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I have a Canon 5D Mark II, and I'm attempting to use a Yongnuo YN-560 III flash off-camera, with a remote trigger.

I'm using the camera in Manual mode, with the following settings: ISO 320, f/7.1, 1 second.

If I use the flash on the hot-shoe, the subject is lit. If I use the flash off-camera, all I get is a black screen - no light, so I suspect this is a sync issue.

To trigger the flash, I have a Yongnuo RF-603 II wireless trigger in the camera hot-shoe, with a shutter cable attaching it to the camera. I'm using this trigger to remotely fire the flash, with the flash in RX mode. The flash fires when I take the photo, but the image is completely black.

Does anyone have any advice as to how I can resolve this sync issue?

Updates:

I removed the shutter cable. I put the RF-603 II onto the hotshoe and made sure it had the same channel set as the flash. The flash did not fire when I triggered the shutter. When I partially/fully depress the shutter button, the blue light on the back of the flash does turn on, indicating it's receiving the signal, but the flash does not fire at all.

The batteries are fresh in both flash and trigger, replaced them both. Trigger is definitely seated properly, I tried other configurations just to be sure. If I put the trigger on TX, nothing happens; if I put the trigger on TRX, the flash still doesn't fire, but I do get the blue light turning on on the back of the flash unit.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I'm not clear on your setup. Are you using an in-hand RF-603II to trigger the on-camera RF-603II? Or are you using the camera's shutter button? \$\endgroup\$
    – inkista
    Commented Oct 22, 2015 at 1:27
  • \$\begingroup\$ Possible duplicate of Why doesn't my flash fire from the hot shoe trigger? \$\endgroup\$
    – inkista
    Commented Oct 22, 2015 at 14:07

1 Answer 1

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Remove the shutter cable. That is for using another RF-603II to remotely trigger the camera's shutter. This seems to be causing your trigger to activate the flash as soon as the camera's shutter button is pressed but before the first shutter curtain is open.

Your camera communicates the order to fire the flash via the main contact on the hot shoe. With a manual only trigger such as the RF-603II you need to be sure your camera's flash mode is set to manual flash. E-TTL mode might cause the pre-flash signal to set off your flash.

Since your flash is set to manual power, the "pre-flash" (whether caused by the shutter cable or an E-TTL setting) would likely be at high enough power to drain the capacitor in the flash enough that there would not be enough energy in the capacitor to fire again so quickly when the "fire" command is sent from the camera once the first curtain has completely opened.

Other things to consider: Be sure the flash and trigger have fresh batteries. Be sure the trigger on the camera is set to "TX" and not "RTX". Be sure the trigger is seated properly on the hot shoe (It's common for some folks to push them on backwards). Be sure the receiver built in to the flash is set to "RX" and not one of the optical slave modes (S1/S2/Sc/Sn). Be sure any silent shooting options your camera may have are disabled, as they will sometimes disable the flash from firing.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Michael, thank you so much - I did initially try using this without the shutter cable and the flash was not getting the signal to fire, but I will try this again - your answer makes a lot of sense! \$\endgroup\$
    – JRP
    Commented Oct 22, 2015 at 9:58
  • \$\begingroup\$ One more question, Michael, if you don't mind. \$\endgroup\$
    – JRP
    Commented Oct 22, 2015 at 10:37
  • \$\begingroup\$ Oops, pressed Enter too quickly. 1) I removed the shutter cable, 2) I put the RF-603II into the hot-shoe and made sure it has the same channel set as the flash - the flash did not fire when I triggered the shutter. When I partially/fully depress the shutter button, the blue light on the back of the flash does turn on, indicating it's receiving the signal, but the flash does not fire at all. Any thoughts on that? \$\endgroup\$
    – JRP
    Commented Oct 22, 2015 at 10:38
  • \$\begingroup\$ Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it. I'm just at a loss at this point. 1) The batteries are fresh in both, replaced them both tonight. 2) Trigger is definitely seated properly, I tried other configurations just to be sure 3) If I put the trigger on TX, nothing happens - if it put the trigger on TRX, the flash still doesn't fire but I do get the blue light turning on on the back of the flash unit I'm just so not sure what to do now! \$\endgroup\$
    – JRP
    Commented Oct 22, 2015 at 23:40
  • \$\begingroup\$ Have you confirmed that the YN560III is set to radio slave mode (RX) and not S1/S2/Sc/Sn which are optical slave modes? \$\endgroup\$
    – Michael C
    Commented Oct 23, 2015 at 0:15

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