GH4 + Nauticam mini flash trigger-massive underexposure...Heeeelp!

Hi!,

So wondering if there are some people out there with some experience of setting GH4 with the Nauticam mini flash trigger....

Basically I am trying to figure out settings and pretty much lost

Any help would be appreciated

Sounds like a sync issue..

Is the magnet on the strobe pushed in or out?

It should be in. This cancel the pre flash circuit. If it is out, the strobe will pre flash on the mini flash trigger's flash, rather than outputting the correct amount of power.

Strobe setting should be manual.

If you fire the strobes on the surface, you should see a verifiable difference in output between low and high power from the strobes.

All the best

Adam

Sounds like a sync issue..

 

Is the magnet on the strobe pushed in or out?

 

It should be in. This cancel the pre flash circuit. If it is out, the strobe will pre flash on the mini flash trigger's flash, rather than outputting the correct amount of power.

 

Strobe setting should be manual.

 

If you fire the strobes on the surface, you should see a verifiable difference in output between low and high power from the strobes.

 

All the best

 

Adam

Hi Adam,

Thanks for the advice - both preflash buttons are pressed in - otherwise I get completely black picture

Indeed it looks like out of sync problem...just question is what is causing it. Tried all camera settings but no luck, cannot force it to sync the same way as with built in flash. It could be the trigger but would prefer to be "more sure" before splurging 200 squid on a new one :S...Nauticam sure is not cheap....

Weirdly enough, when strobes are set to S-TTL it actually works...thought of course its just two power settings then, as trigger does not support TTL after all.

Come on wetpixelers, I am sure there must be one of you having a GH4 and Nauticam trigger

Cheers,

m

Did you change fiber cable and trigger battery?

If yes, I have one assumption about what's going on

Did you change fiber cable and trigger battery?

If yes, I have one assumption about what's going on

Hi Pavel,

Batteries are relatively new, about 1000 flashes in (out of about 5000 that they apparently can go for), also trigger LED is green. As for cables, both are brand new Nauticam 21216, 613 fibre ones...besides they work fine with built in flash.

Dunno...dumbfounded...perhaps I am doing something wrong ?

To give you some idea....two pics atached - 2 strobes, both set to manual, power 1 (lowest). Preflash was OFF for built in strobe, and ON for trigger. Both shots done in f/22 and 1/250.

Cheers,

m

Z240 responds to the input pulse start, - flash begins to burn, but Z240 also responds to pulse end, - stops to burn. It takes place in all modes, including M and FULL, independently of dial switch position. For normal control by dial switch in M / FULL modes, the input pulse must has duration longer than 3.2 ms for Z240. Only in such case the full power of strobe is available. This is undocumented feature of Z240.

LED Triggers usually have pulse duration 20-25 ms, to prevent such problems for all types strobes.

I guess, you have very short pulse from Trigger. This case Z240 flash duration is restricted by that input short pulse, and impossible to increase light power by dial switch.

Why could it happen? I met 2 reasons:

1) Trigger battery is significantly discharged.

2) Trigger electronics defect.

Z240 responds to the input pulse start, - flash begins to burn, but Z240 also responds to pulse end, - stops to burn. It takes place in all modes, including M and FULL, independently of dial switch position. For normal control by dial switch in M / FULL modes, the input pulse must has duration longer than 3.2 ms for Z240. Only in such case the full power of strobe is available. This is undocumented feature of Z240.

LED Triggers usually have pulse duration 20-25 ms, to prevent such problems for all types strobes.

 

I guess, you have very short pulse from Trigger. This case Z240 flash duration is restricted by that input short pulse, and impossible to increase light power by dial switch.

Why could it happen? I met 2 reasons:

1) Trigger battery is significantly discharged.

2) Trigger electronics defect.

That's an interesting bit of info....I was assuming on Manual flash is always of the same duration...little, dirty Inon secrets

Ran another batch of tests, this time on f/10 and 1/125..and noticed a weird thing:

-when ISO set to auto, built in is very bright, iso from exif shows 800, trigger is dark, iso from exif shows 200 (image 2 and 4)

-when ISO set to 200, both built and trigger look the same, somehow mid between dark and super bright. (image 1 and 3)

Tested brand new batteries as well, but it made no difference, same results.

So it might be GH4 after all...though still theoretically I am not getting full brightness...i.e. built in on auto is still brightest.

Well manual ISO might be the way then, perhaps Auto one gets somehow confused with trigger attached

Hmm I am getting a feeling it's time to smack myself over the head and say "doh" :lol2: