Variable strobe strength...or so it should be...

My strobes have a dial for the strength of light that is emitted, as you can see here:

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/7069/backje5.jpg

The problem is that it only seems to affect the modelling lamp strength and not the strobe strength. If I set it to full power or lowest power, the modelling light changes like it should, but the strobe light always fires at full strength, no matter what.

What am I missing? The manual even says "You can adjust the brightness of the flash by turning the flash output dial clockwise for more power or counterclockwise for less power"

That seems pretty straightforward to me!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dubious Drewski

That seems pretty straightforward to me...

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Indeed it is. That variable power knob should lower the flash output regardless of how the modeling light is set.

Aside from something being busted, the only thing I can think of is that the flash is already fully charged when you turn down the setting. In that case, the full powered flash would still fire.

So what you need to do when you lower the setting is first discharge the flash (using the test button). Then it should recharge at the lower power.

If it is indeed not working right, and you don't have the resources to get it fixed, you can still lower the output by using modifying material in front of the flash. Scrims are dark stretched fabric that block some of the light. Sort of a neutral density filter for light.

They're kind of pricey from a photo or grip store, but like much studio gear, you can probably make your own cheaply. You might try fiberglass screening material... :cool:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dubious Drewski

My strobes have a dial for the strength of light that is emitted, as you can see here:

The problem is that it only seems to affect the modelling lamp strength and not the strobe strength. If I set it to full power or lowest power, the modelling light changes like it should, but the strobe light always fires at full strength, no matter what.

What am I missing? The manual even says "You can adjust the brightness of the flash by turning the flash output dial clockwise for more power or counterclockwise for less power"

That seems pretty straightforward to me!

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Are you making this judgment from visually looking at the flash or are you using a flash meter to get readings of the output? Visually you will probably not be able to tell if there is a change in output.

My strobe sorta does that. If I turn the power down, I usually have to fire it once so it drains all the power, then when it charges back up it will charge to whatever power I change it to, and confirmed by a flash meter.

Definitely check the output with the meter, if busted, send it out for fixing.

So I went and created this animated gif which details the problem...
http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/4...ngweirdon9.gif
But then I read the comments about hitting the test button to drain the capacitor and it seems to have fixed it.

Oh well then. That's good news, I guess. Even though I feel a bit foolish!

No prob, I was wondering the same thing about my strobes before I realized that would fix it :)