Stupid Olympus E-330/Ikelite Flash Tricks

On a nice southern ca dive this morning, my first macro shot was fine and all subsequent images were grossly overexposed, as though the flash TTL had completely failed and both flashes were completely firing on each shot.

I will spare you the details of all the efforts made, underwater and on the boat, to determine what had failed ... all to no avail.

Upon taking the housing apart later, I noticed that the Ikelite hot-shoe flash connector was not COMPLETELY pushed into the hot shoe. Once I pushed it in all the way, everything worked properly. It seems like the connector was making enough contact to fire the strobes, but not enough to provide the control or quenching signal.

Beware, kiddies ...

Rick Colman

I had the same thing happen with my e330 Ikelite kit. I always double check that the hot shoe is pushed all the way in. Once I realized this was an issue, I've never had it be a problem again, as it is quite clear now when it clicks all the way in. Now I always take a test picture before I get in the water to make sure everything's all sync'd up.