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04/07/2005 01:23:47 AM · #1 |
I'm pretty much completely ignorant on the use of external flashes for my d70, and i'm looking at buying at least 2, possibly 3. I know about the sb-800's and sb 600's. My question is, is there any way I could buy 2/3 vivitar 285's or sunpak 544's/555's and get them to all fire at the same time from my d70...for cheaper than buying 2 of the new speedlites?
I've heard terms like pc cords and slaves but i dont know how any of those work, except for that they fire the flashes. What is compatible with the d70, or do I have to buy more stuff to get vivitars or sunpaks to work with my camera?
I do know, however, that I can't use optical slaves because my flashes I want to be fired in the daylight sometimes.
If you have time to help me out pm me and I can tell you more specifically what I want to be able to do, or any help on the board here is appreciated. I need to buy these flashes and learn them soon. |
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04/07/2005 01:27:36 AM · #2 |
| you can get optical slave firing units... easily found on ebay. I find that the one built into my flash unit works very well. Check them out, they are fairly inexpensive! :-) |
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04/07/2005 01:30:29 AM · #3 |
i cant use opticals though because of my shooting being in daylight sometimes, I know there are problems with the flashes not firing because it does not recognize the optical slave.
But what is compatible and if i get non nikon brand flashes what else do i need besides slaves to make them work? And what slaves (radio) are good? |
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04/07/2005 01:44:10 AM · #4 |
You can do this several ways...
1. Wire it up - you use a PC Cord from your camera (or flash or a hot shoe adapter) and it runs to the other flashes. You can see lots of cords here...not the best method.
2. optical slaves - there are 2 kinds from what i have found. The most common (and built into many of the flashes, such as the 285H) is one that fires when it sees another flash fire. The can be a problem if the main (camera mounted flash) fires a pre-flash for TTL or anti-red-eye. Some flashes can use IR for this - an issue in bright sun.
3. radio - Canon has their system, and Sigma's flashes are compatible. There are failry cheap wireless sytems on ebay (under $100). Canon has a wireless trigger so there nned be no flash on the camera itself. Pocket Wizard is the best way to go, but not cheap.
If you stick with radio or wireless from one company you should be able to get TTL working - the proper exposure will be calculated by the camera/flash units. If not, then you will need a flash meter (old manual ones are $80 or so on ebay. nice electronic ones are $200-300). Without a flahs meter you cannot balance the flashes accurately and for overall exposure you have to use your histogram after taking a shot. It works, but is clunky.
Metz makes a number of flashes that will do what you want, but are mid level and up pricewise unless you can find a good deal on used one.
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04/07/2005 01:54:15 AM · #5 |
| its looking like if i want to get the vivitars or whatever i need to buy a lot of extra stuff, but if i just get the nikon speedlites i can fire them wirelessly and need nothing else. is this right? |
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04/07/2005 02:34:38 AM · #6 |
Originally posted by petrakka:
its looking like if i want to get the vivitars or whatever i need to buy a lot of extra stuff, but if i just get the nikon speedlites i can fire them wirelessly and need nothing else. is this right? |
I believe so, I have an SB600, which I fire remotly using the D70 as the commander, looking into the future my plan is to buy another SB600 and an SB800.
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04/07/2005 04:21:25 AM · #7 |
I have had similar issues to you. I use a D70 with an SB-600 but wanted to be able to use additional (generic) speedlites wirelessly. I tried some cheap slave trigger. The first one wouldn't work because it fires with the pre-flash (BTW there are some slaves designed to deal with the pre-flashes typical of digital cameras). The second one I tried worked well enough with high temperature light but seemed to be allergic to low temp light i.e. it would work fine (despite pre-flash) under flourescent light or in daylight late in the evenings, but not when an incandescent source is present or at mid-day. I found out that by taping a piece of white paper to the sensor of the slave trigger, I could get it work under most lighting conditions. I eventually got two flashes working: SB-600 triggered by the D70 and third-party flash (with cheap slave) triggered by the SB-600.
The only reason for all this complication was that I don't yet have enough money to buy another SB-600/SB-800, otherwise none of this hassle is worth it. If you can afford it, just buy as many SB-600/SB-800's as you need and leave the thinking to the built-in computers. You get perfect exposure every time and they work under any lighting condition. |
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