Lighting hi, i am new to photography lighting. I just got a novatron v2400d flash system and set everything up however I cannont get it to trigger the lights when i take a photo. when i put the sync cord on my hotshoe the lights are triggered like there is a short in the wiring. I don't know if this is normal? Do I need to sync the settings on my camera with the lights? Do I need to mount an external flash also on my camera? I'm using a canon rebel xs.

The Wansen RF-602 for canon can.
Check what Wansen has to say. Eventually use Google to find what test sites like DPreview has to say about triggers.
Products Flash Trigger WanSen Photography

Different lights for different effects. If you want the best color, and want to avoid harsh shadows, shop on ebay for a Novatron power pack and flash heads. Two flash heads and the pack can be had for under $200. Start making money before spending more. The flash heads will provide great color, allow for adding umbrellas to diffuse the light, and allow for shooting at lower ISO so you have high image quality. The flatheads also have flicker free tungsten modeling lights.

Have you check the fuse or try replacing a new flashtube?
Are you using in Slave or with wireless radio?

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The value of older studio equipment is very dependant on demand. You can get an idea from ebay and if listed craigs list, or some f the big NY houses that sell used equipment. 40 to 60% of new value is a starting point depending upon age and condition. The newer, better it looks the closer to retail you should be able to get - if people are willing to pay it.

You would be best served if you bought and optical slave trigger or a radio trigger for that camera. If the Novatron unit is old enough, the voltage may be too high to use with the Nikon D40. Once you have a trigger, the camera can be used in the Manual mode like your F3HP. the synch would be 1/60th and you set the camera aperture through the control dial.

As long as you do not use the powerpack with only one head plugged into it you should be fine. When you plug in a head to the novatron the power pack power is divide between the heads. so 1500 WS divided by three heads is 500WS per head. Only if you find they are contributing to the expose by giving you a warm or amber cast to the backgrounds especially or on the subject.

A wireless system such as the line of Pocket Wizards is a good choice- the are builr to professional standards and are very reliable.

If you wish to hard wire your flash unit to your digital camera, you can purchase a protector wivh reduces the trigger voltage to a safe level refatdless of the age or design of the flasg system you are goinf to use, Under no circumstances should you use this combunation of equipment without a radio triggering device or the protector, The protector attache to the hot shoe of the camera and provides a standard PC synch cord terminal for connecting your flash system to the camera.

You can test the voltage by putting a volt meter set a 250 or 500 VDC across the synch socket in the flasg unit, If the meter deflects negatively just revers the polaity for a correct reading. If there is under 5 volts there is ptobably no issue, however, I still would take no chasces abd use a radio or a protector. If the falsh won't fire with the radio or protector in place, tha probably means tha the synch voltage is very low.

First you need to isolate the problem by doing some troubleshooting.
1) try a known good sync cord to determine if the problem is the sync cord and not the power pack.
2) try a known good sync cord with a known good camera to determine that the problem is not in the camera.
3) try your camera with a different power pack to confirm your camera is triggering the power pack OK.
These steps will isolate the source of the problem.

Hey matty reps,
Aperture priority is a setting on most SLR cameras where you choose the aperture, which is the size of the opening in the lens that lets light thru, and the camera chooses a shutter speed that provides a correct exposure. The smaller the opening in the lens the less light that gets thru to expose the film so the shutter has to stay open longer to provide a correct exposure, but the smaller the aperture you use the larger the depth of field. Depth of field is how far in front and behind the subject things are in sharp focus. Canon refers to aperture priority as Av mode. With flash photography the camera usually sets the shutter speed to a designated speed called xsync speed, which is probably 1/90th of a second since this is what you said the camera was setting it to, but that speed is irrelevant since the duration of the flash is what determines the exposure time with flash photography which is usually around 1/10000 of a second (easily fast enough to stop almost any action). In aperture priority with a flash the smaller the aperture you use the more that will be in focus but more light will be needed from the flash and the closer you will need to be to your subject. A hotshoe mounted flash will help tremendously. I hope I didn't confuse you more, but as I said before you are attempting something difficult to do in photography. Keep trying and you'll get it!

Sincerely,
Allan
Go Ahead. Use Us.

I had that same problem with the SB600 and the SB 800. Solutions; get a new one. After about a year of usage the sb600 started giving me that problem. It flashes but it does not sync. It still works as a remote unit, but not mounted on the camera. The SB800 just went to a coma last weekend. No sync at all, not even as remote unit, no strobe function, just a bright flash, when triggering the test button with new fresh batteries, it flashes at max power once and takes around 7 seconds to recycle. No multiple flashes at all. I had to buy a new one.