Beginner light questions

gian133

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ok so im getting into photography and i just got myself a D40. im happy with it for now and it great to use.
im interested in setting up a home studio for myself and also sometimes my father to use. he has done some photography in the past but never studio work so thats why i came here.

my question is:
the d40 does not have a jack for a sync cord. now i have found that they make an adapter for the flash shoe to use. only one jack though.
if i get a light kit, say the impact 2 light monolight kit from b&h, how do i connect both light? can i just use a splitter to connect both lights? and can that setup be used with the D40?

also, when using a kit like that for protraits or fashion type pictures, is an on camera flash usually used?


i know these are probably common questions, but i appreciate any help
Thanks
Gian
 
Most monolights have a built-in optical trigger, which means that when one is fired, any others will fire as well. So you only need to connect to the first light.

You may be thinking that you could use the built-in flash to trigger both lights then....but your built-in flash uses a pre-flash, before the actual flash, which would trigger the lights, so you can't do that.


also, when using a kit like that for protraits or fashion type pictures, is an on camera flash usually used?
No....not that it can't be used...but it's usually not.
 
The impact set of strobes you mentioned does have internal slaves. I would recommend setting your internal flash to manual at 1/32 to trigger them, no need for pc sync.
 
so if i wanted i could connect to just one monolight. or use my built in flash to trigger them.
not to sound mean or anything but i got to different answers but obvously both work fine.
which would you suggest to uses? big mike did say that an on camera flash is not usually used so i would think a sync cord would be a good idea.

how do you feel about that kit? good for beginners?

thanks again
Gian
 
I should have been clearer, if you use the popup flash on 1/32 power it will not show up in pictures. You have to set the flash power to 1/32 from the menu, otherwise there will be a preflash that will set off the strobes before the shutter opens. If you don't mind a cable you could just trigger one and slave the other. Hope this helps. :)
 
Oh, the kit is excellent for beginners, I'm also thinking of getting one...
 
thanks. it helps a lot. i'll probably end up going with that kit


Thanks a bunch
Gian
 
Or just get THIS and trigger your lights wirelessly.
 
thanks big mike that trigger looks good. so i could use the wireless to trigger the main light and trigger the fill from the flash. is that what "build in slave cell" means in the description of the lights?
hope this is not dumb sounding but im new and unsure.

also. the transmitter will work on my nikon right?

thanks a lot agian
 
so i could use the wireless to trigger the main light and trigger the fill from the flash. is that what "build in slave cell" means in the description of the lights?
Yes, the 'built-in slave cell' is an optical trigger that triggers the light when it senses another flash. So the radio receiver goes on one light and the other is triggered when the first one goes off.

Yes, it should work just fine with your Nikon.

Keep in mind that these are on the cheap end of the scale. Some find them to work great and some find that they are hit and miss. You could spend a couple hundred dollars to get a higher quality radio trigger set...but I'm guessing you are trying to keep things within budget.
 

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