Syncing a Canon 300d to strobe lights-problems and questions

[hellopike]

Hi all I just bought a EOS 300d on Friday, and I took it into school to use it in the studio for some portraits for Portraiture class and I ran into a wall when it came to getting the strobes to sync with the camera. They wouldn't. I was useing a pair of white lightning 2400s and the hotshoe was a "tundra hotshoe adapter 97hsa" (which was working everytime I used a school nikon d100) whenever I would fire the camera (300d) I would get "error 99" on my display. I called the canon customer service and after about 15 minutes of nonsense (what is your address, what is your email, the 300d is a wonderful machine, isn't it? I love mine.. etc.. etc..) he tells me its a problem with the hotshoe. say it could be the voltage of the lights? Tells me I should look for "TTL hotshoe 3" or check out weinporducts.com for a safe sync? I'm about to head off to check these things out, but I wanted to post here to find out if anyone had a similar experiance and how you rectified it. I really need to get this problem fixed, because half the reason I bought the camera when I did was to help with my studio portaits.

thans alot.

Phil

[castledude]

Yes you do need a safesync. The Canon specs its terminals for 5V max some of the studio lights (and even some strobes) can put out up to 200+Volts. Most safe syncs are over the Canon spec (6V) but seem to work.

I had the same problem when I did my shoots.

Other tips: Shoot in Raw mode
Shoot a Grey Card at the beginning of the session.
If you are sharing the lights polarity can matter.
A lot of Canon people buy IR or radio transmitters for this problem.

[creativeimagery]

I use a Wein safe synch on all my cameras. Newer cameras in particular need protection from older and studio strobes, which can put enough voltage across the hot shoe to fry the circuits in your camera. You're lucky you didn't do that!

[mikesimages]

I have a 10d and had a similar problem with White Lightning strobes. Unlike other cameras from other manufacturers, Canon has polarized synch connections. I have used mine without any type of problem and have taken many thousands of images without any type of "Safe-Synch".

I did however have a problem once and thought I really fried something since tripping the shutter wouldn't fire the lights. I switched synch cords, and tried everything, but nothing worked. I called my local dealer who told me something I did not know. He said that the household to PC plug that goes into the synch cord, needs to be inserted one way only. He suggested that I unplug it, rotate the household plug 180 degrees, and try that. BINGO! It has worked fine since. Try that first.

I now have a small amount of fingernail polish marking the proper way to match the two cords.

Good luck,

Mike

[creativeimagery]

Mike,

I had the same problem with White Lightnings and my Canon G3. I tried all sorts of things, final reversed the dual prong to PC plug and, bingo, the flash fired. I thought it just been a bad connection! I probably ran into the same problem with my Canon EOS at some time or other, and was able to fix it without knowing why. Now I know better. Thanks Mike!

Terry