irinaescoffery

Ok. It's not easy for me to ask questions because I know so little about the topic. And everyone may think that I am a total dumb. Which is partially true. Anyway. I have absolutely nobody to ask. So, I have no choice. You can curse on me the way you want. Just help me. I am so frustrated.

I want so bad to have my little studio. I purchased the studio strobe 300 sdi and I thought it will be the answer to all my problems. I connected it to my Canon 6d with speed-light on it. Now, the question #1
1. Does the strobe necessarily needs speed-light in order to fire?
2. when the sync cord is not attached to the camera it still fire simultaneously with the speedlight. Sometimes it doesn't. What is difference if the cord is plugged or not? Does it work through some photo elements?
3. What is slave trigger model?
4. What is anti-preflash model? When I choose the option nothing happens.

When I shoot with light from speedlight and the strobe, the photo is horrible overexposed. Even with the minimal amount of light from both sources. How to regulate the lighting?

I know I ask a lot. Thank you in advance for all your replies.

Photosmoke

If your lights have a built in slave it means you can trigger the lights with your flash. Otherwise you will need a sync cord to trigger them . Not all that difficult. How many wattsec are you lights rated at. That indicates the amount of light they produce. Lower your iso on your camera & most lights have an intensity setting.

irinaescoffery

Thank you for your reply. I don't know how many wattssec it is. it says on the user manual 120 sdi/160sdi/250sdi/300sdi.
I tried to shoot with just a sync cord attached but nothing happened. I will try again. Thank you.

WAKD Loc: Cincinnati

OK, lets get to number (4). Many camera built-in or hot shoe mounted flashed have a pre-flash mode which is to help reduce re-eye. If your strobe(s) are set to ignor pre-flash but the on camera flash is not doing a pre-flash, the strobe does not fire because is is ignoring the first flash and there is only one from the on-camera flash.

Will check back and see what other questions on your list remain un-answered.

How else will you find out about this stuff? That's what UHH is for. Have fun.

irinaescoffery

So, What do I have to do? Canon 6d does not have a build-in flush. I use Canon 430 ex II speedlight. Should I check if the speedlight is set on some pre flush function?

WAKD Loc: Cincinnati

I checked the 300sdi and except that mine is older and has switches instead of click pads, they work the same. So if I can't figure out answers I will try it. The knob sets the flash output, but it is not calibrated so you will just have to turn it down (CCW) until you get what you want. As answered above, you need to set the ISO on the camera to 100 or 200 or whatever is the lowest value to avoid way over-exposing the shots.

irinaescoffery

I figured flash output control. What I can't understand why when I connect sync cord to the camera and shoot without speedlight nothing happens? No fire. But when I connect the sync cord from the different strobe to the camera and press this little end of the sync cord jack to the camera it triggers the fire of the first strobe. How can it be?

WAKD Loc: Cincinnati

Just set the 300sdi to fire on first or second flash to match whatever the Canon flash is set for. Sounds like right now it is only firing once and the 300sdi is set to ignore pre-flash. So the is no second flash for it to trigger on.

irinaescoffery

I want the strobe to fire without the speedlight. How can I do it?

irinaescoffery

How would I do it?

irinaescoffery

Many camera built-in or hot shoe mounted flashed have a pre-flash mode which is to help reduce re-eye. If your strobe(s) are set to ignor pre-flash but the on camera flash is not doing a pre-flash, the strobe does not fire because is is ignoring the first flash and there is only one from the on-camera flash.

I started to understand a little. It seems that Canon 430 exII speedlight doesn't have pre-flash mod ( I looked in the instruction manual and didn't find it). Therefore, the strobe will not fire if set on the anti pre-flash mode as there is no such mode. Correct?

WAKD Loc: Cincinnati

If you plug the sync cord from the 300sdi into the camera and set the 300sdi to fire on first flash, that should do it. Otherwise I may not be understanding what you are doing. The camera shutter speed should be set to 1/200 or whatever the book says for you model. Using the camera in manual mode is the simplest when using external strobes like the 300 sdi. That way you can set the ISO to low, set the shutter speed to 1/200, use a suitable aperture and dial down the output of the 300sdi to get what you want.

irinaescoffery

I tried again. the strobe does not fire with the sync cord connected to the camera but with speedlight off. So, why do I need this cord? Please, help

WAKD Loc: Cincinnati

Yes, you got the pre-flash bit figured. Cross that off the list.

WAKD Loc: Cincinnati

Yes, you got the pre-flash bit figured. Cross that off the list.