D800 / Subal strobe synch speed problem.

I'm having a slight problem with my D800 and Subal combination with regards to hard wired Inon Z240's.

The camera doesn't recognise that there are off-board strobes attached and therefore won't limit the shutter speed.

I usually shoot at 1/320th (FP auto) but on this setting with the hot shoe connector in the housing attached I can wind the shutter speed up to the cameras max of 1/8000.

At first I thought it was a faulty circuit board in the housing and sent it back to Subal who checked it out and told me it was working fine.

I then connected both my D300 and D3s to the strobes and hot shoe connection, as soon as the strobe ready light came on the shutter speed on both cameras were limited to 1/320 & 1/250 respectively. (Should have done this before the return to Subal I know)

I've also contacted Nikon Technical support but they're flummoxed too, and really only consider problems with their own brand of speed lights attached, which incidentally work as they should.

So here are the questions

Is it a Nikon D800 trait in a Subal?

Have I inadvertently messed up in the menu somewhere?

Is the camera faulty?

HELP !!!

Just move the red connectors to the other plug on the circuit board. Although I'd keep them where they are - because there may be a time you want to use faster synch - knowing you are going to have to crop the frame afterwards - but you'd still have plenty of pixels.

At 1/400th most of the frame is useable and at 1/500th a good 2/3rds is still useable.

Alex

Just tried that Alex and same results.

It's not a big problem just annoying as I sometimes get lost in the moment and inadvertently wind the shutter speed up past its limit and see the shutter shadow in the final image.

I totally agree. Shooting at 1/400th plus is a great option for sunbursts and with the extra MP's on the D800 cropping out the shutter shadow's no problem I'd just like the choice of locking the max speed to 1/320th.

There's also the option of fibre optic synchs. I've used them, and really like the advantages this gives but with the pop-up in use for nearly all the shots the battery takes a hammering (even at minimum power).

Nige

Hello Nige.

We just tried D300s, D7000, and D800 cameras in Subal housings with Sea & Sea YS110, D1, strobes and Inon Z-240 strobes.

We tried 'older' Subal housings with the circuit board with white connectors, and we tried Subal D4 housing, and circuit boards with red connectors.

The D800 and D7000 do not limit shutter speed when connected to any of these strobes.

The D300s will limit shutter speed when connected to Inon Z-240 strobe(s), but not the Sea & Sea strobes.

We could not find anything in the camera menus, nor in the D800 user manual that could explain this. So we are going to assume that Nikon made some change sometime since the D300s.

Thanks for your reply Alan,

I've also tried the D800 in my older D300 Subal with white connectors and there's no limit to the shutter speed either, that's why I was thinking it may be a camera / menu problem. I reset the menu to the default settings .... no change .... and was worried there might be a fault with the camera, so thank you for trying the different camera / subal / strobe combi's, you've put my mind at rest.

I can live with it, although I'll need to be a little more disciplined when shooting and keep an eye on the settings (no bad thing).

As I said earlier there's also the fibre optic route which solves all the problems and in reality I'd have to have a seriously productive set of dives to drain the battery.

Nige