weird problem with Inon Z240s on Subal ND2

On the Wetpixel Indo trip I borrowed two Inon Z240 strobes from Craig to try them out. Before I even got in the water I noticed a problem. I had no manual control. No matter what setting I used (left dial on M, right dial on any power setting) I was getting some sort of pre-flash only, that was always the same strength. I tried it on Julie's housing as well, same problem. She's also got an ND2 (for D2X camera). Craig and I could not figure out what was going on.

We then tried it on someone elses subal housing (I forgot what camera it was, I believe a Canon) and it worked fine. The main difference was that in my bulkhead all the pins except for the trigger pin are removed. His pins were all still attached. I had 1 extra pin, so I tried using 2 pins in every position, but no luck. So I either need more than 2 pins, or something fishy is going on.

Anyone have any idea what could be going on? You'd think that manual is manual, period. No need for anything but a trigger signal right (well, and ground of course) ?

My Sea&Sea YS110s work fine, and so did my YS90DXs.

I had a similar problem when I upgraded from a 20D in a Subal housing to a 40D in a Subal housing. I sorted it myself after a bit of trial and error and the problem was with the configuration of the Subal Bulkhead Distribution Circuit Board. I had to change the configuration to manual mode with the new housing to get the Z240's to work in manual mode wtih the 40D.

Fortunately Reef Photo and Video have page on their web site now that tells you what to do:

http://reefphoto.com/tt/index.php?action=kb&article=22

I believe the problem is dependent on what camera you are using too. I never had a problem with the 20D and Z240's in the old housing even though it was configured in TTL mode and the bulkhead distribution board in both housings were identical.

I dont think thats it. We tried moving the connector to the 3 pin one, no change. But it wouldnt matter anyways. I have removed the pins in the hotshoe connector. All that is currently connected is ground and the trigger pin. So it doesnt matter what those 2 female plugs do right?

Hi Cor,

I have used INONs extensively with the D2X with just two pins connected. No problem. Did you try the D2X with the INONs through the circuitry of the Canon housing? Or the Canon firing the INONs through your D2X housing's wiring?

That would allow you to determine whether it was the camera or the housing wiring.

Alex

With 2 pins you mean ground and trigger? Thats what I have. It triggers a flash, but that flash is some weird half dump thats always the same no matter what setting. I have not tried any mixing of wiring between the Canon/Nikon housings. Julie's housing is exactly as delivered by factory (it came with all pins removed in the hotshoe connector except for the trigger). Mine I changed myself, but it's the same. You know why Craig knows the Z240s well, and he didnt understand it either.

You're right though, I should have just connected his Canon camera to the hotshoe. Dammit. Im really interested in the Z240s, and was disappointed to see this problem. It's just so bizarre, and it seems a systematic problem because it happens with both my ND2/D2X as wel as Julie's ND2/D2X, so i dont think it's some kind of damage to either of them. That would be too much coincidence I think.

You need to tell the strobe what kind of camera you are using...

If the ACC Circuit Switch is in the up position (where craig would have had it) you'll only get a very small output no matter the dial setting. Pushing the magnet down enables 13 manual power settings and external auto with manual slr systems.

Hmm, we did try to set that ACC switch both ways. Craig didnt know what it was for, but we tried it anyways. Maybe we didnt do that right, as the described behavior on your website does seem to be what happens. What i remember from our tests is that merely the intensity of the flash changed, but the manual switch didnt do anything either way. (craig had the dial type switch).

Hi, I'm almost sure that it's the ACC switch.

I just got two new Z-240 strobes with me now, and in the past week I have carried out extensive testing on their operation with my Subal ND700. Here are my findings:

With The ACC switch in the "down" position you got full manual control with 12 EV steps as described in the manual.

But when I kept the ACC switch in the "up" position, the flash power stayed constant and the only variable I can control is the aperture of my camera.

I think the original Inon User Manual isn't very clear on this point. Indeed I tried to email Inon Japan about this but no reply was obtained yet.

I suspect that when the ACC switch is in the "up" position, the strobe is led to believe that your camera has a pre-flash and therefore limit the strobe output to a constant maximum in order to avoid over-exposure. (something Inon has confusingly called "manual+TTL auto"??) That's why the manual switch can no longer control the amount of output in that situation.

Yeah, thats exactly what happened. The weird thing is that im quite positive we tried with the switch in both positions. Maybe we didnt do it right after all. We didnt really know what it was for so we were just experimenting.

Im very interested in the Z240s. They seem to be the best option right now for a medium powered strobe. Im sick and tired of the YS110s insanely slow recycle. The Ike 160s could work, but im leaning towards the Z240s because they take regular AAs.

Reef Photo & Video have a good article in their knowledge base on the various controls and settings for Inon strobes:

Selecting the proper settings for INON strobes

What the article doesn't say is that if you using them in manual mode with an electric sync cord, ACC must be disabled.

Ryan is right, I had it initially up and I didn't remember it's exact function. We did try it both ways though.

With preflash enabled (the wrong way) all we got was a weak preflash. When we set the switch the other way, we got a stronger flash that was not controllable through the manual power control. Strange thing is, one of the strobes tested I used to use with the Subal D2x. In my housing I manually removed pins from the bulkhead because they shipped all present. That's why we assumed it was a bulkhead issue. It seems to me, though, that all you need is the trigger to get manual.

I guess it's possible we simply screwed up our testing. Doesn't seem right though.