STTL problems

Greetings all

I am hoping some one can shed some light on a problem I am having with STTL. settings on my strobes. I have two INONs, a Z240 and a 2000, that I use with my Nikon D50 in a sea & sea housing. Recently, I am not able to use the TTL function on the strobes because the strobes flash but my Nikon picks up nothing. There sensor is black as if the lens cap is till on. If I set the strobes to manual or low STTL then everything works fine. I have checked the sync chords and all other possibilities that I can think of, but it looks like the STTL setting is blocking the connection between the strobes and camera. If anyone has had a similar thing happen, please help me out.

Many thanks

Puffin

Are you using electrical for the Z-240 and optical for the D-2000 or optical cable connection for both?

You may have changed the Advanced Cancel Circuit, try to invert this seeting and try again.

Here a article about the settings: http://reefphoto.com/tt/index.php?action=kb&article=7

Chris

Hi Chris

Thanks for the reply. I am using sync chords to connect my strobes. I have tried all combinations to get the TTL to work, but after reading that article I will double check everything again.

Cheers

Puffin

So I rushed home yesterday to test my strobes again, this time turning the Advanced cancel circuit on and off. I tried it many times but alas, I still cannot get my STTL setting to work. My camera records nothing on that setting. Oddly enough it works when I turn the strobes onto STTL-low. I have no idea what the problem is. I have had the strobes for 4 years and this is the first time this has happened.

Any advice or suggestions on what else I can try will be GREATLY appreciated.

STTL ONLY works with fibre optic sync cords using the camera's inbuilt flash to trigger the strobe. If you're using electric sync cords STTL isn't an option, you'll have to shoot manual or get a third party TTL converter (eg Heinrichs Weikamp).

Thanks for the comments on STTL but it still doesn't make any sense. I have been shooting on a variety of strobe settings including STTL for the last 4 years with my set up and only 2 weeks ago did it decide to pack up. STTL may not have been working as it should (i.e STTL) with my electrical sync chords but at least there was a connection between my camera and the strobes on that setting that worked pretty well most times. Now its just black each time I take a photo.

On the subject of STTL only working on fibre optic cables, I thought that fibre optic cables were just for triggering the strobe and couldn't actually communicate between the strobes and camera i.e communicate how much light is necessary for the subject. I thought that electrical sync chords were the only way to do STTL because they allow the camera and strobe to 'talk' where as fibre optics just sends off a message to fire strobe now. Well I am probably showing my lack of knowledge and blond roots, but I guess thats how you learn.

Thanks for all the help and comments so far.

puffin,

i discovered some days ago in a tread on Scubaboard that my "belive" about and how s-ttl works where completly wrong. The Inon strobes have a very sophisticated "software" to fool the camera and this works almost perfectly once you have figured out what settings to use to get the pictures perfectly exposed. I bought my Ikelite housing and the DS-125 strobe because i was attracted by the e-ttl function thinking that this will provide a P&S solution to get pictures where speed is cruical. Unfortunatly i am not very satisfied with it as i get too much pictures overexposed and mostly i have to use the dial to regulate the power of the strobe, what is not really the sense of TTL.

To make my "frustration" complete my housing don't allow the flash to pop up fully open, so he will not fire, so no optical slave strobe solution...

When i am back in Sardinia, having more time, better viz and no surge i will invest some time to verify this issue(s) regarding the Ikelite e-TTL "overexposing".

Here a extensive explanation about the functions of the Inon Strobes:

http://wetpixel.com/i.php/full/inon-d-2000...al-explanation/

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/strobes-l...tting-sttl.html

Here another tread regarding Inon strobes in a Ikelite housing:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/underwate...on-strobes.html

Chris

Thanks for the comments on STTL but it still doesn't make any sense. I have been shooting on a variety of strobe settings including STTL for the last 4 years with my set up and only 2 weeks ago did it decide to pack up. STTL may not have been working as it should (i.e STTL) with my electrical sync chords but at least there was a connection between my camera and the strobes on that setting that worked pretty well most times. Now its just black each time I take a photo.

 

On the subject of STTL only working on fibre optic cables, I thought that fibre optic cables were just for triggering the strobe and couldn't actually communicate between the strobes and camera i.e communicate how much light is necessary for the subject. I thought that electrical sync chords were the only way to do STTL because they allow the camera and strobe to 'talk' where as fibre optics just sends off a message to fire strobe now. Well I am probably showing my lack of knowledge and blond roots, but I guess thats how you learn.

 

Thanks for all the help and comments so far.

Let's look at it this way. The "S" is for slave and the "TTL" is for Transistor–transistor logic. The camera's metering logic "decides" when the has been enough exposure. So, camera flash says slave turn on and when I turn on and when I turn off off, you turn off. Just because the inons fire on a paticular setting does not mean that it will be TTL. The inon's sTTL function is only avaiable via fiber optics. My blond roots are now white.

Bob

What Deep6 said!

More information here:

Inon D-2000 S-TTL: Official Explanation

Sea & Sea housing for D50 was designed for manual flash only, it has to be modified to feed all the contacts from hot shoe to the bulkhead. Also INON Z240 does not accept i-ttl of D50, you need a TTL converter.

Hi all

Many thanks for the time spent providing explanations for STTL and my problem. Much appreciated. I have lots of reading to do.

The inon's sTTL function is only avaiable via fiber optics. My blond roots are now white.

Bob

I woke up this morning and realized what I said was not entirely correct. The Inon's sTTL function is only available via the SLAVE SENSOR. That is where the fiber cable relays the flash signal. One can use an electrical strobe connect to a TTL compatible strobe (e.g. the SB800 or SB900 for Nikon DSRL) and the Inon (w/o any cable) in the sTTL mode. The camera controls the Nikon strobe and this strobe controls the Inon slave. Likewise anyway that the strobe senseor can "see" the internal or external flash, including someone else's flash. The max. sync. on my D80 is 1/160 th, but with a hard-wired SB800 it could be 1/250 or may be 1/320. IMHO a nice option, but expensive and more probe to malfunction than the fiber connection.

Bob