Unintelligent question about flash....sorry!

Jantelagen · Jan 30, 2012

I should preface this by saying that I almost never use flash (thanks to the D3's insane ISO performance and because I tend not to shoot things which need flash). Since I've had my D3 I have not once stuck a flash on it. My knowledge of flash is extremely minimal.

On the off-chance that I end up choosing to use flash, I have a question. Given that the D3 doesn't have a built-in flash, is it possible to use it as a "controller" even though it doesn't have a built-in flash?

If, for instance, I wanted to use the D3 to trigger a speedlight which is somewhere else in the room, would the D3 itself have to have a flash mounted in order to act as a master? Or can it do so without one?

Hope this is not a really stupid question, although given my knowledge of flash it could well be

Thanks to anyone who can help.

ph0enix · Jan 30, 2012

Usually it's the built-in flash that triggers ofc flashes. I don't know about the D3 specifically but I believe you'll need to use remote triggers with it.

Patrice · Jan 30, 2012

The D3, same for D2 and D4, will not control any remote speed lights by itself. You can use a radio trigger or pc cable connected to the camera to simply trigger any off camera flashes though. To control other flashes with Nikon CLS system you'll need an SU-800 flash commander or one of the Nikon speed lights that has a commander function such as SB-800, SB-900 or SB-700 attached to the hot shoe.

There might be some third party units that do that as well, but I don't know about those.

katerolla · Jan 30, 2012

why don't you have a look at tutorials on youtube

Tiberius47 · Jan 31, 2012

For cameras that are capable of controlling slave flashes, the pop up flash is required. If your camera doesn't have a pop up flash, then you will need some unit to be attached to the camera to act as the master.