Flash recomendation

[Village Idiot]

d80 - 250v pg 119
http://www.nikonusa.com/pdf/manuals/noprint/D80_noprint.pdf

Even the d70 -250V Pg 186
http://www.nikonusa.com/pdf/manuals/dslr/D70_en.pdf

Ed. Read the D50 is 250v too.

I know the 30D is 250. The 300D is the 6-8v iirc, but that's one of Canon's first consumer DSLRs.

 

[Alpha]

I've tried the 283 & 285 and was pretty disappointed with their recycle times. I use Sunpak gun flashes (544's to be exact) and LOVE them. They're a bit bulky but perfect for off-camera work on a tripod or light-stand, very powerful, and pretty darn snappy recycle times on lithium batteries (which also greatly help cut down on the weight). Their controls are also much much easier to figure out than the older Vivitars, and they have auto modes (though not auto-ttl).

 

[Phazan]

Do you want to use it on camera?

I want to mainly use it off camera.

Thanks for the replys, everyone! I really need to know though, how I can use this flash wirelessly, off-camera. And how do I know how many volts a flash is?? Are the cactus triggers the only affordable wireless triggers? I don't know what is what, I just need an off camera flash set-up for under $150

 

[Alfred D.]

I want to mainly use it off camera.

Thanks for the replys, everyone! I really need to know though, how I can use this flash wirelessly, off-camera. And how do I know how many volts a flash is?? Are the cactus triggers the only affordable wireless triggers? I don't know what is what, I just need an off camera flash set-up for under $150

If you use the flash gun wireless the voltage is irrelevant.

If you can disable the flash gun's pre-flash you could use the on-camera peanut flash to trigger the off-camera flash gun through a 10 dollar slave-eye (Ebay).

 

[Alfred D.]

I want to mainly use it off camera.

Thanks for the replys, everyone! I really need to know though, how I can use this flash wirelessly, off-camera. And how do I know how many volts a flash is?? Are the cactus triggers the only affordable wireless triggers? I don't know what is what, I just need an off camera flash set-up for under $150

If you use the flash gun wireless the voltage is irrelevant.

If you can disable the peanut on-camera flash gun's pre-flash you could use it to trigger the off-camera flash gun through a 10 dollar slave-eye (Ebay).

 

[Village Idiot]

The optical triggers are decent when used within their limitations. A lot of people really like the Cactus V2S when it works though. Wireless is a little less constraining as you can use in in conditions like sunlight without having to worry about performance issues.

Right now the Cactus triggers are the cheapest radio triggers. www.radiopopper.com is supposed to be coming out with a reliable and cheap unit. The cheapest most reliable devices I can think of are the Elinchrom Skyports @ $180ish a set. They may seem expensive, but they work without paying Pocket Wizard prices.

Wein makes some decent optical triggers if you want to look into those.

I think to hit you're mark, a Sunpak 383 and set of Cactus triggers is your best bet. That's like $120. You're still going to need a stand and hot shoe adapter. You're probably going to be better off getting an umbrella and umbrella adapter. That's like $55. You can find used Sunpak flashes on E-bay and hit your mark.

 

[Mystwalker]

Hey, thanks for the replys. I don't know what a PC chord is, though. I'm so confused about everything... all I want is a decent, wireless, off-camera flash set-up that $150 will buy me.

I even looked all over strobist.com, and couldn't find a clear answer.

"PC Cord" - it's a wire that goes from your camera to your "off camera" flash unit. It allows your camera to tell the flash "SHOOT".

On strobist.com (URL below) they tell you how to "make your own" - pretty neat (and easy) project. Or you can save a couple bucks and get from EBay. You have more options in cord you make yourself - hard to explain, you have to read the article on strobist.
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/04/lighting-101-build-pro-synch-cord-pt-1.html

Another method (cleaner imo - no wires lying around) is to get one of those Cactus units from gadgetinfinity.com ... you may want to read around about reliability though. I've heard good and bad things about them, but for $30 I guess you can't expect much?