I need help with my home studio set up

wrote:

I recently purchased a used britek lighting set I have 3 lights
hs1000, hs 800, and hs500. The camera I have is a Sony a100. The
problem is that even though the lights are firing when my flash goes
off. There is no noticeable difference in the light of the picture. I
have experimented with the closeness of the lights to the subject and
the ambient light in the room all yielding the same results. I have
turned off the strobes and taken the pic with out them and they look
the same as when the lights are on. I am wondering if this is a sync
problem that can be corrected by radio controls or sync cord or if it
is something else all together. I am a newbie with studio lights so
any help would be appreciated.

You say the lights fire when your flash goes off. You don't say how
you're triggering them. If it's optically the problem is probably that
your A100 produces preflashes which are triggering them before your
shutter opens. There are lots of ways of getting round that problem,
but you need first to give more details about what triggering method
you're using.

--
Chris Malcolm

wrote:
On Feb 26, 8:54?pm, Chris Malcolm wrote:
wrote:
I recently purchased a used britek lighting set I have 3 lights
hs1000, hs 800, and hs500. ?The camera I have is a Sony a100. ?The
problem is that even though the lights are firing whenmyflash goes
off. There is no noticeable difference in the light of the picture. ?I
have experimented with the closeness of the lights to the subject and
the ambient light in the room all yielding the same results. I have
turned off the strobes and taken the pic with out them and they look
the same as when the lights are on. ?I am wondering if this is a sync
problem that can be corrected by radio controls or sync cord or if it
is something else all together. ?I am a newbie withstudiolights so
anyhelpwould be appreciated.

You say the lights fire when your flash goes off. You don't say how
you're triggering them. If it's optically the problem is probably that
your A100 produces preflashes which are triggering them before your
shutter opens. There are lots of ways of getting round that problem,
but youneedfirst to give more details about what triggering method
you're using.

--
Chris Malcolm

I have my camera flash set on the wireless setting.

Sony's wireless setting uses specially coded preflashes to communicate
between flashes and camera. It won't work with
non-sony-wireless-flash-compatible kit, and will confusew anything
relying on simple first-flash optical triggering.

You cheapest option is probably a hot shoe converter with a sync cord
socket. The sync connection is always triggered at the right time for
a remote flash.

I have also set
my camera flash to the rear sync setting as well.

The sync cord connection responds properly to front and rear sync
settings.

Either one
produces similar results. The slave sensors on the back of the
strobes pick up the light from my flash and then they fire. They
don't always fire when the flash on my camera goes off. (I have not
changed positions or anything) I am not sure why that is happening as
well.

Do you always check the flashes are ready to fire? Some take a long
time to recharge, and some go into sleep mode if unused for a minute
or two.

As I was suspecting I will need to get a radio trigger or sync
cords. I really appreciate everyone feed back. You have been more
help then the lighting companies I have called. Does anyone have
suggestions for types of universal radio triggers?

Any kind of radio flash trigger should work, the cheapest ones being
not quite so reliable in difficult conditions. But sometimes there are
weird compatibility issues with the cheapest ones. If going for the
cheap ones safest if you can find a local photographer who will let
you try out their cheap radio triggers. Note that there have been
recent improvements to the cheapest models.

or the type of sync
cord I would need for my strobes.

All you need is the right plugs to fit your sockets, the rest is just
plain wire.

--
Chris Malcolm