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 p.1 #7 · Anyone knows if I can fire strobes with the SONY RX100? | |
Finally tested some gear, and results were distinctly mixed.
First subject was a P&S, the Lumix FX150. This one doesn't appear to emit preflash and therefore works with the optical slave of my pack. Case closed.
Second subject was the Nikon D5100. Pack's optical slave detected preflash and fired at the wrong time. The pack (Profoto D4) offers programmable delays of 10ms, and I homed in on the fastest setting that worked. Unfortunately, this required a shutter speed of 1/6sec - even in a studio, not good. My conclusion is that a delay of greater precision is needed. So, I turned to the next configuration, PocketWizard MultiMAX paired with Wein Peanut.
The Peanut is prehistoric in design, and finicky. It will not, under any circumstance, trigger my more modern flashes like Canon 550EX, Nikon SB-800, or Contax TLA360. It will (with caveats) trigger the MultiMAX, classic Contax TLA30 and Leica SF 20.
Connected to the MultiMAX, the Peanut refused to trigger when the flash fired from the Lumix or D5100, but it would trigger when I discharged the TLA30 at close range. Let's call that a dismal failure. Connected to the TLA30, the Peanut was very sensitive to the Lumix flash and triggered reliably. Oddly, the TLA30 discharged at full power even though I set 1/16 power - didn't think that was possible.  Regardless, the latter combo was not useful to introducing a delay (the MultiMAX offers programmable delays of 0.1ms).
Conclusion: Using studio lights with cameras that preflash will require delay precision of 1ms or finer. Wein Peanut is practically unworkable unless you're willing to reverse-engineer the damn thing.
P.S. I discovered the D5100 can be operated with its preflash disabled. In this mode, flash power can be specified manually, and pack triggering works perfectly. I don't really expect the consumer-friendly Sony RX100 to offer such flexibility, but it's worth peeking at the manual...
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Only caveat is that the max shutter speed I could sync the Einsteins with the RX100 is 1/50s. When I bumped it to 1/60s, I could not sync. I guess its good enough to have some fun for now