Nikon P5000, Ike housing and DS-125 - Help

a friend of mine just bought the following combo:

- Nikon P5000

- Ike housing

- Ike DS-15 strobe

we put everything together but can't get the flash to fire

i checked and rechecked all connections, when the hotshoe is connected in the housing to the camera, the p5000 indicates that an external strobe is attached, but we can't get the flash to fire.

it has been charged, the pilot light works, but not having another housing to connect to i don't know if it's working. the serial number is 13260 (or at least that's what is imprinted inside the battery casing, and the cable is the blue synch cable ie the one that should work for the ike ittl converter on the housing.

i tried the flash on ttl or full does not make a difference.

i tried all the flash settings on the camera, ie auto, forced etc etc

i tried with the internal set to on or off but none of this makes a difference.

any one out there have any ideas (i will be contacting ikelite as well but you never know).

is there a switch to be set on the housing for the converter to work? or something that i am missing here?

any help is more than welcome...

/paul

Hi Paul,

I had a similar problem, but with my G7. After trying out just about everything possible I decided to go to a friend who is a great underwater photographer and dive master but even he could not figure anything out. As he has ikelite housing i even tried his sync cable, BUT nothing happened. He said that the problem has to be with the camera and not the housing or the sync cable. After scratching my head bald i finally figured out that the ikelite housing sync cable that goes on to the camera hot shoe was fitted the wrong way(reverse) !! Sometimes the most obvious is impossible to see

If that does not work take the camera with the housing to the place you got the camera from...and maybe the engineer there can figure this out cause i dont know the settings of NikonP5000. But normally if the housing sync cable is fitted on to the hotshoe and the external cable fitted to the strobe the flash should FIRE .

Good luck and hope you solve this problem.

Diggy

a friend of mine just bought the following combo:

- Nikon P5000

- Ike housing

- Ike DS-15 strobe

 

we put everything together but can't get the flash to fire

i checked and rechecked all connections, when the hotshoe is connected in the housing to the camera, the p5000 indicates that an external strobe is attached, but we can't get the flash to fire.

it has been charged, the pilot light works, but not having another housing to connect to i don't know if it's working. the serial number is 13260 (or at least that's what is imprinted inside the battery casing, and the cable is the blue synch cable ie the one that should work for the ike ittl converter on the housing.

 

i tried the flash on ttl or full does not make a difference.

i tried all the flash settings on the camera, ie auto, forced etc etc

i tried with the internal set to on or off but none of this makes a difference.

 

any one out there have any ideas (i will be contacting ikelite as well but you never know).

 

is there a switch to be set on the housing for the converter to work? or something that i am missing here?

 

any help is more than welcome...

 

/paul

thanks for the suggestions:)

i tried the cable both directions did not change anything. however, looking on the ike site there was a test to see of the flash fires, ie you need to short 2 of the connectiors, and it did not fire, so i am assuming there is an issue between the cable and the flash. so as soon as i get a response from ikelite, it's going back to them to see if they can fix the problem...

/paul

Hi Paul,

 

I had a similar problem, but with my G7. After trying out just about everything possible I decided to go to a friend who is a great underwater photographer and dive master but even he could not figure anything out. As he has ikelite housing i even tried his sync cable, BUT nothing happened. He said that the problem has to be with the camera and not the housing or the sync cable. After scratching my head bald i finally figured out that the ikelite housing sync cable that goes on to the camera hot shoe was fitted the wrong way(reverse) !! Sometimes the most obvious is impossible to see

 

If that does not work take the camera with the housing to the place you got the camera from...and maybe the engineer there can figure this out cause i dont know the settings of NikonP5000. But normally if the housing sync cable is fitted on to the hotshoe and the external cable fitted to the strobe the flash should FIRE .

 

Good luck and hope you solve this problem.

 

Diggy

Paul,

Just a few guesses, but try this first:

* DS51 on TTL

* Internal flash OFF in the menu choices

* Forced flash icon ON (is this one of Nikon's cameras with TWO lightning bolts showing on the LCD when set up correctly? One that would show internal flash OFF with a circle and crossed out lightning bolt, and one with a solid lightning bolt?)

* Have him put it in A aperture mode, maybe? Nikon iTTL cameras supposedly then adjust shutter speed in a range when they detect an iTTL flash is connected.

* Double check his serial number DS51 and that all 4 batteries re inserted correctly. Sometimes you can still get the strobe ready light on, but no firing with one inserted incorrectly.

* Double check when he closes the housing the hot shoe is not moving back ever so slightly and the hot shoe and Ikelite housing cord are not connected anymore.

Just some guesses, and ins't there anythign in the Nikon P500 instruction manual detailing using a hot shoe mounted flash? Listing specific menu settings and mode choices it supports?

Just thinking out loud

Good luck!

dhaas

jugglematt here and I think at DDN had been using this set up and you could also maybe email him for P5000 menu settings.

thanks for all those suggestions; i guess i made a typo above, it's the ds-125 not the ds-51.

i've been through the p5000 manual and it does not seem to contain much on external strobe, except that it can support one. the screen does show that there is an external strobe when the hotshoe is connected.

i tried with both internal flash on or off, neither of which triggers the ds 125. i checked the hotshoe connection and seems connected (as the display screen shows the external strobe icon on the menu). tried the P, M and A settings on the camera as well none of them seem to trigger the strobe.

again thanks to all for the suggestions

/paul

Paul,

 

Just a few guesses, but try this first:

 

* DS51 on TTL

 

* Internal flash OFF in the menu choices

 

* Forced flash icon ON (is this one of Nikon's cameras with TWO lightning bolts showing on the LCD when set up correctly? One that would show internal flash OFF with a circle and crossed out lightning bolt, and one with a solid lightning bolt?)

 

* Have him put it in A aperture mode, maybe? Nikon iTTL cameras supposedly then adjust shutter speed in a range when they detect an iTTL flash is connected.

 

* Double check his serial number DS51 and that all 4 batteries re inserted correctly. Sometimes you can still get the strobe ready light on, but no firing with one inserted incorrectly.

 

* Double check when he closes the housing the hot shoe is not moving back ever so slightly and the hot shoe and Ikelite housing cord are not connected anymore.

 

Just some guesses, and ins't there anythign in the Nikon P500 instruction manual detailing using a hot shoe mounted flash? Listing specific menu settings and mode choices it supports?

 

Just thinking out loud

 

Good luck!

 

dhaas

 

jugglematt here and I think at DDN had been using this set up and you could also maybe email him for P5000 menu settings.

Paul,

Sorry for the mix up on the strobe, as your original post says DS15 (???)

I have forwarded this link to one other person who might be able to provide assistance.

Check back in the morning! (Or maybe your afternoon on Monday, August 6th.....)

dhaas

again thanks to all for the suggestions

 

/paul

One other thing to try - turn the camera on first THEN the strobe if you have not tried that combination