Rebel T7 not syncing strobes?

[freewheel]

Please help me resolve this mystery!  Thanks in advance!

I bought a Rebel T7 to replace an old Nikon camera for studio shooting with a couple of "no brand" strobe lights that I have been using for years. Both cameras are at 1/100s F 5.6, ISO 100, first curtain. The strobe lights are triggered by the built-in flash of the cameras. 

TOP IMAGES: Nikon picture is bright as can be, excess light actually.
BOTTOM IMAGES: in the Canon picture is very dark, you can barely see the subject, even though the the strobe lights actually flashed, the picture is just like the strobe lights were off.  I even tried 1/30s and made no difference.

Other than that, the Rebel is working perfectly.

Question 1: 
if the Canon is triggering the strobe lights, why the light is not being captured?

Question 2:
What would make the Canon work in this setting?   A transmitter? Which one?  A cable to the strobe?

[kvbarkley]

If you are using E-TTL on the T7 it actually fires *twice* once to set the exposure and once to take the image. You need to set the mode to manual flash so it only fires once.

[freewheel]

thanks for your reply!!   
That makes sense and it does say E-TTL but there wasn't a way to change that in the menu.  
I'll look for a way to change it and thanks again!

[MikeSowsun · Accepted solution]

There is no way to change the ETTL mode on a T7. The T7 is a “beginner” camera that is stripped of many features in order to be both simple to use, and cheap to buy. The lack of a Manual flash mode is one of many missing features.

You might be able to add an external flash to the hotshoe in order to trigger your strobes, but once again, since the T7 is stripped down, it is missing the center flash sync contact in the hotshoe, so that will complicate matters. 

Since you are advanced in your photography skills, I would advise you to look at getting another camera with more features. You may have saved money buying a stripped down camera, but if it can’t work for you, it’s false economy. 

Here is the T7 user manual that shows how the flash mode is locked to ETTL II when using the built in flash.

[kvbarkley]

Duh, I forget how dumbed down they are.

OP: Your strobe *might* have a mode to ignore the preflash. Otherwise, you can get some external triggers for the strobe that will ignore the preflash.

[kvbarkley]

I was going to suggest checking out wein strobe triggers, but they seem to have switched to air-purifiers now...

[freewheel]

my strobes are dumber than the T7 but thanks for suggesting!

[freewheel]

Mike, I can thank you enough for your excellent reply. After 90 minutes with Canon tech support , we couldn't figure this out. Solution: return this camera!   Funny enough, the Nikon I'm using is even cheaper but I have no problems with it.  I got the Canon only because focusing was superior.   Thanks again!

[zakslm]

Mike,

No disrespect intended and I appreciate your knowledge and adivce on this and other topics, but I'm questioning something you said in your reply to the OP.  

While I realize that your response said that pop up flash will not work to fire an optical sensor trigger for studio or external strobes because the T7 pop up flash is E-TTL only is correct and great advice (Thank you - that is useful information!), I'm wondering about the accuracy of other things you said in your response. 

You said the T7 "...it is missing the center flash sync contact in the hotshoe".  My T7 appears to have a center flash sync contact and the 4 others that mate up with the contacts on the bottom of my 430EX flash (see the pic below).  My presumption is that if I used a "dumb" sync cord or wireless flash trigger with only a one pin center  contact, I could fire studio strobes as long as I set the camera up in manual for the proper shutter speed and aperture.  I think it would be curious if Canon put a center sync on the T7 but did not hook it up to anything unless they always put the same hotshoe on every camera meant to work with a Canon EX series flash.  

Although this won't help the OP, I was wondering if it would be possible to set off an optical flash trigger with a simple electronic flash with only a center contact (and low trigger voltage) or with an EX series flash set to manual?

 I've attached a pic of the shoe of my 430EX to show that it also has the center contact and a pic of my 430EX's screen set to what I'm guessing would work (or asking you if it would work) if I set the flash to M and dialing down the power to a low output but still enough to set off the optical trigger?   

In my film days, I had a 10s with a 540EZ and put a Vivitar 283 on a stand with an optical trigger that I would use for fill flash, to light the background or try to be creative.  I realize the EZ flash technology is different than EX E-TTL technology but wonder if the using my current camera and flash instead of the 10s/540EZ would work the same way?  It's a hypothetical question, but I'm still curious.  

Also, I've taken photos with the flash in M and adjusted the power level on the flash to a level that properly exposes the photo so I assume that the T7 is not in TTL in that situation - correct?  

I enjoy trying to figure out some of these questions through trial and error but the above is probably beyond my ability to do so.

Thanks in advance!

center   

[deebatman316]

Manual flash is only applicable to an external speedlite. Not the built-in flash. Some Rebel T7 and other lower end cameras don't have the center contact on the hot shoe. The 430EX series speedlites can only be an optical receiver/ slave. It can't be a sender/ master speedlite. Only the 580EX series, 600EX series & the EL-1 can be a sender/ master speedlite. For Canon E-TTL & TTL are 2 completely different and incompatible systems. Canon's speedlites don't need the center contact to work. They rely on the other 4 contacts to work. Older EX series speedlites are compatible with both E-TTL & TTL. But only 1 mode can be selected depending on the camera. Some EOS Film bodies support E-TTL.