New TG-6 Setup

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

I do not think your flash (or any other) is not strong enough for macro shots. Flash power becomes more needed with not so close subjects but for macro shooting most flashes (if not all) would suffice. Many photographers use video lights (not so powerfull as strobes) for macro succesfully .I have S&S YS-01 which is equivalent to S2000 and for macro I normally have to dial down power to avoid overexposure.
I would rather think that the flash light beam is not properly directed to subject or strobe not properly sycronized with the camera.

I think you're right with the strobe not being correctly synced with the camera. I faced the flash at the lens and the photos that come out don't know the strobe being lit at all. However, if I turn the strobe to the "max" setting, it seems to work. Facing the lens, it blinds the shot so everything is just white. However, facing a subject, it is getting lit appropriately. Is there something in the STTL setting that would have my flash going off prematurely?
 
I have read a lot about TG-6 because I want to buy it (soon) but I don't have it yet so I lack personal use experience. I do not have a S2000 either but S&S YS-01. I know the S-2000 needs to have the magnet on or off depending if he camera pre-flashes or not, maybe your issue has to be with that.
Have you tried to use the flash in manual (not TTL) to see if it syncs correctly? I think you did it whe you say you set your strobe to "max" setting.
 
I have read a lot about TG-6 because I want to buy it (soon) but I don't have it yet so I lack personal use experience. I do not have a S2000 either but S&S YS-01. I know the S-2000 needs to have the magnet on or off depending if he camera pre-flashes or not, maybe your issue has to be with that.
Have you tried to use the flash in manual (not TTL) to see if it syncs correctly? I think you did it whe you say you set your strobe to "max" setting.

I think if you have STTL selected it doesn't matter if you have the magnet in or not. I haven't tried the purely manual mode yet, but I guess that will be the next step?
 
After much fiddling, I think my Inon S200 might just not be strong enough to sufficiently light a supermacro subject at full zoom. Has to do with the forced aperture on the TG-6 when zoomed all the way in.
If you are getting adequate exposure with flash on full output then something is not working with the TTL correctly. The flash compensation on the flash itself may struggle to do what you need, the only one that has a chance of working is to adjust flash compensation on the TG-6. If it still does not work I would suggest going to full manual.

A couple of questions. Flash output required is set by the aperture alone - did you switch to using f6.3 ? F6.3 should be quite easy to light f18 though will need pretty much full power. Are you using any positive flash compensation on the camera?

If that doesn't work, I would suggest switching to manual flash, try half power to start at f6.3 (Av Mode).
I agree it is not a question of insufficient power - though using the f18 setting maybe stretching what the S-2000 can do.

Also it's not a sync issue - sync issues present as the flash going off but no flash at all in the image. The classic way to test this is to take a photo where you can see the strobe in a mirror. If you see any strobe light at all there is no sync problem.
 
I think if you have STTL selected it doesn't matter if you have the magnet in or not. I haven't tried the purely manual mode yet, but I guess that will be the next step?
I also saw in another post that you mentioned you are not using a fibre optic cable. This may present issues with TTL - a well known problem with optically triggered flash is a poor quality cable. What is reported is that the flash fires but TTL is under exposed, TTL can give issues if the signal is weak. In this situation manual triggering works just fine. INON are known for having quite a sensitive slave sensor but not using a cable could still be causing your issues.
 
If you are getting adequate exposure with flash on full output then something is not working with the TTL correctly. The flash compensation on the flash itself may struggle to do what you need, the only one that has a chance of working is to adjust flash compensation on the TG-6. If it still does not work I would suggest going to full manual.

A couple of questions. Flash output required is set by the aperture alone - did you switch to using f6.3 ? F6.3 should be quite easy to light f18 though will need pretty much full power. Are you using any positive flash compensation on the camera?

If that doesn't work, I would suggest switching to manual flash, try half power to start at f6.3 (Av Mode).
I agree it is not a question of insufficient power - though using the f18 setting maybe stretching what the S-2000 can do.

I tried with both f6.3 and f18. f6.3 came out overexposed but came out okay at EV-2 on a supermacro subject. f18 I remember coming out okay.

My main test to see timing was to point the flash directly at the lens and take a shot. On STTL almost all my shots showed a dark strobe. On manual with the knob at "B" I was able to capture a fully lit strobe every time (photo just came out white).

I also saw in another post that you mentioned you are not using a fibre optic cable. This may present issues with TTL - a well known problem with optically triggered flash is a poor quality cable. What is reported is that the flash fires but TTL is under exposed, TTL can give issues if the signal is weak. In this situation manual triggering works just fine. INON are known for having quite a sensitive slave sensor but not using a cable could still be causing your issues.

I'm not using any cable at all...so it looks like my next course of action is to just use manual triggering?
 
I think if you have STTL selected it doesn't matter if you have the magnet in or not. I haven't tried the purely manual mode yet, but I guess that will be the next step?

This is correct, in strobe selected to sTTL the magnet switch has no effect. The D/S strobe will expect a preflash regardless. Your issue is you have no optic cable. Your D/S2000 wants to respond to the camera flash as it would with an optical cable but instead it is responding to falsely to own flash.

To check sync, stand in front of a mirror. If the strobes are in sync, you will see them in the mirror. If not, they are not. Is your camera flash set to forced with auto or flash fill?

You really need to use a cable.

N
 
I had posted/commented/suggested on the assumption that there was a fiber optic cable to trigger the flash. With no cable it would be very difficult for the strobe to "sense" the built-in flash bursts passing thru the housing plastics and even if it does it will sense a weaked signal, prompting the strobe TTL to assume less need of light, and therefore underxposure.
I usually do not use TTL. I prefer manual but I know TTL would be convenient for many.
 
I had posted/commented/suggested on the assumption that there was a fiber optic cable to trigger the flash. With no cable it would be very difficult for the strobe to "sense" the built-in flash bursts passing thru the housing plastics and even if it does it will sense a weaked signal, prompting the strobe TTL to assume less need of light, and therefore underxposure.
I usually do not use TTL. I prefer manual but I know TTL would be convenient for many.

Darn, I was really hoping I wouldn't need a cable. Looks like it's manual for me!

This is correct, in strobe selected to sTTL the magnet switch has no effect. The D/S strobe will expect a preflash regardless. Your issue is you have no optic cable. Your D/S2000 wants to respond to the camera flash as it would with an optical cable but instead it is responding to falsely to own flash.

To check sync, stand in front of a mirror. If the strobes are in sync, you will see them in the mirror. If not, they are not. Is your camera flash set to forced with auto or flash fill?

You really need to use a cable.

N

Strobes aren't in sync unless I'm in manual, and my camera is on fill in flash.

Looks like I need to practice using manual mode. In this case should I have the magnet in then? Seems to work just fine with the magnet out.
 
I still think using a cable is better no matter in what mode you use your camera. I repeat Ihave not used the TG-6 ( I will have it by the end of next month in a Seagfrogs hosuing).
I imagine the the light of built-in flash passing thru the plastic of housing might be weak and might not trigger the external (at least that happens with the housing I have owned (not many: Fantasea fon Canon G7X and Seafrogs for Sony 6300).
There are afordable options for fiber optic cable. You can by it by lenght with the connectors needed for your housing and strobe in www.divervsion.com.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

Back
Top Bottom