flashs advice, wireless triggering...

[Stranger]

Guaranteed to trigger the sb-600 with commander mode, i was playing with it all day and i have that setup.

What am i gaining by not using nikons CLS system?

 

[SpeedTrap]

What am i gaining by not using nikons CLS system?

Nothing,
The Nikon CLS is wonderful. no need for wires, good range for wireless and you can work with an insane amout of flash units if you like.
While some of the Ideas on the strobist are nice, if you can affort the CLS it is great to work with. I use an SB-600 with my D300 all the time.

 

[Village Idiot]

Nothing,
The Nikon CLS is wonderful. no need for wires, good range for wireless and you can work with an insane amout of flash units if you like.
While some of the Ideas on the strobist are nice, if you can affort the CLS it is great to work with. I use an SB-600 with my D300 all the time.

That's definitely wrong

Guaranteed to trigger the sb-600 with commander mode, i was playing with it all day and i have that setup.

What am i gaining by not using nikons CLS system?

Reliability in certain situations and range. Plus certain triggers allow grouping, HSS up to 2000', auto flash settings that can be stored in the trigger.

The CLS system uses a light fired from the camera. You don't have to have that with other triggering systems. Plus CLS doesn't do well in bright lights outside and you can't use it through walls, and in other situations. Radio waves go through pretty much everything and certain triggers say they have ranges up to 2000'

 

[JerryPH]

If I'm not mistaken, you just need the flash to go off wirelessly.. That can be done in commander mode with a D200 and an SB600 which is the setup I have. No additional components needed.

Are you speaking from experience or guessing? Both Ken Rockwell and the Nikon website say you cannot remote trigger the SB-600 from the D200 without the SU-800 trigger or a SB-800 flash.

I know for a fact that the D200 and SB-800 work wirelessly very well, becuase this is what I have... but I do not have the SB-600.

 

[Stranger]

Jerry, I own the D200 SB-600 combo and it commands it like a charm.

Not sure why the website would say different?

 

[JerryPH]

Nothing,
The Nikon CLS is wonderful. no need for wires, good range for wireless and you can work with an insane amout of flash units if you like.

In a maximum of 4 groups and the maximum of 3 stops of light control within that total group (a limitation of CLS), and if you use more than 4 lights you will need to go manual for maximum control outside those 4 groups... and that means no more iTTL.

Not that I miss either iTTL or CLS. The onboard or SB-800 make good triggers for my setup and I prefer full manual control. My results are better and I can use additional 110 volt studio strobes into the mix.

Its nice, but its nicer to have options.

 

[DigiJay]

Are you speaking from experience or guessing? Both Ken Rockwell and the Nikon website say you cannot remote trigger the SB-600 from the D200 without the SU-800 trigger or a SB-800 flash.

I know for a fact that the D200 and SB-800 work wirelessly very well, becuase this is what I have... but I do not have the SB-600.

I'm speaking from experience. I used this set-up the other day. All I have is the Camera and flash no other wires, adapters, triggers.. anything else.

 

[JerryPH]

Jerry, I own the D200 SB-600 combo and it commands it like a charm.

Not sure why the website would say different?

Not sure either. As I said, I have the SB-800 not the 600, so I cannot speak from experience.

 

[SpeedTrap]

The CLS system uses a light fired from the camera. You don't have to have that with other triggering systems. Plus CLS doesn't do well in bright lights outside and you can't use it through walls, and in other situations. Radio waves go through pretty much everything and certain triggers say they have ranges up to 2000'

1) I do use the CLS In Bright light outdoors and it works fine.
2) you are right it does not work through walls, but I do not shoot through walls :er: But it does work through windows and doors or any opening.
3)I do not know anyone who shoots from 2000 feet away, I know that I wold not set up a few hundred dollars worth of lighting and then walk 2000 feet away.
Sorry not trying to stir things up, just my opinion,
Thanks

 

[JerryPH]

Just for laughs, I have triggered the flash with me being upstairs and the flash downstairs, but the stairway was open at the time, but I was quite far.

I thought it funny at the time.

I find the range drops a lot outside in bright sunlight, but I usually don't want to be more than 30-40 or so feet away from what I am trying to light up or shoot anyways.

For a free solution, its awesome... but when they come out, I am going radio poppers all the way.

 

[DigiJay]

Quoted from Nikon.com under specifications for D200:
"Built-in Speedlight with i-TTL flash control and full support for Nikon's Creative Lighting System"

And then there's this info:
http://www.nikonians.org/nikon/d200_and_cls/d200_and_cls_6.html

 

[Village Idiot]

1) I do use the CLS In Bright light outdoors and it works fine.
2) you are right it does not work through walls, but I do not shoot through walls :er: But it does work through windows and doors or any opening.
3)I do not know anyone who shoots from 2000 feet away, I know that I wold not set up a few hundred dollars worth of lighting and then walk 2000 feet away.
Sorry not trying to stir things up, just my opinion,
Thanks

Don't get me wrong, each has it's advantages and disadvantages, but just saying you're gaining nothing by going with another system is wrong. How close are you to your flashes? The last shoot I did I was probably a good 30'-40' away from the girl I was shooting and the only time one of my flashes didn't fire was when I forgot to turn my trigger on.

And the walls thing is all about creativity. Some one on the Strobist Flickr discussion group set up this really elaborate shot to get a photo of a guitar. It was amazing. It used 6 flashes. Another guy had three speed lights on a lightstand and fired them off about 40-50 times in one exposure while walking around a car for a really trick photo. A meet up I was at in DC had us using 10 flashes firing them each 10-15 times in one exposure to light up a car in a parking garage for a pretty surreal shot. Just three eaxamples where CLS whould be holding you back vs. something like a radio triggering method.

And just because you don't know them, doesn't mean they're out there. Another guy on the Strobist group posted a photo with him on one plataeu shooting another about 500' away with a couple of mountain bikers on the top. He does outdoor and adventure photos. Any light based triggering system, be it CLS, Canon's IR, or an optical slave would have not allowed any of these photos to be taken.

Think outside the box and you'll quickly come up with scenarios where CLS would not work. But that's definitely not saying it's worthless.

 

[Village Idiot]

Just for laughs, I have triggered the flash with me being upstairs and the flash downstairs, but the stairway was open at the time, but I was quite far.

I thought it funny at the time.

I find the range drops a lot outside in bright sunlight, but I usually don't want to be more than 30-40 or so feet away from what I am trying to light up or shoot anyways.

For a free solution, its awesome... but when they come out, I am going radio poppers all the way.

The thing I don't care for in the RP design, is that you must have a flash on the camera for an RP to connect to to receive a TTL signal. They would not be my first choice if I was just deciding on a wireless triggering system.