Camera; Strobe firing

[acutshall]

I have a 30D and just received 2 strobes, I have a PW on all 3. Everything works fine when I have ambient lights turned on, the minute they are turned off there is not enough light and the camera will not fire. Solution please


Thanks

[PacAce]

The camera may not be firing because it can't get a focus lock. Try setting the lens to manual focus mode.

[acutshall]

The camera may not be firing because it can't get a focus lock. Try setting the lens to manual focus mode.

I do not blame it ,I can barely see the subject; the 3 light in the viewer is blinking. Do others have a light on or leave the modeling light on?

Thanks :)

[PacAce]

I do not blame it ,I can barely see the subject; the 3 light in the viewer is blinking. Do others have a light on or leave the modeling light on?

Thanks :)

Why do you have all the ambient lights turned off? You should be able to leave enough on to focus comfortably without it affecting your flash exposures. If you want to see if the ambient light is going to affect your exposure or not, take a picture with just the ambient lights and no flash.

[Curtis N]

It could be he's trying to use the modeling lights on the strobes and the room lights interfere with that. And if the strobes are powered down to low levels and the modeling lights are set to track with the strobe power, then they might not give you much.

If this is the case, let us know where you're at - strobe power levels, modeling light wattage, aperture and ISO. I think there might be some options.

[acutshall]

Curtis,
I do not have any lights on(pitch black) I was just curious since my camera can not focus an I can not really see any thing to focus( because it is too dark in the room) if I could use the modeling lights . And I was just curious what others have turned on(lights) when they are using strobe is a studio. 1 to allow camera to fire while not influencing metered the lighting. I am using a 3:1 ratio with key set to F8; all lights are metered using the L358.


Thanks

[PacAce]

It could be he's trying to use the modeling lights on the strobes and the room lights interfere with that. And if the strobes are powered down to low levels and the modeling lights are set to track with the strobe power, then they might not give you much.

If this is the case, let us know where you're at - strobe power levels, modeling light wattage, aperture and ISO. I think there might be some options.

In that case, he can turn down the ambient lights while adjusting the strobe power levels and then turn them back on to focus and compose his shot just before taking his picture.

[acutshall]

Why do you have all the ambient lights turned off? You should be able to leave enough on to focus comfortably without it affecting your flash exposures. If you want to see if the ambient light is going to affect your exposure or not, take a picture with just the ambient lights and no flash.

Thanks Curtis and PacAce for the assistance; being new to using studio strobes I was turning off all the lights when taking the exposures and the camera could not focus thereby activating the focus lock. so from what I am reading I should;
-leave on either shop lights or the modeling lights when taking the exposures
-Is leaving modeling lights on when taking the exposurses common practice?

Someone had wrote that they use a halogen ligts focused on the models face to close the pupils, what are your thoughts on this?

Curtis what did you mean by set to track" And if the strobes are powered down to low levels and the modeling lights are set to track with the strobe power, then they might not give you much."

Thanx!

[Curtis N]

Is leaving modeling lights on when taking the exposurses common practice?Yes. Their output is miniscule compared to the strobe and won't affect the exposure.Someone had wrote that they use a halogen ligts focused on the models face to close the pupils, what are your thoughts on this?I'm sure it's effective, if indeed closed pupils is what you want.Curtis what did you mean by set to track" And if the strobes are powered down to low levels and the modeling lights are set to track with the strobe power, then they might not give you much."Most good monolights have a feature that adjusts the power of the modeling light according to the power level that the strobe is set to. This makes the modeling lights more useful as you can see the effects of different ratios. The downside is that if you're using the strobes at low output levels, the modeling lights may not give you enough light for aufofocus to work well.

I am certainly not a studio expert. But I have read many times that having a switch for the room lights near the camera is a part of good studio design. Turn off the room lights to see the effects of your modeling lights and set the ratios. Then turn the room lights back on to help with autofocusing and take your shots. As Leo mentioned, they generally won't influence the flash exposure as long as your shutter speed is reasonably fast.