I wish I could be of better assistance. Besides my commercial photography business, I used to be involved in a company that serviced and manufactured flash gear and have been serving and modifying all my strobes for many years.

Aside from the commander, there is no reason, unless the is a defect or malfunction in some of the unts, that the build-in photoelectric cells do no fire the off-camera strobes. Also, make sure that there is nothing plugged into the synch sockets in the off-camer strobes because according to the manuals, that would shut off the photoelectric cells.

I understand that the customer service at Buff is excellent and perhaps a telephone call with the technicians there would solve the issues.

Meanwhile- Just to help with the troubleshooting, do a few quick tests. First fire each unit with the open flash button just to make sure it is workdg at all power settings. Make sure the photo-electric cell is in direct line of sight with the wired-in light and see if each unit, separately, will fire via the cell. Make sure that all the control on the commander unt is set correctly, and those settings are on the receivers.

If you do all of this and still do not get reliable synchronization, at least you will be better able to answer all the questions when you contact Buff.

Please let me know what happens. Ed

I think we should wait till the OP gets back to us with the final outcome of her situation and the repair status of her trigger unit.

The fault may is not anythg camera related. It would be nice if the Sony folks know how all equipment, made by other manufacturers, interphases with their cameras but it should not necessarily be expected of them.

Some of this can be "pilot error", the photographer overlooks some setting or control function- oftentimes the manuals are not the best source of troubleshooting, especially when the system component is not of the same manufacturer. Operator error is nothing to be ashamed of. I have been involved in electronics, electronic flash specifically, for many decades. I have been an electronic flash user since 1957. I had a side-business of flash modification and custom builds for years and have been a professional photographer all of my adult life and I still make mistakes and sometimes overlook an obvious problem or error.

Trigger devices used to be simple- hard-wire, photoelectric cell, IR, or radio. Most of the triggering gear was high-end and domestically manufactured. Nowadays, the triggering devices are far more sophisticated in function but of cheaper mass-production builds. Folks are more dependent on command features and automatic TTL exposure control which adds more of Murphy's law of trigger devices and increases the occurrence of failure. Photograhers are busy trying to get all the newfangled features to work, so much so, that any troubleshooting is a major project. Without a hands-on situation, it can be impossible to provide accurate advice.

In my own case, I have OLD Pocket-Wizards radios. I have a few of the first ones that were produced and they all still work. I use them on difficult industrial sites, lots of concrete and metal walls to cause interference and they NEVER fail to synch. I have triggered lights several city blocks away. All I need are fresh batteries and the unts kept in clean working order. I set my exposures manually as per meter reading and guide numbers and never have an issue.

I have nothing against flash and trigger units imported from China. Their industrial designs are nice and you get good value for the money. If problems occur, however, I prefer domestically manufactured flash and triggering gear. I have had yeoman service from Speedotron, Pocket-Wizard, Photogenic, Quantum, and Paul C. Buff. Cameras? Up here in Canada, I have no issues reporting from Nikon and Canon.

"...The Sony rep I called wasn’t helpful. That’s why I think this newer camera isn’t compatible so I was looking for a workaround." While I don't shoot Sony I do use Paul Buff Alien Bees with a CybeSync trigger and they work flawlessly (provided the are set on the appropriate channels...) My Alien Bees have been amazing for over 12 years now.

"... I guess I can never sell the older camera!!!!" There may be hope... I've heard (heaysay not corroborated) that Sony is constantly updating it's firmware on it's newer cameras. Unlike other major camera vendors Sony appears to use it's early adapters are Beta Testers...

I appreciate you sharing your frustration with Sony kit here on UHH.
Helps me to assure I will unlikely purchase a Sony camera moving forward...
Many stories of very poor Sony Product Service and numerous incompatibles have tarnished Sony in my minds eye.

Again wishing you all the best with your kit Christina!