D40 and Speedlights

[Dieselboy]

So unfortunately I'm stuck with a D40 for a while. I've been meaning to purchase an sb-600 for a while, but the D40 doesn't support command lighting or TTL. Is there any way to get a speedlight to work remotely with the D40?

 

[KmH]

Yes there are a couple of ways.

The easiest is by using wireless, radio triggering. A transmitter goes on the D40 hot shoe and a receiver goes on the bottom of the SB-600:

PT-04 CN II Radio Wireless Remote Flash Trigger Set?1Rx - eBay (item 280400426734 end time Aug-17-10 20:15:16 PDT) You wouldn't need to use the wire.

I like these better myself;

PT-04 C Radio Wireless Remote Double-Flash Trigger?3Rx - eBay (item 280402884186 end time Jul-25-10 01:50:11 PDT)

because I can put 2 speedlights on each receiver.

An alternative is the no longer made SB-800, which unlike the SB-600, has an optical slave mode, SU-4 mode, that allows you to trigger the SB-800 with the flash of light from the D40's built-in flash unit.

Using an optical system tends to be limited to line-of-sight and using it in direct sunlight can be problematic.

Radio is not limited to line of sight, has way more range, and is not effected at all by direct sun light.

Another note about differences between the SB-800 and the SB-600.

The SB-800 has more power, can zoom to 105mm, and can be used a s Commander to control other compatable Nikon speedlights like the SB-600.

The SB-600 has no SU-4 mode, can only zoom to 85mm, and doesn't have commander mode.

If you were to go the radio trigger route I would consider a the Vivitar 285HV instead of the SB-600. The 285HV has more poer and is a fairly simple speedlight that is ony $90, new.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/61441-REG/Vivitar_233965.html (thank heavens, you don't get that ugly stand)

 

[Dieselboy]

Thanks! :thumbup: