Anyone with Symbiosis flash and Sony camera?

Hi all,

My Symbiosis flash or my camera is giving me a hard time - I hope you can help me figure out, what is wrong.

My setup is a Sony A6300 and Symbiosis SS-2 flash. I run everything manual, and using fiber flash cable between the housing and the Symbiosis. Everyting is running great, as long as I don't turn the Symbiosis power over 11 (the range is from 1 to 15). When the Symbiosis is set to 12 or above, the flash fires - but the camera "does not see the light" from the flash (the picture is dark). I have tried a lot of different settings in my camera, but no luck so far.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what is causing this? I have tested this with a Sony RX camera also with the same result. On my old Canon G15, it works fine. It seem as if Sony and Symbiosis is not a great match - or hopefully it's just a little tweak in my settings, that will fix everyting.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Best regards,

Thomas

It seems that your Symbiosis flash is slower to ignite if you use a higher power setting.

You might want to try four things:

1) Check from the camera menus whether you have set the flash to sync either pre or post curtain. Selecting pre curtain should give a longer reaction time window for the flash.

2) Try using a longer exposure time. You could try to find out if there is any correlation between the exposure time and maximum usable Symbiosis power setting.

3) Try it with a fully charged battery

4) If you purchased the housing and strobe from the same local dealer, ask for their help. However, if you mail ordered from different sources, you are on your own concerning compatibility issues.

Best Regards
Richard

Hi Richard,

Thanks for your reply.

1) I have tried every setting for the flash I could find in the camera menu. But no luck.

2) I have also tried longer exposure times with no luck. I have not combined longer exposure with flash settings, so I'll give that a go later, when I have the gear at hand.

3) I have tried this also with no luck.

4) It's bought from the same dealer, and the service there is always great (fotografit.eu) - I have talked to him, and I just need to find a day in my schedule to visit him and play around with the stuff. I just thought I would give it a try here in this forum and maybe save me a trip to the dealer (which always seem to be expensive because of all the gear he is selling )

I don't think it has anything to do with the housing though - the light passes through the fiber cables fine, so I think it must be between the camera and the Symbiosis flash. I haven't thought of the Symbiosis could be slower with higher power, this is something I will look into.

Again: thank you very much for your feedback.

Best regards,

Thomas

Hi all,

 

My Symbiosis flash or my camera is giving me a hard time - I hope you can help me figure out, what is wrong.

 

My setup is a Sony A6300 and Symbiosis SS-2 flash. I run everything manual, and using fiber flash cable between the housing and the Symbiosis. Everyting is running great, as long as I don't turn the Symbiosis power over 11 (the range is from 1 to 15). When the Symbiosis is set to 12 or above, the flash fires - but the camera "does not see the light" from the flash (the picture is dark). I have tried a lot of different settings in my camera, but no luck so far.

 

Does anyone have any ideas as to what is causing this? I have tested this with a Sony RX camera also with the same result. On my old Canon G15, it works fine. It seem as if Sony and Symbiosis is not a great match - or hopefully it's just a little tweak in my settings, that will fix everyting.

 

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Best regards,

 

Thomas

I don't have the symbiosis flahs but I assume the problem is that it reacts to the preflash and when the manual power is above a certain value it can't recharge for the second main burst that is actually involved in the picture.

It's just a guess though. Can it work in a TTL mode?

Best

Marcell

I don't have the symbiosis flahs but I assume the problem is that it reacts to the preflash and when the manual power is above a certain value it can't recharge for the second main burst that is actually involved in the picture.

It's just a guess though. Can it work in a TTL mode?

Best

Marcell

Hi Marcell,

Is the preflash in the camera or in the Symbiosis (sorry if the question seems stupid, but I don't know)?

The flash does not have TTL mode, so I can't say.

I'll look into preflash - thanks :-)

Best regards,

Thomas

Hi Marcell,

 

Is the preflash in the camera or in the Symbiosis (sorry if the question seems stupid, but I don't know)?

 

The flash does not have TTL mode, so I can't say.

 

I'll look into preflash - thanks :-)

 

Best regards,

Thomas

I think symbiosis completely mimics the on-board flash of the camera, which has a pre-flash (for metering) and the main flash. I think you can't put your on-board small flash into complete manual mode (single flash) but I have to check. I don't have the camera with right now.

You must "teach" the SS2 strobe your preflash. The manual shows you how.

We've also found that it seems to like really thick cables, we've had good results with S&S f/o cables. But with those caveats we've had no problems with most of these cameras.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

You must "teach" the SS2 strobe your preflash. The manual shows you how.

 

We've also found that it seems to like really thick cables, we've had good results with S&S f/o cables. But with those caveats we've had no problems with most of these cameras.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Thank you so much! With only 4 buttons/knobs on the flash, I didn't read the manual, as I didn't think there was more advanced functions than turn on and set power of flash. Well lesson learned and I'm now a happy camper :-)

Best regards,

Thomas

How you finding the lights im thinking of buying them for my sony a7ii setup ? and photos you could post up ?

How you finding the lights im thinking of buying them for my sony a7ii setup ? and photos you could post up ?

I like them a lot - now that they are synced with my camera, everything is fine. I have no regrets buying them :-)

I have some photos on my Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pudekamp/albums/72157678510639483

 

I like them a lot - now that they are synced with my camera, everything is fine. I have no regrets buying them :-)

 

I have some photos on my Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pudekamp/albums/72157678510639483

Thanks for that! photos look great! Think I'm pretty sold on buying these strobes, only issue is getting them hooked up with an ikelite housing so venturing into a DIY led trigger setup fingers crossed it all goes to plan!

 

 

Thanks for that! photos look great! Think I'm pretty sold on buying these strobes, only issue is getting them hooked up with an ikelite housing so venturing into a DIY led trigger setup fingers crossed it all goes to plan!

This might be helpful: http://fotografit.eu/products/164-flash-triggers/2037-mini-flash-trigger-for-sony-compatible-with-na-a7a7ii/ and this: http://www.ikelite.com/accessories/4401.1-fiber-optic-converter.html - then you need to connect them somehow :-)

 

This might be helpful: http://fotografit.eu/products/164-flash-triggers/2037-mini-flash-trigger-for-sony-compatible-with-na-a7a7ii/ and this: http://www.ikelite.com/accessories/4401.1-fiber-optic-converter.html - then you need to connect them somehow :-)

yeah thanks for that, seen this it looks like a nauticam led trigger... pretty pricey was hoping to make something DIY but worst case ill be buying one of these butchering it and extending the led's onto wires and place them inside a spare bulk head with a acrylic nut glued in place and mounting the optical cables to that bulkhead nut to capture the flash....

hardest parts being trying to find acrylic bolts that fit the ikelite accessory holes which are 1/2 -20.... might be getting some custom made ones from china if the factory replies....