TG5 in Nauticam Housing strobe not firing properly

[Searcaigh]

I decided to purchase a TG5 and a Nauticam housing last month.

As per another thread I followed the set up as per Backscatter's tutorial.

Video Tutorials - Best Underwater Camera Settings for Olympus TOUGH TG-5

For some reason the strobe is only firing every other shot, does anyone here have an explanation to why this might be happening.

I have it connected to a Sea&Sea YS110a

 

[Reku]

What fiber cables are you using? the sea&sea cables sometimes don't have enough strands to transmit the light all the way every time.

Have you tried setting your flash compensation to the maximum setting so that we can rule out the cables?

How long are you waiting between shots? Is it possible the TG5 flash hasn't recycled yet.

Do you have another ys-110a that you can use to rule out strobe malfunctions?


These are just problems I've seen other have.

Good Luck.

 

[Searcaigh]

Thanks Reku,

I'm using a Sea&Sea cable, and I do have several other strobes to rule out the strobe itself.

The TG flash is giving a "ready" signal so there should be no issues with that.

 

[Reku]

Do you have a different cable to use? that's literally the only thing I can think of.

 

[KeithG]

Since all of us are really lazy, maybe you can provide the exact camera and strobe settings you are using?

Some camera / strobe settups are a bit odd and give random results. You mention every other shot. Is this always correct. Any variation based on time between shots, battery power level, etc.

If you give us more info then we can splash more ideas at you...

 

[stepfen]

One thing you can try: With camera outside the housing and without fiber face the strobe's fiber port directly to the camera's flash. Like this the flash should trigger the strobe every time. Does it? If it does then the problem seems to be that with the housing and fiber not enough light reaches the strobe's sensor (probably due to bad fiber).
Have a look at this thread for a workaround S&S YS-02 - fiber problem?

 

[Searcaigh]

Ok latest update

Using three different YS110 and three different Sea&Sea cables

All three strobes fire electronically as tested via my D7100 housing

The strobes fire ok when the camera is removed and the flash from the camera is pointed directly at the receptor

When the cable is connected to the output of one of my YS-D2 strobes the 110 fires intermittently

When the cables are connected to my daughter's housing (Canon G7X in Isotto housing) to all of the 110s they fire every time

One last thing, my daughter put the setting to fish mode and the strobe fires every time!

 

[stepfen]

The fibers might not be totally broken but might have high attenuation.
I'll give you an example. The sensor needs enough light to trigger say 10 units of light. If the fiber attenuates 20 units and the housing another 5 units then the camera needs to produce at least 35 units of light to begin with.
Your daughter's camera and her housing might me alright while yours might be just on the edge so some times it triggers some others not.

About the fish mode maybe in that mode the camera doesn't use pre-flashes or something. Are you sure that when the strobe fires, it fires in sync with the cam i.e. at the correct moment? To make it sure you need to point the camera to the strobe itself and shoot. If the strobe fires in sync the photo should be all white (burnt). If not the strobe is not synced correctly

 

[Searcaigh]

Update,

I was helping my daughter set up her work camera (Olympus OMD) in an Olympus housing with a Sea & Sea YS-01 strobe.

I decided to connect it to the Nauticam housing with the TG5 inside and lo and behold it fired every time!

I then looked at the back of the YS110a and although I normally use it on Manual 1 when firing it electronically using my Nikons I changed the position to Manual 2 and it fires every time with the fibre optic cable.

Success

Very tempted to go for a pre-work dive tomorrow morning.