Flash won't work?

Hi all, i am new to the forum and have a problem with my flash. I want to do some macro work with my nikon d3100 off a set of bellows with a 50mm prime lens shooting on manual.If i put the off camera cord on to the hot shoe and connect it to the flash it won't fire?

Does the flash work if it's put directly onto the hotshoe ?? if so it sounds like a faulty or incompatible flash lead,

flash works on the shoe with or without cord? when i take lens off the body and put the body on the bellows it stops working, display on back of camera reads( flash is in TTL mode choose another setting or use cpu lens.

Your problem is that your lens when in front of the bellow does not communicate with the camera's body. So you have to change the flash's setting to manual and test what kind of aperture you have to set your lens to. It should then flash. Give it a try and let us know.

Hi Marcel, as you might have guessed im a bit new at this put camera flash to m sill reading TTL mode not clear about aperture lens set?

digit said:

Hi Marcel, as you might have guessed im a bit new at this put camera flash to m sill reading TTL mode not clear about aperture lens set?

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One thing you might want to try before using the flash: Does the lens work without the flash? What I mean is can you use the camera's meter with the lens open and take a picture let's say at f11?
Other thing is that you have to change the settings on the external flash as well. I don't know what flash you have so it's a little hard for me to give you the right answer in one shot.

So I'd say. Put your external flash on manual, try to see if you camera communicate with the lens without the flash. Maybe the bellow doesn't allow camera-lens communication. Are there some contacts at both ends of the bellows?

Lens works ok, the flash is a marumi d35af/auto focus ,there are no contacts on the bellows it's an old set of nippon kogaku f, getting to feel i've opened a can of worms:drunk:

digit said:

Lens works ok, the flash is a marumi d35af/auto focus ,there are no contacts on the bellows it's an old set of nippon kogaku f, getting to feel i've opened a can of worms:drunk:

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Is there a manual setting on the Marumi itself? When you say the lens works, does the diaphragm close at the right aperture when you depress the shutter or do you have to take your meter readings with the diaphragm closed with the lens aperture numbers? Do you have aperture numbers on the lens itself? This last question could be the answer since if you have an AFS lens but it's not connected to the camera, the camera might refuse to fire the flash… Do you have an old manual lens with aperture numbers you could try it with?

Let us know if you find a solution to your problem.