Pentax K110d flash trigger problem, I have 2 flash trigger strobes set up and a flash on the hot shoe of the camera, but with shutter release the trigger strobe lights fire but do not show in the pic, only the hot shoe flash is reaching the sensor. but if I slow down shutter to 0.5 sec the strobes show up.?

I would first: Check the test button on the flash - if all is good (and light flashes when button pushed), then
second: switch camera AND flash to manual mode and with flash attached, hit shutter release. flash should pop.
if all is good, I would use manual settings to set exposure for room I am in (yes, indoors) - and then flash again. Flash should go off on attached strobe (not internal flash).
If yes - then I would move camera to an auto mode and repeat. If not - then I would check settings to find out whether I have turned off hot shoe or hot shoe is otherwise blocked from completing electrical circuit. If the camera is relatively new, consider re setting to factory settings.

Install flash on hot shoe and use shutter speed on camera set to no faster than 1/125. Read the owners manul for flash AND camera. Be careful, some trigger voltages may be higher than what your cdamera can handle and may ruin internal flash usage, if not camera itself. better to use a Wein Safesynch hot shoe. This mounts ion hotshoe of camera and flash is attached to this.

Presuming you bought a shoe-mount flash for your Sony A900 and set the camera and flash to manual so there's no pre-flash to prematurely trigger your strobes, and presuming your studio lights have built-in optical slaves, you should be all set.

Henry Posner
B&H Photo-Video

For normal PC sync you must use M mode .Set the shutter below sync speed and aperture according to the setting on flash dial set.

Go into your camera menu and find the AOUTO POP UP selection. Turn it on and the flash will be readied. If you don't want to use the flash, set the camera for manual and disable the automatic features. You will have to set your F-stop and time manually.

If you know basic soldering, Open the old hot shoe from base
(4 screws).Note down the position of the wires.
Try to fire the flash with shorting two trigger wires,most ly it will fire.
If the springy contact is adjustable do it.If it is not repairable, you can get metal hot shoe from ebay easily.
Caution: metal hot shoe will short circuit 4 TTL contacts (on digital camera) ,so you need to put cello tape at bottom of hot shoe with only center hole.
Hope this solves.

Your strobe is faulty and needs repair at a trained service center. The actual culprit may be the voltage converter circuit that supplies the high voltage to the flash capacitor, or the voltage divider that drives the ready lamp and, at the same time, makes triggering possible.

I also own a Vivitar 285 that i used with my Canon F1 manual 35mm camera. Most older cameras before the advent of digital, had a hot shoe on top of the camera, or like in my case, the hot shoe went over the rewind knob. I also had to plug in a power cord from the 285 flash foot and the cameras PC connection in order for the flash to work on some other cameras. The Canon Rebel XTi has a TTL (through the lens) hot shoe usable with Canon's own EX flash units. You can buy a "hot shoe to PC connector" if the TTL camera hot shoe doesn't work, but be extremely careful, the only problem that exists with the older manual flash units was the trigger voltage is as high as 200+volts which would fry digital camera hot shoes. I tried my unit with a Wein flash trigger device on the PC cord of the flash and my Canon D60 with it's own flash. All shots were overexposed and washed out highlights.  Here's a copy of the hot-shoe review:h The EOS 400D's hot-shoe can be used with Canon and third party flashes (although sync only on most third party units). The hot-shoe is E-TTL II compatible. Compatible flashes include Speedlite 220EX, 380EX, 420EX, 430EX, 550EX, 580EX, Macro-Ring Lite, MR-14EX, Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX and Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2.  The Canon Rebel XTi doesn't have a PC socket to plug in a manual flash trigger cord which common sense tells me there is no provision to step up the voltage to trigger manual flashes - so my answer is this combination is not a good idea on a Canon Rebel XTi. Hope this helps.

Hey judyrosebudd,
You should be able to use any flash that is not dedicated to another camera manufacturer. Even though the manufacturer lists this camera as a dedicated flash unit it still has the sync contact in the center of the hot shoe mount, which is all that is required to operate a all manual flash. This being said a dedicated flash should provide much more advanced options and simplicity of use. I hope this helps!

Sincerely,
Allan
Go Ahead. Use Us.

You also may have a faulty hot shoe adapter or pc cord. Check them with an ohm meter, or with an old 35 mm camera. Or just short out the hot shoe contacts with a piece of metal and see if the strobes flash.