Nissin i40 + X-T1: Manual Flash Mode issue!

[alterego]

Hey Guys,

i have an issue when using the Nissin i40 in Manual Mode on my Fuji X-T1 (FW 4.30).

The Camera is automaticly switching to Commander Mode and i haven't found a way yet to use the flash as a forced flash to light the subject. 

 

Here are my setting:

Nissin i40 in M-Mode and 1/1. The LED next to Nissin Mode Dial is always blinking when M is selected.

X-T1 + XF35 1.4 in M-Mode

• ISO200
• 1/50s
• f2
• Mech. Shutter
• AF-S
• Single Focus Point
• Face Detection OFF
• RAW
• High Performance ON
• Pre-AF OFF
• Silent Mode OFF

I expect the subject to be extremely overexposed in this set up - but in fact there is no difference in exposure compared to the image without flash.

 

Has anybody made the same experiences? Is it a normal behaviour of the X-T1/Nissin i40 or should "Forced Flash" Mode be usable when the i40 is set to "M"? 

 

regards

Thomas

 

[Adam Woodhouse]

Sorry, haven't tried shooting the i40 in manual mode while mounted on the XT1.  I always shoot it in TTL when mounted on the camera.  When off camera flash, I use the Yongnou setup with their Tx device mounted on the XT1 and control the Rx (flash) via manual setup and the settings on the Tx device on the camera.

 

I have found that the i40 won't fire sometimes if I put it on the camera when the camera is on.  I have found I have to turn the camera off and mount the i40 then turn the flash and camera on.  Then it works.  I didn't have to do that with my old Nikon gear so when I had this problem at a wedding it really threw me for a few minutes as I simply did not have flash when I needed it.  But turning everything off and connecting the i40 then seems to give great reliability.  It certainly is not as powerful or as robust as the Nikon flashes I used on those bodies, so I'm hoping either the i40 replacement or the actual Fuji flash will help close the gap between my experiences with the different brands.

[alterego]

Sorry, haven't tried shooting the i40 in manual mode while mounted on the XT1.

 

Hi Adam,could you give it a try? Unfortunately i have no second X-T1 or Nissin within reach to test if this is just a bug of my equipment...

 

I have found I have to turn the camera off and mount the i40 then turn the flash and camera on.  Then it works. 

 

This is what i already have tested... M Mode isn't usable at all - no matter which device has been switched on first 

[Adam Woodhouse]

Hi.  I gave it a try and had no problems with the i40 mounted on my XT1 and having the i40 set to manual and it firing.  I had iso, apeture and shutter all manual set.  Mechanical shutter (I never have the camera set to Electronic Shutter as it can cause problems and I've never had a need for it).  Don't have camera set to MS+ES because that can cause problems to.  Set to MS (Mechanical Shutter) only.

 

Flash mode on camera was set to Flash (standard flash).  It stayed in that mode (didn't keep changing to commander or anything like that).  I could set the i40 to any manual power and take a pic and the flash would fire fine.

 

At first the flash mode on the camera was set to No Flash and nothing worked (manual or TTL).  So I scratched my head and said 'obviously I have something set wrong'.  Then realized oops ... LOL.

[alterego]

Hi.  I gave it a try and had no problems with the i40 mounted on my XT1 and having the i40 set to manual and it firing.  I had iso, apeture and shutter all manual set.  Mechanical shutter (I never have the camera set to Electronic Shutter as it can cause problems and I've never had a need for it).  Don't have camera set to MS+ES because that can cause problems to.  Set to MS (Mechanical Shutter) only.

 

Flash mode on camera was set to Flash (standard flash).  It stayed in that mode (didn't keep changing to commander or anything like that).  I could set the i40 to any manual power and take a pic and the flash would fire fine.

 

At first the flash mode on the camera was set to No Flash and nothing worked (manual or TTL).  So I scratched my head and said 'obviously I have something set wrong'.  Then realized oops ... LOL.

 

Thanks a lot Adam!

Now i'm sure it must be a problem with the Nissin. I will return it to amazon...

[Adam Woodhouse]

This past weekend I had the i40 on my XT1 and set it to manual, very low power (so that it didn't do anything).  I had plugged into the XT1 via the wired remote flash trigger plug (on the front of the camera, under the logo) a small trigger that fired my off-camera flash (this is a way to trigger off camera flash (manual flash mode only on the external wireless flash) and not use the hotshoe because the i40 was in the hotshoe.  This lets me use 2 flashes at once ... one on the camera (mostly for TTL) and one off camera (preset in manual mode).

 

I like to shoot dances at weddings this way.  The on camera i40 is usually TTL and pointed at a wall or ceiling and the other off camera flash is in a corner, pointing at the dance floor.  But when I want the on camera flash to not fire I can't turn it off because my off camera flash won't fire either (just the way Fuji does it ... my Nikon didn't work like that).  My work-around is to just set the i40 on the camera to manual and very low power so that it does nothing but is still active and makes the camera happy that it should fire the flash.  This way my off camera flash still fires.  If I want only on camera TTL, I then unplug the little remote trigger that is plugged into the front of the camera, thus disabling my remote flash.  This allows me to get creative lighting during the dancing (works really well during the couples first slow dance).

 

I have done this many times and had no problems.

[alterego]

Hi everbody,

i solved the issue by myself (by chance)!!

I didn't have to return the nissin because it was just a matter of one long press on the LED next to the ON/OFF Switch.

I haven't found an explaination of this behaviour in the manual but if you press the LED for approx. 2sec. the LED next to the Mode Dial starts blinking.

After that the Nissin fires only trigger flashes in M Mode.

After i hit the button for 2sec. again the Mode Dial LED was shining permanently - and the Flash works as expected in M Mode!

 

Thanks Adam for you support!!

 

regards

Thomas