Em5 mkiii flash

Is there a long recycle time/contact issue with the supplied flash unit for the em5mkiii? Used it for the first time in anger this weekend, and found the cycle time seemed inordinately long compared to my old em10. Considering going to a flash trigger instead…

Any thoughts?

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5 hours ago, smk82 said:

 

Is there a long recycle time/contact issue with the supplied flash unit for the em5mkiii? Used it for the first time in anger this weekend, and found the cycle time seemed inordinately long compared to my old em10. Considering going to a flash trigger instead…

 

Any thoughts?

 

 

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When using the flash as a manual trigger at 1/64 power the recycle is pretty much instant on my 3 samples of this flash.  TTL will be a different story of course.

I have the EM5III and you just set the flash power to 1/64 on manual. And it pretty much allows you mash the shutter button as fast as you can.


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I tried it to start with at that speed, and the strobes didn’t trigger? Yet with it set at fill in they did?


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What strobe do you have?  And which cables?  Some strobes are more difficult to trigger than others and they are more difficult to trigger with LED triggers than with the little flash. When you say you were set at fill I assume you mean you were shooting TTL.  The onboard flash puts out more power in TTL operation.  If it won't trigger at 1/64 in manual try 1/32 power it should still refresh fairly quickly.  You might also try cleaning the window behind the fibre optic ports

The other thing with optically fired strobes is you need to remember, the camera doesn't know you have an external strobe being triggered and the strobe doesn't know what setting the camera is on.  So the mode on the camera needs to match the mode on the strobe.  If it doesn't the strobe may go off but it might not sync with the camera so there will be no flash in your exposure for example.

What strobe do you have?  And which cables?  Some strobes are more difficult to trigger than others and they are more difficult to trigger with LED triggers than with the little flash. When you say you were set at fill I assume you mean you were shooting TTL.  The onboard flash puts out more power in TTL operation.  If it won't trigger at 1/64 in manual try 1/32 power it should still refresh fairly quickly.  You might also try cleaning the window behind the fibre optic ports
The other thing with optically fired strobes is you need to remember, the camera doesn't know you have an external strobe being triggered and the strobe doesn't know what setting the camera is on.  So the mode on the camera needs to match the mode on the strobe.  If it doesn't the strobe may go off but it might not sync with the camera so there will be no flash in your exposure for example.

Odd, the Z-240 normally doesn't give too much trouble triggering I have the Z-240, EM-1 MkII and at least one of my cables is an INON cable - triggers quite reliably.  If you still have the EM-1o mini flash you could try swapping that in.  I assume you've confirmed the mini flash is firing properly and have the magnet in and have checked it is syncing by shooting in a mirror?

I just checked it tonight and it was working fine. Puzzled. Only thing I can think of is that the flash wasn’t completely seated correctly but then it wouldn’t have worked at all if that was the case?


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16 hours ago, smk82 said:

I just checked it tonight and it was working fine. Puzzled. Only thing I can think of is that the flash wasn’t completely seated correctly but then it wouldn’t have worked at all if that was the case?


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I have had issues with my EPL10 where I needed to burp the fiber optic cord.  it was either air in the attachment or I didn't seat it properly to align the fiber to the trigger and reseating it helped the alignment.  Hopefully you get it working right.

On 7/11/2022 at 11:27 PM, smk82 said:

I just checked it tonight and it was working fine. Puzzled. Only thing I can think of is that the flash wasn’t completely seated correctly but then it wouldn’t have worked at all if that was the case?


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There are some accounts of the em5mkiii not working for this reason. I once bumped my m5iii in its housing before a dive. That dive, no flash.  But influence on the recycle time? In wonder.