try a compact flash from amazon with a reflector to direct it through the trigger windows in the case, or just let this project die. I'm no so eager to use fiber optics that I want to invest $$$ on a new trigger. Thanks, everyone, for the advice and help troubleshooting. Looks like just a bad combo of gear that may be unfixable. :(

I will be heading this direction courtesy of some cables that Dave is making up for me. I tried fresh cut ends and a single bushing end on one of the cables I have, and it still didn't work. So, those must not be up to snuff (brand unknown and not labelled). I'm not super psyched by the brightness of the little LEDs in the Nauticam flash trigger, so if the cables dave sends don't work, I'll look into one of the bright mini flashes on Amazon, and see how I can re-orient the flash element to be directed at the cable ports to get a brighter signal to the strobes.

Interesting ideas. I wondered about the double hole bushing (as that's what the current cable has), and will see if a single hole with better alignment works. I hadn't thought of cutting the current connectors off and "re-plumbing" with new ones to check alignment. That's a great idea as well. I'm getting a new set of better quality cables, but will try your ideas as well. If I can get these working, backups are never a bad thing to have. Thanks for the thoughts!

Aha! That's the test I couldnt figure out to do. And, it appears to be the cables. I can trigger the strobe using my super bright dive light, whether I do it directly, or through the cables. But, when I switch to a regular household LED flashlight, I can only trigger directly, but not through the cables. Same for the Nauticam flash trigger. So, I must be losing too much light between the housing flash and the strobe detector. Thanks for the help! Now, to see about building some new cables with the DIY info on here.

I actually tried both, and simultaneously too, since the fiber optic cable is built to run two strobes. But, to directly answer, I initially used the one under the black spring-loaded flap (closest to the ball) mount.

Hi all, I'm hoping for a bit of help diagnosing a strobe issue. The problem at hand is that I cannot get my strobes to fire using the fiberoptic cable along with the Nauticam flash triger on my Sony A7RII. Here's what I know so far: The strobes are functional (and brand new, never used). I can fire them using the electrical sync cables, and they will fire in TTL or manual mode as set on the strobe. So, it's not a defective strobe, and the camera is set correctly to trigger a flash on exposure. (I'm shooting in fill flash mode on the camera.) The nauticam flash triger is functional. I have put brand new batteries in it, and I can see the light flash through the housing port when I take a picture. The fiberoptic cables are functional (to at least some degree). I can see the light flash at the strobe end of the fiberoptic cable when I take a picture. All surfaces the light signal passes through are clean and dust free. I just washed them all carefully with 70% isopropyl and visually inspected them. I believe light is making it through to the strobe, as I can see a faint flash of light from the front of the strobe when I take an exposure. I beleive that to be from spillover from the fiberoptic cable signal. It is NOT from the strobe filament. So, what am I missing? Is there some setting/switch on the strobe body I need to enable for it to respond to the fiberoptic signal? Any chance the cables I have are just not transmitting enough light for the strobe to respond (and how could I test this)? Something else? Any ideas or things to test would be MUCH appreciated. For now, I can work with the sync cables, but would much prefer to be able to use fiberoptic cables for the slimmer profile and lower chance of introducing a leak into my housing or strobe bodies.

Nauticam focus gear for Sony 16-35 f4 ZA OSS. Tested in the pool and on a shallow (25' or so) dive. Works well with the Nauticam zoom gear co-installed. It's designed to work with the N100-N120 35.5mm adapter with gear knob. https://makerworld.com/en/models/3033166-nauticam-focus-gear-for-sony-16-35-f4-za-oss

You were absolutely on the right track, and that observation cracked the nut. It was just a tiny amount of dirt on the sensor that was messing things up. I got exactly the same response to cracking the back that you did, and kept trying to figure out how to reposition the lever or move the rubber eye guard on the viewfinder to allow better position. That's when I noticed a thin film of dust on the eye sensor. A quick clean-up with a Q-tip/isopropanol, and now the VF/LCD swich works perfectly. THANK YOU! Now I can assign the C3 button for something more useful. :)

Thanks for both replies. My apologies if I came off as dismissive in my first response. I was trying to acknowledge that solution and bend the discussion toward the lever function. Bending the lever restoring function is super interesting! I'll definitely look into that. I wonder if the paint actually is the key, as it doesn't make a ton of sense to have the shutter cover the VF when the switch is in LCD position, unless the reflectivity of the white paint is being used to trigger the "no eye present" signal. I'll try to adjust position and look into how that sensing system on the camera works so we can better fool it with the shutter.

That much I have been able to learn from various guides online, but it begs the question of why there is a VF/LCD lever with an attached shutter on the housing if it has no function, and if the only way to switch between the two is the use of a custom button assignment.

Sony/Nauticam users, I have a (dumb?) question for y'all about the LCD/ViewFinder switch on the housing. Namely: Does it actually have any function and can you really configure things to use that to switch between the two modes somehow? As it stands, I can't see any way to get that switch to function productively. In VF position, I can definitely use the viewfinder. In LCD position, it brings down the black shutter and blocks the viewfinder, but that doesn't seem to aid in activating the LCD at all? Quite the opposite, as if the camera is in auto VF/LCD mode, blocking the viewfinder triggers the auto sensor and turns off the LCD. So, is there a way to tweak the camera settings to make that switch functional? I've tried reading the online guides, but all I can find is info on assigning a custom button to bring up the viewfinder menu and then switching manually, but that doesn't use the switch on the housing. So, why have the switch if it is not at all functional??? As an aside, the easiest way I currently can find to switch between the two modes, is to simply turn off the camera and then turn it back on. It'll activate the LCD until the first time I look through/block the viewfinder at which point it turns off the LCD and then it stays off until I repeat the power cycle. If there's a better way, I"m all ears. Thanks for any info you can share!

I thought about that, as I have seen the posts by Dave Hicks about his experiments there. I'm weighing the options of saving a couple hundred bucks vs. flooding and killing a couple thousand bucks of gear if I mess up the print. 😬

Lol! I'm not even THAT far yet. I picked up a housing that came with ports/strobes/etc, but I don't have the lenses to fit the ports that came with it, or vice versa. So, as soon as I get that sorted, then I'll pester y'all with questions about strobes and TTL settings and all that. Brace yourselves! (I do have pretty good Google-fu, so that should limit things somewhat.) Thanks for the welcome, though. :)

Thanks for that legwork! That's good enough for me to hold off on this one.

Good points to consider. Thanks for raising them. 1) No zoom function to worry about. I'm OK (I think) using autofocus only. I can probably 3d print a modified focus gear down the road if I want that function. Worthy of consideration, though! 2) We're good there. The lens passes through the N100 end of the adapter with room to spare. 3) I would love clarification on this from anyone who knows for sure. This is part of what I'm trying to figure out.