Ikelite DS50 woes!!

I have 2 ds50's mounted on my ike 20d setup and for the life of me I cant get ttl or maual settings to work???

In ttl mode the first pic is not exposed at all (way under, its almost as if the strobe is firing before/after the shutter fires) and then the next shot seems to be almost properly exposed?? Its basically every other shot the flash syncs with the shutter. I have tried the camera on program ae as well as manual modes with the same result.

If I go manual then the strobes are stuck at full power all the time and the only way to control the exposure is by adjusting the aperature.

I have the little ttl switch on the bottom of the camera tray set to the ds50 setting and I have the strobes in TTL mode and the correct sync cable with the blue band.. Oh and the camera is on first curtain sync as well.

The strobe serial numbers are in the 75000 range so I know (at least I think they are) the models that include the ttl stuff built in.

Anyone got any idea's?

Serial number should be fine.

I've had a similar problem, (there the exposed shot recieved a full flash). I send the whole rig for checkup. After that, the problem reoccurred with one strobe (probably a loose connection in repair). Both times Ikelite fixed it for free (cant make any promises though, I am not them).

Does it occur with both strobes, aka does it help if you switch the cord ends ?

Gerard

What mode is the camera in? Tv? Av? P? The 20D defaults to ambient lighting in certain modes (Av) which will require setting an advanced setting in the menus, you set force it to use a given shutter speed of 1/250.

It doesnt matter what mode its in and it happens with both strobes.

Shouldnt I be able to control the strobes maually though? I can see no difference in the light output with the housing set to manual and the power set to full or to the lowest setting?? Im judging this by the histogram as its the same at full and at the lowest setting on the housing.

Phil

here are pics to help explain what I mean.

Here is the fist pic taken with TTL.

Here is the second shot with ttl.

The next shot I take will be like the first shot and then the next will be like the second shot, and so on.

Here is with manual settings:

First shot at full Power:

And here is with the lowest power setting:

Any ideas??

It sounds like it's the housing control that is at fault. The housing circuitry also controls the manual settings.

The circuitry is powered only by the main strobe (on the lead without the red marking), so make sure that has plenty of battery power. Thats why I asked if you switched strobes.

Still, the dark / good alternating sounds very familiar. :

Check out my descriptions when the problem developed :

flooded strobe (+ a broken cord)

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=18873&hl=

stranger problems

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=20223&hl=

so although I had some recurring problems and for me shipping is (also) quite expensive, I would suggest shipping the entire system (strobes, cords and housing back) to Ikelite for a checkover.

feel free to refer to my problems as well, I can PM you the repair numbers.

Gerard

A Huge Thanks to Ikelite on this one.. I sent myhousing, strobes and cable in and they got to ikelite on the first of november.. They fixed the problem and Ill have my housing back on the 9th! it doesnt get much better than that... I have never seen customer service like this before.. Makes me glad I went with ikelite instead of some of the other companies housings I have had in the past.

Phil

why am i not surprised by the description of Ikelite service here.

I'm glad it worked out.....