| Author | Thread |
|
|
08/05/2012 06:42:32 PM · #1 |
| I have an Alien Bee 800 as well as a Nikon SB-800, I don't own Pocket Wizards or flash triggers or anything yet, I just fire one of them with the pop up flash on my D700. My question is: I want to fire both of them at the same time with the pop up flash on my D700... Not sure if this is possible though? I tried to do it today using the SB-800 as the main light in an Apollo Orb at 1/2 power, and the AB as a rim light firing at 1/8th power. When I played back the image I noticed the Main light (SB-800) was lighting up the scene nice, but the AB ( Backlight) didn't seem to be showing anything at all... yet I saw/heard it fire... I then tried bumping up the AB to 1/2 power and still saw nothing in the image but heard and saw it fire? What am I doing wrong, or does it even work like that? |
|
|
|
08/05/2012 07:33:22 PM · #2 |
The issue you are seeing is the "Preflash" of the Nikon system is firing the optical slave of the AB off sync. If you go into manual mode of the SB800 and the on camera flash you might be able to get it to work. Otherwise It's just not going to happen.
Matt |
|
|
|
08/06/2012 03:45:14 PM · #3 |
In addition to Matt's comments, here are some specifics for the menus (I'm pretty sure they are the same with the D700 as the D300, but I didn't check to verify).
To disable commander/ttl (which is your problem), you'll have to press Menu then go to Custom Setting Menu then Bracketing/Flash then go to Flash cntrl for built-in flash and select manual and whatever power you want. Your SB800 should be in "Remote" mode and you will have to enable the SU-4 mode by doing this.
With this setup, both of your flashes are set to use their dumb slaves, with your onboard triggering. |
|
|
|
08/07/2012 08:42:41 AM · #4 |
thank you MattO and Spirtualspatula... it worked.. the issue was the SB not being in SU-4!
thanks again, I don't have the cash for pocket wizards and I don't know of any other decently working cheap radio triggers.. Have to do some research I guess. |
|
|
|
08/07/2012 06:11:43 PM · #5 |
Cybersyncs work pretty well, they're what I have. Some folks have enjoyed the Yongnuo ones, but the ones I got second hand were atrocious and I would NEVER rely on them. Yongnuo also doesn't make new ones compatible with old ones... so if you get a set, have one fail, and they have come out with a new version, you have to buy an entire new set.
PW's go for decently cheap used if you keep your eyes open, especially since the new PWIII's came out. Watch on fredmiranda and the used stores.
I've had good luck with the Cybersyncs, and only had problems at long distance. Also, every now and then they get kinda weird after not being used for awhile (like if I've just left them in my bag)- they act like they're receiving tons of interference and will spontaneously go off and it happens on all the channels. All I do is take the battery out of the trigger and put it back in and it's fine, but just weird. The big thing that makes PW's awesome is that they are transceiver whereas cybersyncs are transmitter/receiver specific.
I would also say Paul C Buff has AWESOME customer support.
ETA: Glad you got things up and working.
Message edited by author 2012-08-07 18:11:58. |
|
Home -
Challenges -
Community -
League -
Photos -
Cameras -
Lenses -
Learn -
Help -
Terms of Use -
Privacy -
Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2025 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 07/27/2025 06:36:25 PM EDT.
