Help - Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ50 and Genrad Strobotac

Hello,

Maybe someone can help, I'm trying to trigger a Stobotac with a
Panasonic Lumix using a Wein HSHSB hot shoe adapter. Funny thing is,
I've taken it to 2 different camera shops and they manage to get the
thing to work somewhat but back at the office, no luck.

The Wein has a test button which will trigger the strobe but the
shutter release on the camera will not (when I'm not in a camera
shop). The strobe seems hair-triggered enough that just picking up the
camera in the camera shop fires it a couple times (probably static
electricity) but only, it seems, when everything is sitting on a glass
counter top.

Everything is brand new, stobe works great when set to internal
trigger, cable is OK because test button fires the stobe (when set to
external control) every time. Panasonic customer support was no help,
except to say it was 6 volt. Wein said something about the reduced
voltage feature of the hot shoe adapter may be the problem. I don't
need voltage, the strobotac is 110 VAC, shorting the terminals of the
cable fires the strobe, any ideas?

Thanks for reading
David

On 2007-01-30, wrote:

[snip]

Everything is brand new, stobe works great when set to internal
trigger, cable is OK because test button fires the stobe (when set to
external control) every time. Panasonic customer support was no help,
except to say it was 6 volt. Wein said something about the reduced
voltage feature of the hot shoe adapter may be the problem. I don't
need voltage, the strobotac is 110 VAC, shorting the terminals of the
cable fires the strobe, any ideas?

May seem strange but, try turning the hot-shoe adapter through 180
degrees. I had a camera with no X-sync socket and used a hot shoe
adapater that had an X-sync socket to fire it, trouble was, it'd only
work one way around... the way that meant I got the lead poking into my
forehead as I was focusing... but at least it fired!

YMMV.

Justin.

--
Justin C by the sea.

schrieb im Newsbeitrag
oups.com...
Hello,

Maybe someone can help, I'm trying to trigger a Stobotac with a
Panasonic Lumix using a Wein HSHSB hot shoe adapter. Funny thing is,
I've taken it to 2 different camera shops and they manage to get the
thing to work somewhat but back at the office, no luck.

The Wein has a test button which will trigger the strobe but the
shutter release on the camera will not (when I'm not in a camera
shop). The strobe seems hair-triggered enough that just picking up the
camera in the camera shop fires it a couple times (probably static
electricity) but only, it seems, when everything is sitting on a glass
counter top.

Everything is brand new, stobe works great when set to internal
trigger, cable is OK because test button fires the stobe (when set to
external control) every time. Panasonic customer support was no help,
except to say it was 6 volt. Wein said something about the reduced
voltage feature of the hot shoe adapter may be the problem. I don't
need voltage, the strobotac is 110 VAC, shorting the terminals of the
cable fires the strobe, any ideas?

Thanks for reading
David

I assume that you want to catch a moving part several times on a single
image using a long exposure time. The Strobotac can either be triggered by
impulses (bypassing the internal generator) or by contact closure between
the remote trigger input and ground. Then it will start firing a series of
flashes at the preset rate as long as the contact stays closed. The FZ 50
provides a (semiconductor emulated) contact closure, but only for a very
short time after the shutter has opened. This is an impulse that is just
long enough to trigger a conventional flash unit. What you need is a device
that is triggered by this "closure" and holding the "contact" closed until
it is manually reset or times out after the shutter is closed. I could not
find out what kind of voltage drop the Strobotac still sees as a "closed
contact", but it will probably be compatible with standard TTL or CMOS logic
levels. There are several possible solutions, either use a 555 type timer
that is triggered by the hot shoe "contact closure", in a one - shot circuit
dimensioned for a time slightly longer than the maximum exposure time. The
555 output would then be connected to the trigger input of the Strobotac or
you could use a flip-flop with manual reset. If case the Strobotac needs a
really low input voltage, a Mosfet used as the output component might do the
trick. Unfortunately you will not be able to find such a circuit ready made
for your application, you will have to find somebody knowledgeable in
electronics who is willing to use a soldering iron.

On Jan 30, 3:09 pm, "Cgiorgio" wrote:
schrieb im Newsbeitragnews:1170186211.830936.214280@p10g2000c wp.googlegroups.com...



Hello,

Maybe someone can help, I'm trying to trigger a Stobotac with a
Panasonic Lumix using a Wein HSHSB hot shoe adapter. Funny thing is,
I've taken it to 2 different camera shops and they manage to get the
thing to work somewhat but back at the office, no luck.

The Wein has a test button which will trigger the strobe but the
shutter release on the camera will not (when I'm not in a camera
shop). The strobe seems hair-triggered enough that just picking up the
camera in the camera shop fires it a couple times (probably static
electricity) but only, it seems, when everything is sitting on a glass
counter top.

Everything is brand new, stobe works great when set to internal
trigger, cable is OK because test button fires the stobe (when set to
external control) every time. Panasonic customer support was no help,
except to say it was 6 volt. Wein said something about the reduced
voltage feature of the hot shoe adapter may be the problem. I don't
need voltage, the strobotac is 110 VAC, shorting the terminals of the
cable fires the strobe, any ideas?

Thanks for reading
David

I assume that you want to catch a moving part several times on a single
image using a long exposure time. The Strobotac can either be triggered by
impulses (bypassing the internal generator) or by contact closure between
the remote trigger input and ground. Then it will start firing a series of
flashes at the preset rate as long as the contact stays closed. The FZ 50
provides a (semiconductor emulated) contact closure, but only for a very
short time after the shutter has opened. This is an impulse that is just
long enough to trigger a conventional flash unit. What you need is a device
that is triggered by this "closure" and holding the "contact" closed until
it is manually reset or times out after the shutter is closed. I could not
find out what kind of voltage drop the Strobotac still sees as a "closed
contact", but it will probably be compatible with standard TTL or CMOS logic
levels. There are several possible solutions, either use a 555 type timer
that is triggered by the hot shoe "contact closure", in a one - shot circuit
dimensioned for a time slightly longer than the maximum exposure time. The
555 output would then be connected to the trigger input of the Strobotac or
you could use a flip-flop with manual reset. If case the Strobotac needs a
really low input voltage, a Mosfet used as the output component might do the
trick. Unfortunately you will not be able to find such a circuit ready made
for your application, you will have to find somebody knowledgeable in
electronics who is willing to use a soldering iron.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

(to Justin) Yes we tried it both ways, still no luck, thanks.

(to Cgiorgio) Yes, we want to catch a moving part, but only a single
frame at a time. The setup is for photographing expander blades
through glass portholes, one porthole for the camera, the other for
the flash. The expander is a large single stage turbine that recovers
energy by breaking down process gas pressure. It runs at ~ 6,000 rpms
and has 63 blades. So far we have been successful using the strobotac
at a multiple of running speed and also taking video clips but we
would like to (1) experiment with catching the blades by triggering a
single fire from the strobotac and (2) eventually phase the strobotac
using an expander prox. probe. We have negotiated a loaner delay box
to scroll through the blades when using phased strobe firing.
You have given me some very good suggestions here and I'm very
thankful, I may be dismantling the Wein hot shoe adapter and trying to
see what kind of circuitry can be rigged between the hot shoe contact
and the PC socket.

schrieb im Newsbeitrag
oups.com...
On Jan 30, 3:09 pm, "Cgiorgio" wrote:
schrieb im
Newsbeitragnews:1170186211.830936.214280@p10g2000c wp.googlegroups.com...



I have meanwhile read the manual for the model 1546 Strobotac. Your problem
is that it will only recognize trigger pulses go below 1 Volt. Because a
camera hot shoe is involving a bridge rectifier and an additional switching
element (transistor or fet) the voltage drop is too high, so for your
application you need to convert the level with an active interface circuit.
The 5.5 Volts DC provided by the external trigger jack should be sufficient
to power such a circuit, a simple two transistor circuit will do the job
(PNP- Transistor at the hotshoe - input side, NPN at the output, just drive
the output transistor into saturation, giving about 0,8 volts trigger
level).

wrote in message
oups.com...
: Hello,
:
: Maybe someone can help, I'm trying to trigger a Stobotac with a
: Panasonic Lumix using a Wein HSHSB hot shoe adapter. Funny thing is,
: I've taken it to 2 different camera shops and they manage to get the
: thing to work somewhat but back at the office, no luck.
:
: The Wein has a test button which will trigger the strobe but the
: shutter release on the camera will not (when I'm not in a camera
: shop). The strobe seems hair-triggered enough that just picking up the
: camera in the camera shop fires it a couple times (probably static
: electricity) but only, it seems, when everything is sitting on a glass
: counter top.
:
: Everything is brand new, stobe works great when set to internal
: trigger, cable is OK because test button fires the stobe (when set to
: external control) every time. Panasonic customer support was no help,
: except to say it was 6 volt. Wein said something about the reduced
: voltage feature of the hot shoe adapter may be the problem. I don't
: need voltage, the strobotac is 110 VAC, shorting the terminals of the
: cable fires the strobe, any ideas?
:
: Thanks for reading
: David
:
The FZ50 is the first from Panasonic to use a dedicated hot shoe. I have
some issues with mine when I try to use the Metz flash I had no problem with
on a FZ20. Don't quote me on this as it's hearsay but I believe the hotshoe
is pinned to accept Olympus flashlights. Perhaps the issue in the way you
are trying to fire the flash and may be resolved by using a special mode
which you can program from the menu.

Mine works fine now, incidentally.
http://www.photosbydouglas.com/fun/silver-2.jpg

Douglas

On Jan 30, 4:02 pm, "Cgiorgio" wrote:
schrieb im Newsbeitragnews:1170193427.560621.315780@a75g2000c wd.googlegroups.com... On Jan 30, 3:09 pm, "Cgiorgio" wrote:
schrieb im
Newsbeitragnews:1170186211.830936.214280@p10g2000c wp.googlegroups.com...

I have meanwhile read the manual for the model 1546 Strobotac. Your problem
is that it will only recognize trigger pulses go below 1 Volt. Because a
camera hot shoe is involving a bridge rectifier and an additional switching
element (transistor or fet) the voltage drop is too high, so for your
application you need to convert the level with an active interface circuit.
The 5.5 Volts DC provided by the external trigger jack should be sufficient
to power such a circuit, a simple two transistor circuit will do the job
(PNP- Transistor at the hotshoe - input side, NPN at the output, just drive
the output transistor into saturation, giving about 0,8 volts trigger
level).

I have a 1538-A but I'm sure it is the same. I forwarded your
suggestion to one that is more knowledgeable about this sort of thing
but haven't received the reply. Would it be a simple thing for the 6 V
hotshoe of the camera to fire the strobe by a "contact closure" method
instead of a pulse? I would like to have a schematic of a simple
circuit using a diode or whatever to short the poles of the pc adapter
for a single flash of the strobe. I would use the Wein hotshoe to pc
adapter as a chassis, if it circuit's components would fit inside.
Electronics is not my field.