Syncing multiple strobes with 1 transmitter and 1 receiver.

[sylvester88]

Hi there, i just bought a strato 4 in 1 trigger set, comes with 1 transmitter and 1 receiver. I have 3 strobes but attached the receiver to strobe 1 and the transmitter to my camera, only strobe 2 & 3 is in slave, but seems like only flash 1 with the receiver lighted up.

Can anyone advice?

 

[tehzeh]

You might want to specify the slaves you are using..

 

[daredevil123]

Hi there, i just bought a strato 4 in 1 trigger set, comes with 1 transmitter and 1 receiver. I have 3 strobes but attached the receiver to strobe 1 and the transmitter to my camera, only strobe 2 & 3 is in slave, but seems like only flash 1 with the receiver lighted up.

Can anyone advice?

When you mean slave, do you mean optical slave mode? What models of flash guns are you using?

 

[catchlights]

if your strobe 2 and 3 is on slave mode, you can trigger the strobe 1 using test firing button to see the slave strobes working or not?
if the slave sensors of strobe 2 and 3 unable to "see" the flash light from flash 1, they will not be triggered.

so, without making things too complicated or spending on additional gadgets , just make sure your slave strobe units can "see" the main light when you do the lighting set up.

 

[Berkins]

Further to what others have advised, can I ask if you are setting up the lights outdoors? Optical slaves don't work very well under strong daylight, and especially if distance between individual strobes is far.

 

[sylvester88]

if your strobe 2 and 3 is on slave mode, you can trigger the strobe 1 using test firing button to see the slave strobes working or not?
if the slave sensors of strobe 2 and 3 unable to "see" the flash light from flash 1, they will not be triggered.

so, without making things too complicated or spending on additional gadgets , just make sure your slave strobe units can "see" the main light when you do the lighting set up.

ya in order for strobe 1 to trigger off 2 and 3, the positioning of my strobes will be restricted. anyway, i've gotta 2 more receiver already. Thanks for your advice bro! =D

 

[sylvester88]

Further to what others have advised, can I ask if you are setting up the lights outdoors? Optical slaves don't work very well under strong daylight, and especially if distance between individual strobes is far.

im shooting indoor with no stray lights. anyway i've gotten 2 more receivers to solve the problem. $$$~~~~~ =(

 

[sylvester88]

When you mean slave, do you mean optical slave mode? What models of flash guns are you using?

yup i meant optical slave. im using visico strobes

 

[daredevil123]

yup i meant optical slave. im using visico strobes

optical slave mode is not the most reliable, especially when you are using a lot of modifiers. I see that you got more receivers. Good job.

 

[foxtwo]

yup i meant optical slave. im using visico strobes

well that's your problem..

most brands (Hensel, Bowens, Elinchrom) I've used don't have a problem with their optical slaving indoors because they're sensitive enough. The Elinchroms have their photocell located on the controls panel which is at the back of the unit, while Hensel and Bowens are located at the top and side respectively. One might wonder why would Elinchrom hide it behind the unit where no other light would be within LOS but it doesn't happen to be an issue at all.

Though there was this one Bowens unit I've used which refused to trigger reliably which I put down to maintenance fault. Assuming everything is working at 100%, unless the flash units are girded/flagged (normal softbox is ok), indoor optical slaving is reliable. Having receivers for all is nice but not essential for normal studio usage.

if you shoot in a studio mostly, get a good infrared flash trigger. that will reliably trigger lights through their inbuilt optical slaves, but if the inbuilts are crap then it doesn't make a difference. You would know your equipment best.

For on-the-spot problem solving you can DIY a bouncecard for the inbuilt slaves if they just refuse to catch the light. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. You should do a thorough troubleshooting to find out what is the exact problem(s). Are the inbuilt optical slaves working in the first place, is range and placement the problem? etc etc I assume you did not go out to get the more expensive Pocket Wizards or Phottix Atlases so if the Stratos fails for unknown reasons during a shoot, at least you have a feasible workaround solution for it.

 

[catchlights]

agreed with foxtwo, you can diy some reflectors for the slave sensor, all you need to do is direct some light to the sensor, it is far cheaper then additional receivers.