Fuji GX 680 III synch problems with pocket wizards

[Alan Housel]

Hi All,

(I posted this on the old Yahoo Flexframe group, too. Sorry if you are getting this twice.) I just upgraded to a Fuji GX680 III and thought everything was great
until I tried to use it with pocket wizards, today. It will fire once
with flash and then the pocket wizard status light goes from
"blinking" red to "solid" red. From that point on the camera will fire
but the strobes won't. I tried taking the wizard off the hot shoe and
synching off the cord out of the back, that also didn't work.

I was able to switch over to the Contax 645 and finish the shoot but
was really peeved. I'm on Flex 4.8.6 on an iMac with 10.5.5 with a
528c - tethered. I just tried the camera again and made sure my prefs
were set to GX680 III, the problem is still occurring. The readme for
4.8.8 doesn't appear to mention any issue like this being resolved.

I bought the camera on eBay so maybe that's where I went astray? I
wasn't having this issue with my old GX680 which is about to sell on
eBay, oops! Is there a version of Flex that will solve my problem or
do you think it is my camera?

I haven't tried it with Phocus. Any ideas would be greatly
appreciated. I did resolve the rotation to vertical issue - thanks to
all who helped! Kev, are you out there?

Cheers,

Alan Housel

Charlottesville, VA

Everyday is an adventure! Thank God for beer.
Snow showers this Wednesday...

[David Grover]

Hi Alan,

Its a while since I have used the GX but I remember there is a flash PC socket and a hot shoe.

Which connection were you using and did you try another one?

The GX has an oddity with the flash sync and we had to make a special cable for it to use  CF back with flash sync connection if I remember.  I think you will find if after each shot if you turn the wizard off and on it will fix it.

The GX (I think) has a thyristor controlled flash sync connection and is probably not dropped down to zero volts after the exposure so the Wizard is still 'closed'.

The schneider electronic shutter had a similar issue until the firmware was changed.

Best,


David

[Alan Housel]

Thank you to Michael Haskins! I found out that the GX680 III has a different cable than the GX680 II. Once I got the new pc to micro cable marked specifically for the GX680 III from Hblad, it worked. Something to keep in mind for those who switch cameras between mark I, II and III.