Need help setting up home studio

[valleygirl013]

I have purchsed the studio perfect lighting kit...I know this is not the best quality but it is what I can afford right now. I have the lights set up and a wireless remote reciever on the lights and the transmitter on the hotshoe of my camera. My problem is that the studio lights are not going off everytime I take a picture. I have set it up according to the maual and it works most of the time but every 5th or 6th picture it won't work. Also I have been having the problem that I will take a picture and even if the lights fire the picture is complety black but I can take another picture without changing any settings a few shots later and it will work. do I have something set wrong....any ideas?????Please help me! I have a Nikon D70 and I have it set to manual with a 1/60th sync speed. Any advice would be greatly apprecitaed.
Thanks!

[Don Kondra]

Check your manual, my camera sync speed is 1/180.

The obvious question is are you waiting for the lights to recharge before shooting again?

Cheers, Don

[Asylum Steve]

I have purchsed the studio perfect lighting kit. My problem is that the studio lights are not going off everytime I take a picture...

Wow. A Canadian Valley Girl. That is like, so gnarly, eh? Welcome to the site. It would appear your "perfect" lighting kit is far from it, heh heh... :cryin:

Yeah, this could any of a number of things, the most obvious is you either have a short in the system somewhere or you're not waiting for the flashes to completely recycle. As for the recycle thing, even if they fire, they may not be charged enough to light the scene, which would explain the black exposures.

You need to do some diagnostics, which means shooting the same scene in different ways eliminating the variables one by one.

One thing to try is a sync cord. If the lights work fine with a cord/slave setup, then the problem might be with your wireless triggers. Btw, weak batteries in the wireless units could cause this problem as well. Also, try shooting with each light seperately.

It is not unusual for there to be misfires with just about any electronic flash setup, especially when you're using a wireless trigger. I usually get a handful of "black frames" ever time I shoot.

[Cathathome]

Hi there valleygirl013 and greetings from the Ottawa Valley, eh! ;)

I'm curious about the "studio perfect" lighting kit; who is the manufacturer and what does the kit include? Also, are you just using the light from the kit or are you also using a flash unit (like a speedlight or something).

Pls let us know if any of Steve's diagnosis tips help you out at all or if you find another solution!

Ta,

[valleygirl013]

Thanks for the help everyone...the Studio perfect kits includes a Strobe SP400 (400w/sec) , Two (2) Professional Studio Strobes: SP150S (at 150 Watt-Second each), each with their own 100-watt modeling light. One (1) Synch Flash B (45-Watt/Second, DTwo (2) 20" X 28" Softboxes, EOne (1) Umbrella (33 gold reflecting umbrella, and One (1) Two Channel Radio Trigger, Receiver, and Sync Cord. this is the link http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...B:EOIBSA:CA:11.
The lights are recharging in between each shot, so it's not that. I know it was weak batteries in the transimtter at frst but then I changed them andd it was still causeing the problem. I will set it up and I can get 4 or 5 shots and then the lights won't flash for 7 or 8 shots then they will restart but the exposure is black for the next 10 shots or so.
I am only using 1 150w light and the 400w light right now.
I think tomorrow I will try attaching the sync cord and eliminating possible causes. Thanks so much for the help and I'll report back tomorrow with what happens.