Need help speccing flash

[andy-xr]

I've been toying with it for a few weeks now and havent got around to doing anything, but with a few sales on next week it seems like a good time to buy

I want a better flash than the standard D80 onboard, and looking at the SB600

So that mounts fine to the body, but I'm also thinking I might need to have it off the camera now and again.

Can I do that with this flash? If so, what would I need, and would that mean that I could sit the camera on a tripod, link in to the flash shoe thing an walkabout with the flash gun?

I doubt it would make it off camera more than 1 in 10 times I use it, but worth knowing what I can and cant do

Any advice on part#'s etc appreciated

[MartinP]

If you're interested in off camera flash, then take a look here:

http://strobist.blogspot.com/

It has some really good tutorials and will help you decide exactly what you want to do with the kit and therefore help you decide what you should buy.

If you want to sync the off camera flash to the camera shutter then I'd recommend the wireless triggers that you can buy on e-bay. I just bought a set, £30 for a transmitter that mounts on the camera hot shoe and 2 receiver modules that you fit flashguns to. Had a quick play today and they work really well.

[andy-xr]

Have you any item numbers Martin, just so I know what I'm looking for?

ETA - I want flash on the camera 90% of the time, and off at about 3 feet away, maybe up to 10 feet triggered at intervals 10% of the time

Edited by andy-xr on Wednesday 26th November 19:30

[RobDickinson]

I thought the d80 could triger flashes itself alone (opticaly)?

[andy-xr]

Dunno, I'm asking you....

[MartinP]

For a single Tx and Rx trigger - item number 110313262576 £15 + P&P

The receiver part that you mount the flash gun to will mount on a tripod. If you want to use an umbrella with it to diffuse the light then you'll need an umbrella adaptor (item number 270306863637 for £9 including P&P), or get one with an umbrella included (item number 120339212400 for £13 including P&P).

[MartinP]

RobDickinson said:

I thought the d80 could triger flashes itself alone (opticaly)?

I'm a Canon man so don't know either, but if it does that then you won't need the wireless triggers...

[RobDickinson]

MartinP said:

RobDickinson said:

I thought the d80 could triger flashes itself alone (opticaly)?

I'm a Canon man so don't know either, but if it does that then you won't need the wireless triggers...

AFIK it can trigger opticaly, not wireless, so isnt as good or as flexable I think.

(wireless would require certification & frequency crap for each country/aera).

[MartinP]

RobDickinson said:

(wireless would require certification & frequency crap for each country/aera).

Hadn't thought of that (and I'm an RF engineer - I leave my work brain at the office) - explains why the camera manufacturers own systems are optical.

[andy-xr]

Update to this one, after much umm'ing and the occasional ah, I bought a 600 which turned up yesterday

Makes a nice difference to a few photos I've taken so far, just on body stuff with the flash tilted either up or to the side.

I tried the off camera using the built in flash to trigger the SB600, and frankly its rubbish. Whether thats the way I set it up or not I dont know, but there doesnt seem to be a way to stop the onboard flash filling in and getting in the way. So yes, it will trigger the 600, but trying to turn down the onboard just doesnt work

There's an adapter called the SG3-IR I believe (from Nikonians search) that could go on the hot shoe, but I think I might just go for a wire. Not bothered about transmitters really

[VxDuncan]

+1

Forgive those with lesser Canon systems who say you need loads of bits to use off board flash. You get what you pay for I suppose.

Quite like commander mode actually, don't have any compliants in the few times I've used it. Certainly easier that taking a load more bits off kit around with you.

[andy-xr]

I'd set the onboard down to 1/128th and was still getting a bit of glare from it. A finger or piece of tape seems to sort it out though

Excuse the picture type but I was playing around with grad filters






Think I'll still ditch the onboard and opt for a wire, looks cheaper than going for the IR Nikon option and blocking the flash

Edited by andy-xr on Wednesday 7th January 16:49

[_dobbo_]

Have you definitely got the D80 set to commander mode? When I do it with my D200 the flash is no-where near powerful enough to contribute to the exposure in any meaningful way as it fires about 4 times in very rapid succession but at very low power.

[andy-xr]

_dobbo_ said:

Have you definitely got the D80 set to commander mode?

Absolutely, went through the setup twice making sure I pressed OK on camera and changed the flash with Zoom and - button to turn that on.

The SB600 fires no problem, and I can change the settings on that as I want to. It's just the on camera one. This is on the D300 though, which is still very new to me. I've turned the onboard down as much as I think I can, and will quite happily take a shot in the face without blinking, so I know I've turned it down from what it was. Modelling is off

_dobbo_ said:

When I do it with my D200 the flash is no-where near powerful enough to contribute to the exposure in any meaningful way as it fires about 4 times in very rapid succession but at very low power.

I'll give the manual another read over and check I've not missed anything, appreciate your help (and fergus as well)

[VxDuncan]

_dobbo_ said:

Have you definitely got the D80 set to commander mode? When I do it with my D200 the flash is no-where near powerful enough to contribute to the exposure in any meaningful way as it fires about 4 times in very rapid succession but at very low power.

Same here. Camera and flash both set onto commander mode? For what it's worth I normally leave the flash to its own devices and make all the flash adjustments via the commander menu or the flash exposure compensation button.

[mph999]

In commander mode the camera will fire a number of preflashes before the shutter releases. If you set the flash to slow sync and a 2-3 sec shutter speed you can see this, the flash fires just as you press the shutter, but before the shutter actually opens, and then will fire the business flash just before the shutter closes.

Without rear sync, the preflash will look to be part of the main flash, but shouldn't contribute to the picture. However, if you're doing close up work it may.

You can put a light cell on the SB600 and trigger it that way, but cannot use CLS so will need to set up manually.

I use comander mode on my SB800 to fire my 600, but point the flash head up so that the flash which is quite week anyhow, doesn't contribute to the picture.


Martin

[AndWhyNot]

What Fergus said - set the on-board commander flash to --

The SG-3IR you mention is an IR filter that slips on the hotshoe mount. It takes the light out of the commander pre-flash. The main reason I've found for using one is when shooting people the pre-flash can often cause them to blink just in time for the exposure...