5 Things to Check if your Off Camera Flash isn’t Firing

Ever been in the middle of a wedding and the first dance is about to start and your off camera flash isn’t working? Or you’re trying to get everything set up and for some reason, the flash just won’t fire? Here are a few things to check before ditching your off camera flash set up!

1. Batteries! Flash can KILL your batteries, especially if you’re shooting at higher flash power or taking a lot of photos within a short amount of time. I HIGHLY recommend getting these or these rechargeable ones!!! They’ve been great for me. If you can’t/don’t have time to get these rechargeable, I’ve found that Energizer and off brand batteries DO NOT LAST!! Duracell has been the best in my experience! Check the batteries in your flash as well as your triggers.
2. Is your flash on? Sometimes, if it’s been too long, the flash will go to sleep and not fire (to save battery life). This is a pretty quick fix, just turn it back on!
3. Triggers! I know triggers can be very confusing. First, you want to make sure both the transmitter and the receiver are set to the same CHANNEL and GROUP! I have used these Phottix triggers for years and they’ve always worked great!
4. Is it installed correctly? It’s a good idea to check the flash to make sure it’s on the receiver trigger entirely, or that the transmitter trigger is completely on your flash. If it’s not on all the way, your flash won’t fire.
5. What mode is your flash in? I always put my flash in manual mode when I’m doing off camera flash. OCF will work in other modes too, but even when I have multiple flashes, I just use multiple receivers.
6. Still not working? Here are a few other things to double check. Is your camera on Live View? Is your camera turned off? Are you too far away from your flash? Your flash probably won’t fire.