Issue with eBay remotes on 5D

This may be a bug in the remote units, but here's what I got...

When I am taking an interior shot with a long exposure (say 5 seconds), my remotes are firing the strobes twice: once when the shutter is released and once when the shutter is closing (not good). It only happens on long exposures since the flash takes 1-4 sec. to recharge. I've tried both of my units (4 channel ones) and it happen on both. Anyone have this issue?

I've just ordered the gadget infinity ebay trigger and receivers. I'll do a test when they arrive and let you know.

The flashes come with this setting. Are you sure you've not got it switched on?

My 430EX allows it to fire a smaller flash when the shutter first opens, then a brighter one just before it closes.

I dont know about using the remotes, but isnt that a setting on the flash itself? I know my main flash (Sigma DG EO 500) has a second shutter option I believe, which I never use, but I dont know if thats related to your issue.

TimothyHughes wrote in post #4035941
This may be a bug in the remote units, but here's what I got...

When I am taking an interior shot with a long exposure (say 5 seconds), my remotes are firing the strobes twice: once when the shutter is released and once when the shutter is closing (not good). It only happens on long exposures since the flash takes 1-4 sec. to recharge. I've tried both of my units (4 channel ones) and it happen on both. Anyone have this issue?

If you are using the remote to control the shutter of the camera, that should not have any effect on how many times your flash fires. What I think is happening, as someone has already mentioned, is that you have either your flash or your camera set to 2nd curtain sync. If that is the case, the first flash you see would be the preflash which fires before the first shutter curtain actually opens. The second flash would be the actual flash and in 2nd curtain sync mode, it would fire just before the 2nd shutter curtain closes (and hence the name).

To clarify, I'm using AlienBees with the remote, not a SpeedLight. I've tested it with one strobe, so it's not a slave issue.

If that is a 5D setting, I guess it's possible. I would have thought that setting would have been on the Speedlight flash.

Ok, I just checked my camera body and custom function 15 is set at the default setting of 0:1st-curtain sync.

My guess is that my 5D is sending a signal to the remotes twice, once for shutter open and once for shutter close. The remote should ignore the second signal I think.

Hi Timothy,

Got my Gadget Infinity ebay trigger and receivers; they work perfectly with both my 30D and 5D cameras. I did the 5D test on exposure of 5 seconds and more and the flash triggered once, on shutter opening - no problem at all. All I can say is that 580EX is on slave mode and on manual setting?