New AB800 not firing

amye

Hello! I apologize in advance if this question has been covered elsewhere-- I tried a few searches, but didn't come up with anything...

I have a Canon 20D and I just purchased (and received!) my first studio light-- the Alien Bee "Beginner Bee" package with the AB800.

I finally cleared out my "studio" area and got everything set up... and everything was going smoothly according to the AB manual-- until I tried firing the flash unit from my 20D (using the supplied 15' sync cord-- can't afford wireless triggers just yet!

The flash fires perfectly with the test button, but when I press the shutter... nothing.

What am I doing wrong?

I know Alien Bee has great customer service and I intend to call them first thing on Monday, if I can't resolve this before then-- but it's Saturday and I want to play with my new toys!

Any thoughts? Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!
Amy

Shay Stephens

Check the cord. With the cord plugged into the b800, try briefly shorting the end that would go into the camera. If the flash doesn't fire, then the problem is most likely the cord.

If you have a multimeter, you can try and get a continuity test on on the cable.

amye

Thank you for the suggestions!

Ok-- I just tried shorting the cord, and it fires... I also tried it with my Sekonic 358 attached to the cord and that fires it just fine, too.

ugh!

Could it possibly be my a polarity issue with my camera?

Anything else I could try...?

Shay Stephens

Ok, good news, we have the problem isolated. That can be the hardest part.

Do you have a hotshoe to pc cord adapter? If so you can try triggering the flash via the hotshoe:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=89979&is=REG&addedTroughType=search

If you don't have one, you should get one just to have a backup way to trigger a flash.

Check the connector on the camera and the end of the cord that plugs into the camera. Just make sure its clean and not damaged in some way not loose etc.

PC cords and connectors are notoriously unreliable, so don't feel bad if this needs a repair or workaround. After a few rounds with this, wireless doesn't look so expensive after all hehehe.

amye

Super! I will go out and try to find a hot shoe adapter today...

Yeah, maybe I WILL try to spring for that wireless setup a little sooner than later!

Thanks so much for your help!

tmlphoto

You should be able to fire it by using your onboard flash to trigger the b800. Just set the FEC -3 so it won't effect the picture.

Shay Stephens

If you fire the b800 optically, make sure the camera is not generating a second flash. The b800 only fires on the first flash. And make sure nothing is plugged into the sync jack on the flash. Plugging anything into the jack disables the optical slave.

tmlphoto wrote:

You should be able to fire it by using your onboard flash to trigger the b800. Just set the FEC -3 so it won't effect the picture.

amye

Thanks to you both!

I was able to find the adapter, and that works perfectly! I also tried firing it optically after reading that option, and that works too!

Obviously my built-in port is screwed up. I'm not sure if it's worth getting repaired since i found these workarounds, but I 'll probably look into it anyway.

Thanks again for all of your help!

Shay Stephens

Great news!