Don't trust those strobes

[Alastair]

Ok, so a friend of mine, let's call him, uh, A. Bird. *No, no that's too obvious. *Maybe Alastair B. *D'Oh. *Anyway, he doesn't want to be identified because he did something really stupid that he was speicifically told not to do.

Anyway, this 'friend' of mine just bought a new Imacon V96C. *Amazing piece of equipment. *Astonishing files, clients and art directors love it, everything is great.

When he bought it from Beau Photo in Vancouver (great people, Mike Mander is an absolute GOLD MINE of information) he was told not to plug it into any non-iso compliant pack on the super-duper off chance that the extra voltage might damage the back. *Couldn't happen to me, I (I mean, he) said.

He shoots with Profoto Acutes, so everything was fine. *Goes to a friend's studio, starts shooting with his friend's Speedotrons.

BIG, FOOLISH MISTAKE.

Speedos are non-iso compliant. *The speedos fry the synch in the back. *Back still works (thank Heaven) but it has to go back to Redmond to get fixed. *Minimum $400 repair. *And a good thing the back wasn't written off. *Apparently the older backs would get COMPLETELY FRIED if this happened to them.

So, if you shoot with a digital camera, and I'm sure many of you do,*PLEASE consider buying yourself some Pocketwizards or some other sort of NON-HARD WIRED triggering devices.

It might just save your very expensive camera from some very expensive damage.

Mine (I mean my friend's) PocketWizards are ready to be picked up when the back is returned.

Consider yourself warned. *And sorry about all those capital letters, but if you want to really know if this is true, call me and I'll send you a copy of the repair invoice. *Unfortunately, this urban myth is true.


-Alastair. (and his pal)

[bmrstudios]

Hi Alastair,
I wouldn't trust any strobe, compliant or not. There are plenty of old units out there that have the trigger transformer wired directly into the sync port. Using radio sync also solves another problem, tripping over sync cords. Some sports shooters use radio sync instead of light triggered slave units when shooting in areas where others might be using flash cameras.

This brings to mind a story I heard of an assistant who plugged the photographer's sync cord (with an AC plug on the end) into a wall outlet! Everything was fine until he pressed the shutter release.

Regards
Barry M. Robinson

You two guys should go on the road, you could be the next Wayne and Schuster. I haven't laughed that much in at least a month. The anecdotes might contain gems of wisdom, but the presentation is more fun. I only have one question, why is that assistant still alive?? and remind me never to hire them.

Hope your friend survives the repair bill Alastair.

Cheers,
Peter

[andrewr]

You just can't be too careful with digital cameras and strobes. Even older Vivitar 283's have very high trigger voltages that will fry some digi-cams.

And if you're shooting tethered, don't forget about a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) on your computer. When I was working at Vistek I also heard a story from the service techs about an assistant who caused a major short circuit by plugging a pack in wrong (sorry, I can't remember the specifics). The digital camera was separated from the pack with Pocket Wizards, but the short circuit sent a power surge through the computer and into the camera via the firewire cable.

The pack, the computer, and the digital back were all severely damaged. And if the assistant made it out alive, I'm sure he never worked again.

Cheers,

Andrew

[Alastair]

Nice to hear there are other stories about people making mistakes. *I think I'll pick up a couple of those power supplies as well. *considering how much they cost, they are worth every penny.
Mike at Beau says that he'll include a pair of PocketWizards in all his quotes for new Digital equipment from now on. *I told him that if any clients are asking about the importance of such a purchase, they can give me a call and I can tell them my story.

And when you think about it, although I suppose it is a tried and true design, having the synch outlet as a household plug is just asking for trouble, really... I remember standing over a Speedo pack when I was just starting assisting and thinking, "no, the pack is already plugged in, I shouldn't have to plug it in again, from the top..." *Strange they never changed the synch to something else...

And another friend of mine shoots with Pocketwizards because he says that when he gets everything tethered, sometimes his laptop freezes because of all the bits of wire tying all the devices together. *

But you do make a good point about not trusting any strobes, Barry. *Probably best from now on to not shoot anything synched, just to be on the safe side. And I always worry about stepping on my synch cord. And whether or not they will work...

I'll make it through, though. *The back should be back in a few days and I'll pick up where I left off with some shiny new pieces of equipment to protect me from myself.

-Alastair.