Black shutter bar even when synced at 1/125th or slower with Einstein flash head + Canon 5D mark III

[AVPhoto]

 I was shooting an event with my Canon 5D Mark III and an Einstein flash and a speedlite . All of which I have shot with for years.  I am noticing what looks to be a shutter sync issue, even though I am well below the flash sync speed at 1/125 or 1/100.  I can be shooting a series of images with all the exact settings and 1-2 images out of a set of 5 will have the black bar . I am not noticing it when I am shooting with natural light but only with the flash. 

My conclusion: 1) I have a shutter issue, 2) I have a Pocket Wizard/ on camera flash communication issue . But I had JUST shot studio work right before this and saw no issues. If I purposefully shoot at a faster speed at 1/250 with my Einstein communicating with my pocket wizards, I expect to have the black band and it is usually at the bottom.  But during this event it was consistently at 1/125 or 1/100 of a second and I was getting the black band on the top of the images or right side  (when I would turn to shoot vertically).   I did have an on camera flash (speedlite) hot shoed into a pocket wizard that was communicating  to the pocket wizard that was plugged into the Einstein head which was acting "light on a stick" and I was bouncing that off the ceiling for fill light. But if I was out of sync and too fast then I would expect every single image shot simultaneously after one another at the same settings to ALL have the black bar.  So what is causing this issue in this circumstance?  Any insights? 

[deebatman316]

A lot of external strobes often times have an x-sync of 1/60th sec. While most hot shoe mounted speedlites are higher. Such as 1/180th sec, 1/200th sec or 1/250th sec as an x-sync. Is this a manual strobe or one capable of E-TTL. Also when you say speedlite is this a Canon speedlite or 3rd Party.

[p4pictures]

I think you need to do a little more testing with the kit you have and simplify the setup to identify possible causes. 

1. Camera + Speedlite only

Try a test shot at 1/60th, 1/125th, 1/200th 

I'm assuming this is a Canon Speedlite, and it is not set to high speed sync. Please let us know the make and model?

If there is no visible black bar then the problem lies elsewhere in your system. If there is a black bar then it's possible you have shutter issue. 

You say you have  Pocket Wizard on the camera, then the Speedlite in the Pocket Wizard, which PW do you have, and what firmware is in it?

2. Camera + Pocket Wizard + Speedlite

If you put the Pocket Wizard on the camera and the Speedlite on the pocket wizard does the black bar appear at 1/60th, 1/125th, 1/200th?

If the black bar appears then it's down to some timing issue with the pocket wizard, and you should check the firmware in the PW and also the "Speedlite" if it is not a Canon item. 

3. Camera + Pocket Wizard + Speedlite + Einstein 

Again repeat the test and see for the three shutter speeds. I am interested to know what kind of trigger receiver you have with the Einstein. eg if the Pocket Wizard on the camera triggers the Einstein directly, or if there is a PW receiver connected to the Einstein. If so what model, and firmware?