Nikon SB-28 fires only at the second frame

[lynxlynx.ch]

Dear all,

I'm a camera trap newbie and just bought me some material to create a DSLR camera trap:

Pelican Housing
Nikon D5500
Nikon AF 20 mm D 2.8 lens
2 Nikon SB-28
Pixel TF-322
PC Sync cable
Trailmaster TM-550

The whole setup is working except for the Nikon SB-28, i set them to standby mode but when the trailmaster triggers the camera the SB-28 wakes up at the first frame and fires only at the second frame. I haven't found out yet, how to solve this problem. When i put the Nikon SB-28 on the Nikon D5500 directly it fires at the first frame, and also when i put the Pixel TF-322 on the hotshoe. I guess the problem must be between Pixel - PC Sync cable and Nikon Flash. Is it possible that this scenario doesn't work with the PC Sync cable ? Only with the Nikon SC-26. Do i need some other Hot Shoe Adapter ?
Does anyone have this setup with Pixel TF-322, PC Sync cable and Nikon SB-28 ?

Thank you very much for your feedback.

kind regards

Lars

[-jeff]

Hi.....welcome to the forum.

The SB28 and other SB series of Nikon flashes make wonderful camera trap flashes. The sleep mode and quick wake up make it a natural for camera trapping.

There are two ways to remotely wake a SB28. One is with the PC port in the flash. The problem with this method is the first flash trigger wakes the flash and the second triggers the flash. Not exactly ideal for camera trapping. You either end up with a shot of the animal looking at the camera or the backside of the animal as it was spooked by the noise of the camera shutter.

The second method is providing the flash with a wake up signal when the camera shutter button is pressed half way down. On Nikon and Canon cameras there is a pin on the camera hotshoe that goes positive when the camera shutter button is pressed half way down. A wire needs to be run from this pin to the corresponding pin on the flash shoe.

There are a few wireless flash triggers out there that provide the wake signal. I have been using the Phottix Strato II with success. This is a really easy way to trigger multiple flashes.

If you are a "do it yourself" type, you can make your own cable. If not then there are some off the shelf commercial cables out there. Or you can have the guys at TRLcam.com build a custom cable for you.

Here are a couple wiring diagrams showing the connections between the camera and flash. One diagram for a single flash and one for multi flashes. Both diagrams are non-TTL.

When the shutter button is pressed halfway down, a voltage of about 3 volts is sent down the wake pin. This small voltage wakes the flash. When the shutter button is pressed all the way down, the flash fire pin is pulled to ground causing the flash to fire. The diodes are in the circuit to isolate the flashes from each other.

20181015120415-320bc7c2-me.jpg

20181015120411-c6afdc9b-me.jpg

Hope this helps. Good luck in your camera trap project and post the results here.

[lynxlynx.ch]

Dear Jeff,

Thank you very much for your helpful information. I didn't knew that.
I always thought i am doing something wrong :-)
OK. I have thought that a wireless solution could be less reliable than a wired one because more batteries, that could fail... but that could be a good solution for me to. On the other hand i am a bit of a "do it yourself" type and i guess i'll try to make my own cable.

Thank you very much, now i know how to go forward with this project and i'm happy to post the results here !

kind regards from Switzerland

Lars

[-jeff]

If you have two Pixel TF-322, you can take them apart and solder to the three pins you need to trigger the flash.

Here is a diagram of the hotshoe. The connections you want are Ground, Data (Q) and Handshake (SP). The Handshake pin goes high when the shutter button is pressed half way down and wakes the flash.


20151231113200-a5e4ba3d.jpg

One hint, do not apply heat too long to the pins while soldering. The pin will melt the plastic around it and the pin will be easily pressed through the plastic housing.

[lynxlynx.ch]

Dear Jeff,

Yes, i have more than two Pixel TF-322

That's really great ! Thank you very much :-)
I'll try that at the weekend

kind regards
Lars

[Kevininbath]

Hi All,

I'm using a Nikon camera and SB-28 attached via Nikon (3 core!) SC-27 flash cord to a Nikon SC-28 extension cord and back to the hotshoe - having the same problem and the flash connected via the 3 core SC-27 cable wakes on first frame and fires on the second if the flash is allowed to sleep.

So although I have three core cable it appears to carry the Ground, X-Sync and Data but not the Handshake, does that sound correct? It appears there is a way to rewire a Nikon AS-10 as documented here http://www.emmanuelrondeau.com/publi...r-camera-trap/ but that talks about making a connection to a canon camera not Nikon, so I think there is a need to isolate one of the pins at the Nikon camera with electrical tape if using the SC-27 as a final connection back to camera?

In the scenario you describe does the last flash still use the X-Sync to fire the flash?

Thanks

[-jeff]

The SC-27 and SC-28 does use three conductors. The problem is one of the conductors is connected to the Data(Q) pin rather than the Handshake(SP) pin. So, to make this work you will need to do a little re-wiring of the AS-10 and SC-28.

[Kevininbath]

The SC-27 and SC-28 does use three conductors. The problem is one of the conductors is connected to the Data(Q) pin rather than the Handshake(SP) pin. So, to make this work you will need to do a little re-wiring of the AS-10 and SC-28.

Dear Jeff,

After having battery and sync issues with my wireless triggers so I've taken a stab and rewiring the SC-17 connector and SC-27 three core cable to carry the wake signal, essentially using the red 'quench' pin in the SC-27 as the wake and moving the 'quench' red wire in the SC-17 connector onto the 3-pin socket. I tested the setup with my multimeter and all connections looked good, and after connecting the flashes to the camera both triggered on first fire as expected.

However, leaving the trap overnight the flashes stop working. I think the second (last flash) goes to sleep and doesn't wake - worst still it prevents the first flash firing because if I turn the secondary flash off the main flash will fire again. If I turn everything off and back on it all works.....goes to sleep and both flashes wake etc.

I was hoping the hardwired system would be more reliable! Any thoughts please.............here is one of my successful shots with the Hahnel Captur wireless triggers, just too many batteries to fail.

Thanks.

[ArthurV]

That is some valuable information, Jeff.

[lynxlynx.ch]

I tried to follow your instructions, but unfortunately i couldn't fix this issue. I guess i did something wrong. That's why i created a visualisation

Pixel TF-322 Modification.JPG

On the left side is the original cabeling from the Pixel TF-322. Only X-Sync and Ground are connected to the PC Sync Port.
I soldered the Handshake & Data to the Ground Connection of the PC Sync Port. It is still working but always only from the second trigger. What am i missing ? Or what did i wrong ?
Maybe the chaining of my 2 Nikon SB-28 is wrong ? That's why i created a schematic for it...

DSLR Camera trap schematic.jpg

Any ideas ?

thank you very much !

Kind regards

Lars