okay...just going to ask

[b_veselka]

So I have been doing outdoor photography for a couple of years now as a hobby. I recently decided to buy some cheap studio equipment to do some shots of my kids indoors. Maybe this is one of those "duh" questions but I am just going to ask anyway... why is it that even without hooking any of the leads from the lights to my camera- the lights automatically flash when i take a picture- i just set things up expecting to only have the flash of the camera since i hadn't hooked up any lights or anything and the lights flashed!!! Like I said...a "duh" question???? The setup I bought had very minimal instructions and information. I just was not aware that the camera alone could trigger the flash in the lights with out being hooked up somehow.

[Dobick]

It will depend -- I am assuming here that you had some source of flash when you took your photo that automatically made the external strobes fire?

Most strobes that I know of on the market today (plenty of exceptions to this) have an optical trigger built in. Most of them can be disabled. Basically unless disabled, everytime your strobe "sees" a flash it will fire. Best way to avoid this -- if not in use, turn it off or remove power

[b_veselka]

Thanks for clarifying that for me.

[rab3rd]

I would have loved to see the look on your face when the strobes fired... I bet it was priceless...

[b_veselka]

Originally Posted by rab3rd

I would have loved to see the look on your face when the strobes fired... I bet it was priceless...

Yeah, I was surprised. I asked my daughter- did those lights just flash??? are you sure???!!! then of course I had to try it all over again and again!!!

[sldi]

Also be warned that many Flourescent lights, the overhead type, will set your strobes off thru the optical trigger. I blew a fuse on one of mine cause I couldn't get to the wall switch quick enough.