Problem triggering flash fl50 using sunpak dsu 01

[dnkfjr]

Hi all,

I have an external flash FL-50 which I am trying to use with my wife's canon pns (ixus) by triggering using Sunpak dsu-01. What I intend to do is to use the flash off-camera. To trigger it unfortunately I have to fire the hilt in flash on the ixus.

I just got the sunpak dsu today but didn't test on the shop with the camera and flash. But when I tried at home, it seems that the dsu most of the time failed to fire although it definitely detected the flash from the ixus (direct line of sight for the sensor).
On some occasion it did fire, but after that it would then stop when I retook the shot.
Sometimes something weird would happen, when I lifted the flash unit with the trigger unit attached, the flash will fire a few times, which is worrying and can be dangerous.

I am thinking of bringing the trigger and my flash as well to the camera shop and ask for some assistance there. I am thinking it could be a faulty trigger unit.

But also i would like to ask your opinions / advice if anyone have had experience using sunpak dsu with fl50 or other flash ? Did you have similar problem? Or has some ideas why it didn't work for me?

Thanks a lot

 

[spidey89]

What you say is sort of confusing, but are you sure the flash is seated properly? And are you sure that the DSU can see the flash? Sometimes what we can see doesn't mean the flash will see, I used FL-50R with built in slave,works without any issue

Sometimes, the camera fires a pre flash, when using slaves, the slave cannot distinguish pre flashes from normal flash and will hence just fire as long as it sees a pulse of light

 

[dnkfjr]

Hi spidey. Thanks for the response. I used to own e510 Olympus but it is now spoilt and to repair it cost a lot. I don't plan to buy new dslr at the moment. But since my e-flash is still working and rather than let it go waste, I thought I can use it with a compact camera (use it off-camera of course).

I am using a pns camera without the preflash capabilitiescso that shouldnt be the one causing problem. Anyway it is possible to set ignore preflashes on the dsu.

Today I brought the unit back to the shop along with my flash for testing. It turns out that the unit itself was faulty as we tested other flash and the same problem happened during the test.

But according to the shop assistant, these dsu works only on non-TTL flashes (having one pin for contact) The who assistant was kind to allow refund of the purchase. we did try testing non-TTL flash and my fl50 on another dsu unit in the shop. The nonttl flash works fine and mine didn't fire at all.

I still don't really know if really these dsu only works for nonTTL flashes. Even if it is true, I wonder if there is a workaround or some way to trick to to work.

 

[spidey89]

Glad it worked out for you,probably the tagotech slave cells could work? I've only used the built in slave, else I use radio triggers so its hard for me to comment on dsu