Troubleshooting
Q. Why are the remote flashes are firing inconsistently?
First make sure the zones and Channels you have set on the Raven match the zones and Channels you assigned to the remote radios. Make sure you have updated firmware in all of your equipment-the Raven, remote flashes, and remote receivers. Here are few links to help you get started:
Godox: https://www.godox.com/firmware-flash/
Paul C Buff: https://paulcbuff.com/Firmware-Updates
Profoto: Signup on their website and register to update
Also, your Raven SpeedCycle feature might be turned on. Turn it off and it will fire on every shot instead of rotating through your flashes. Here is a link to help you set-up/turn off SpeedCycle feature by doing the following:
- Start by tapping on any zone to highlight the zone letter or number.
- The tap on the Zone Mode Selector icon
- Here in the Zone Mode Screen, tap on the icon
- To confirm the SpeedCycle is selected, the icon will be green Tap it to turn it off.
- The Raven will automatically return you to the Zone Control Display
Q. My Raven’s battery is dying quickly. Is that normal?
Make sure you have the most current firmware in your radio. We recently added power management to Raven’s CPU to reduce power by 50% when the camera is sleeping or idle.
The Raven’s battery should last approximately 16 hours with normal usage from a full charge. We highly recommend using the supplied USB 2.0 type A to Micro B charging and data transfer cable. Please use a 1-amp minimum charger, such as an iPhone charging cube, a 2-amp Android charger, a multi-port USB electronics charger, or your computer.
The Raven’s lithium ion battery will lose approximately 3% in battery power in a 24 hour period. This is due to the Clock Setting feature that runs in the background, even when the Raven is powered off. This setting cannot be turned off since it is needed for other Raven features. It is highly recommended to always charge your Raven the night before a photoshoot.
Please check this link to make sure you charge your Raven correctly.
Q. My Raven’s battery is dying quickly even after the update. What should I do?
You can check to see how fast the Raven is drawing power to determine if it is drawing too much power working properly. This test should be done when the battery is above 60%. If it is below 60%, it can draw more current.
- Start from the Zone Control Display and swipe from the bottom to the top of the Touchscreen.
- Rotate the command ring dial to Settings and tap on it.
- Rotate the command ring dial to About (i) and tap on it.
- Use the command ring dial to scroll through to the second page of information.
- Page 2 displays the date and time the Raven is currently set to. It also shows the current battery level along with the amount of voltage. Next is the charge/discharge current with a normal current draw between -150mA to - 190mA. When charging your Raven this value will be a positive value. Then there is confirmation of the Raven battery being charged or not. Lastly, the current operating temperature is color-coded, green is normal, blue is too cold, and red is too hot.
- Leave it on for about 30 seconds. Now see if the charge/discharge current is Red or Green. If it is Green, it's normal.
- If it is Red, then move to page 3 and see if your Canon unit displays App: 1.6.1 or your Nikon unit displays App: 1.6.1 or App:1.7.1, you will need to fully discharge the battery which should trip a disconnect and reconnect cycle which will reset the battery management chip.
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- If the reset does not work, you can send it to us for evaluation. If the issue is caused by a defect in the battery or regulator, the Raven will be repaired or replaced under warranty if the radio is less than one year old. If the radio is out of warranty, we would contact you with an estimate for a repair.
Q. Why aren’t my PocketWizards working with my Raven?
Only PocketWizard radios using a specific E-Release firmware version can be used as a receiver with the Raven. If you are not familiar with the E Release firmware upgrade, you can learn about it and get yours here.
Make sure to check the frequency of your radios. You need to make sure that both your PW and Raven are using the same frequency meaning they both should be with CE or FCC.
Lastly, make sure you are using the correct Channels. If you are triggering a flash from the Raven, your PocketWizards need to use the regular E Release Channels. If you are triggering a remote camera, the Plus IIIe or Plus IVe needs to be set to the LR Channels.
PW firmware versions to be used with the Raven:
Plus III = 2.740
Plus IV = 2.709
MC2 = 4.224
FlexTT5-N = 4.112
FlexTT5-C = 8.007
FlexTT6-C = 8.007
Q. My Raven is locked/frozen/wouldn’t turn on even though it is fully charged.
Q. Why is my Raven not getting charged past a certain percentage?
First, we highly recommend using the supplied USB 2.0 type A to Micro B charging and data transfer cable. Please use a 1-amp minimum charger, such as an iPhone charging cube, a 2-amp Android charger, a multi-port USB electronics charger, or your computer.
Say your Raven won't charge past 20%. It is likely that you're trying to run the Raven while charging (with old firmware). This can trip the over current on some chargers. Or it can also cause the over temperature limiter inside the Raven prevent charging if the temperature gets above 120F (safety circuit controlled).
Check how hot is the air where you are? The newer firmware that draws a lot less power while charging would be less likely to hit the upper temperature limit.
The best way to prevent this is make sure the unit is off for a while - like 20 minutes or so. Then plug in the charger without turning on the Raven. That will prevent the CPU from adding any extra heat. Next, leave it for an hour and then power on to check the charge level. Once you get it charged enough to get the new firmware, then it should be less risk of a temperature shutdown on charging.
Once your unit starts charging properly, please update it using the details in this link: https://fusiontlc.com/pages/setting-up-wifi-firmware-updates
Q. How do I know that my Raven battery has completely drained?
One way to know if it has completely drained is if the front nose light starts to give rapid short blinks of blue LED and won't wake up any more. Each of the blue blips is the chip inside the battery trying to reconnect the battery. But the internal protection system for the battery quickly disconnects the battery if it is too low for normal use.
The Raven lithium-ion Battery has a self-discharge rate of between 0.5-3% per month. At lower temperatures, this discharging rate will increase drastically.
Q. Does there need to be a minimum distance between the strobe and the Raven, Plus III from the Raven, Plus III to Plus III and Raven to Raven?
Try to keep everything at least 6 feet away.
Q. Why is the Raven not saving the WiFi password?
The Raven will not save the password if you do one of the following:
Q. I updated the Raven but the screen is distorted/gives an error message?
These screens indicate that your Raven didn't download the files correctly. You will need to update it again. We know it will be difficult but you will have to navigate the menu.
Q. What is the difference between HSS and SyncView?
It's easy to confuse between these two. HSS and SyncView are completely different Here is a detailed explanation that should help you understand better.
Every camera has a specific maximum speed where the flash will be in sync with the photo. If the shutter speed is faster than your camera's X-sync, the result will be a dark band in the image (which is the result of the back of the shutter curtain) or a completely missed sync with no flash visible in the image. You can find your camera's X-sync in the specification part of the camera's instruction manual.
There are two ways to trigger a flash above your camera's X-sync speed. High Speed Sync (HSS) and HyperSync, which is called SyncView in the Raven. Each method has different hardware requirements and different results. When your camera's shutter speed is above X-sync, the shutter is never fully open as it's exposing the sensor. Rather, it behaves like a rolling slit that moves all the way across the sensor. Imagine a copier's light, scanning across a sheet of paper.
You can see a demonstration of this behavior here: http://www.digital-photography-school.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/fastshutteranimation.gif
Here is an explanation of the difference between HSS and HyperSync:
HSS mode:
How it works: once you raise your shutter speed over the camera's sync speed, the flash gives a pulsing light instead of one burst. This pulsing starts before the shutter opens and continues after the shutter closes. By using a pulsing light, the image is constantly hit with light as the shutter blades expose the image.
Hardware: For HSS, you need a transmitter that can communicate with the camera via TTL. It uses the pre-sync information from the TTL shoe pins to trigger a normal flash before X-Sync would occur.
You also need a receiver that will work in TTL as well as an HSS compatible flash (or a flash that can do HSS with a built-in receiver). This is a feature that's primarily found in speedlights, though some strobes now have that capability.
Results/limitations: HSS is typically seamless and can sync up to the camera's fastest sync speed, usually 1/8000. However, the faster the shutter speed, the less power the flash will have. Both the camera and the flashes need to have full TTL communication with the radios and must be able to perform this function.
HyperSync and SyncView:
How it works: The transmitter will trigger the remotes at exactly the right time, based on the pre-sync information as described for HSS. However, in this case, the flash emits one flash burst. If your flash has a long enough duration, you can use the main burst of the flash as well as part of the fade down to cover the sensor. HyperSync is the technology and SyncView is the Raven's version of HyperSync, as you can see the arc of the flash power and adjust directly on the Raven to fine tune the settings.
Hardware: You need a transmitter that communicates by TTL because it needs to know exactly when the shutter will open so it can trigger the flash early. However, you can use any receiver for this as well as any flash, as the flash only needs to fire once.
Results/limitations: With this method, how fast you can sync will depend on your equipment. With some setups, you may be able to get a clean shot at 1/8000 but with others, you may be lucky if you don't get banding or a shadow at 1/320. For best results, you need a flash with a long duration and a camera with a fast moving shutter-not the shutter speed but how fast the shutter moves. A cropped sensor camera also will sync at faster speeds than a full frame sensor. Your results will vary and depend on the cameras and flashes you use.
With studio strobes, HyperSync can usually be quite effective, some of them being able to sync up to the maximum shutter speed of the camera. It all depends on the length of their burst. With speedlights, you can only use them at full power because as soon as you drop the power level, even one stop, the flash duration becomes too short to work for HyperSync. For HyperSync/SyncView, you need a TTL compatible camera and transmitter but you can use any flash as a receiver.
What is the benefit of HyperSync? HyperSync gives a full power burst while HSS is a much lower powered burst because it is pulsing the light. If you'd like more details, here is the link to the PocketWizard Wiki page: http://wiki.pocketwizard.com/index.php?title=Understanding_HyperSync_and_High_Speed_Sync