So I have run into this odd issue. At first I thought it was a Pocketwizard camera PC Sync issue but I was wrong.
This is a very generic common event set up that I and many others have used for years. It has always worked for me until recently for some odd reason... Possibly an evil Elinchrom product failing?
I have a pocket wizard attached to my Nikon D3 or D700 body via PC socket. I have a SB900 flash mounted on the hotshoe. The Pocketwizard will fire the external strobe if the SB900 is mounted but OFF. If I turn the SB900 on the Pocketwizard will not fire the external strobe.
The problem seems to be somewhere from the Rx unit attached to the strobes power pack. I can see it is still receiving the signal as the red light still shows a trigger (and the multiMAX will beep confirming it) but the power pack fails to fire. I have tried multiple PW units (older multiMAX, PWIII) all fail to trigger the power pack when the hotshoe flash is on but show they are receiving the trigger signal. They all trigger fine if the hotshoe flash is off.
I have tried a TT5 under the hotshoe flash and this seems to work but I am not a real fan of these TT5 or minis because of the weak plastic hotshoe which cost $50+ to replace (I\'ve had to replace multiple broken units already, design fail!)
Anyway just for kicks I replaced the external strobe with another SB900 with the same PW Rx hooked up via miniphone to the flashes PC (Meaning I just took the Ranger Quadra out of the loop and put a different SB900 in it\'s place). That works fine with my hotshoe flash on or off using the same PW Tx unit connected via PC sync on the camera??!!
So the issue could be in the Quadra power pack or sync input on the pack (miniphone). BUT why would it fire perfectly (hundreds of times in a row) when my hotshoe flash is off vs when it\'s on (zero fires) as it is still showing the Rx unit receiving a trigger signal? So odd!
Also I have tried multiple miniphone cables from the PW Rx unit to the Quadra in case you were wondering...
Any thoughts?
Feb 25, 2013 at 11:58 PM
Previous versions of John Straus's message #11375529 « Ranger Quadra-PocketWizard-PC Terminal Issue with hot shoe flash on »
