Olympus e-3 flash settings

I have an Olympus E-3 in Ikelite housing connected to 2 x DS125 strobes and am having problems getting the strobes to fire correctly. Half the time the strobes fire correctly and the exposures are fine, the rest of the time the strobes fire at very low power giving grossly underexposed shots - it is fairly random between the two. I am allowing the strobes to fully recharge between firings.
The strobes are set to TTL as recommended and the camera is set to Manual mode, aperture to f/4.0, shutter to 1/60th sec and centre weighted metering. I have tried setting the camera's flash setting to full, fill-in and 2nd curtain but the results are all the same. The housing flash control is set to TTL, no compensation.

The next problem are the LEDs on the back of the housing that set the strobe power compensation. After taking a shot the LEDs lock up and neither of the two buttons work. To get them to work I have to turn the master strobe off and on and then I can set the power level. After taking the shot they lock up again and I have to switch the strobe off and on again.

I would be grateful for any comments and camera settings.

Thanks, Steve

Sounds like your settings are all correct. I assume the DS-125s are both S/N 5000 or higher, or if not have had the latest update to work with the TTL board in the housing?

(I don't work for Ike, just trying to be helpful.)

The strobes' serial numbers are greater than 5000, so no problems there. I have got the strobes firing now but it was very much a hit-and-miss affair. One problem I found is that the hot shoe connector can be very easily dislodged when sliding the camera in. I filed the top of the connector down a few millimetres and that has improved things but there is still very little clearance from the casing. So it may have been a poor connection with the camera.

Anyway, it works now. Until the next time :depressed:

Cheers,

Steve

Although my strobes are working there is still a problem with the flash conversion circuitry. After powering up the system a power level compensation can be set using the LEDs and two push buttons. However, after the first flash the circuitry locks-up and any further presses of the buttons have no effect. The master strobe has to be switched off and back on again to get the compensation circuitry working again. One more flash and it locks-up again.

Steve

I'm sorry to hear of your trouble. It definitely sounds like an intermittency in the hotshoe connection... if you'd like to send the housing back to us we'd welcome the opportunity to fix it for you!

Regards,
Jean / Ikelite
IKELITE Underwater Systems

Jean, Thanks for your offer of help. I proved tonight in the pool that the problem is the hot shoe connection - it just needs a rubber band to hold it firmly in place. Just teathing troubles with a new system but the results tonight, once the problems were ironed out, were superb.

Cheers, Steve