Getting my Sb-800 Wireless

[bdavis]

Ok here's the deal. I already know how to do this with my D90, but I had my D90 replaced and the new one I received doesn't seem to be working correctly. Here's what's going on.

I want to have have my camera trigger the flash wirelessly, so I set my flash on remote. Then I go into my flash settings on my camera, I tell the built in flash to be a commander instead of TTL. Then I go to the next screen and tell the built in flash to be (--) which means it should be inactive. Then I tell my speedlight to be manual at say 1/4 power. I should be good to go. I open my pop up flash (without doing that it wont trigger the speedlight) and I dial in my settings. I focus, compose, then shoot and strangely enough, both flashes go off. The pop up shouldn't even go off with the (--) setting. My other D90 never had this issue but I'm thinking this one might be defective. Am I missing something?

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[tirediron]

I may be missing something, but if you have your built-in flash set to Commander, then it has to go off to trigger the slave. The CLS works because the slave units sense the illumination from the commander and fire accordingly. It sounds to me like it's working exactly the way it should.

[bdavis]

What you say makes sense, but if I recall my first D90 never triggered the pop up flash, it simply sent out a signal to trigger the SB-800

[JerryPH]

The answer is in here, I am pretty sure of it. Make sure the camera is in COMMANDER mode (if it can do this), and that the flash is up. If the camera cannot act as a commander, then the SB-800 has to be the commander.

Also, don't be afraid to reference your camera and flash manuals.

[bdavis]

As I stated above, I did set the camera as a commander and the SB-800 was a remote slave. I set the camera to the mode (--) which should be off, then selected manual at 1/4 power for the SB-800. I popped the flash up so it would trigger the SB-800 and the SB-800 went off, but so did the pop-up. So basically, the pop up flash went off even when it was set at (--) which means off.

[Village Idiot]

The popup triggers the remote flash. That's how CLS works.

[kundalini]

If your previous D90 did not fire the built in flash, then it had a fault. This is how the Commander mode works. Setting the built in flash to (--) will trigger the off camera flash but not contribute to the scene, unless you are up close and particularly at a reflective surface. All is good.

[bdavis]

(sigh of relief) thats good. I've been living on strobist for about 2 days now and finally getting the hang of using off camera flash. I went home last night to try a few things and noticed this and wanted to make sure everything was ok.

[Garbz]

Send the signal by magic? CLS is an IR technology and the brightest source of IR on the camera is the flash.

Here's a trick. Set everything in the commander to (--) and take a photo. The CLS signal is encoded with the TTL pre-flashes. The flash fires and THEN the shutter opens. That way the flash triggers the wireless slave, but doesn't affect the image.

This is also why you can't take a photo of a cat using CLS when they are looking at the camera. The CLS flash + TTL preflashes are longer than their blink reaction so when the photo is actually taken they have their eyes closed.

[JerryPH]

Using the remote manual mode cuts down on the # of preflashes (al TTL light measurement preflashes are removed) and this may let you get your cat before it blinks... but maybe not. Some cats are fast (lol).

[Garbz]

No maybe about it:

Figured it out a while ago. Shot in SU-4 mode manual 1/4 power, with camera flash set to manual 1/16th with my hand blocking the flash from hitting the cat directly.

[In2daBlue]

The only way to remotely fire an off camera strobe is with a PocketWizard or some equivalent. The commander mode works in IR and thus requires some form of flash from the pop-up. That is why the commander mode doesn't work when you are out of sight. If it was truly remote, as a PW is, then it wouldn't matter.

Cool shot of the cat, BTW.

[Garbz]

If it was truly remote, as a PW is, then it wouldn't matter..

Hate to be the pedantic engineer here, but remote means exactly that. Not directly attached. Now whether the signal is sent via light, radio, microwave, or even sound, remote is still remote. Much like your infrared TV remote.

Not being able to shoot around corners makes it no less of a remote. (esp given the price of PWs )

[In2daBlue]

Hate to be the pedantic engineer here, but remote means exactly that. Not directly attached. Now whether the signal is sent via light, radio, microwave, or even sound, remote is still remote. Much like your infrared TV remote.

Not being able to shoot around corners makes it no less of a remote. (esp given the price of PWs )

Clarification taken. You're right. But, my point about PW (or some equivalent) being the only way to fire a strobe out of sight from the pop-up (wirelessly) is what I was trying to get at.

[jake337]

Hate to be the pedantic engineer here, but remote means exactly that. Not directly attached. Now whether the signal is sent via light, radio, microwave, or even sound, remote is still remote. Much like your infrared TV remote.

Not being able to shoot around corners makes it no less of a remote. (esp given the price of PWs )

Clarification taken. You're right. But, my point about PW (or some equivalent) being the only way to fire a strobe out of sight from the pop-up (wirelessly) is what I was trying to get at.

Mirrors....