off camera flash

Alyssa15267 · Apr 9, 2015

Hi all,
I've been wanting to start playing around with off camera flash.. I have a Nikon d5100 witch does not have cls. I also have a yn 460 speedlight, a stand and umbrella.... I've been looking at the Nikon SU800 commander and was wondering if it will work with the yn 460? What else would I need? This is all new to me and a little confusing but I am wanting to learn, so please help

weepete · Apr 9, 2015

I don't know about the commander unit but a reflector is a useful addition.

Alyssa15267 · Apr 9, 2015

I have a 5 in one reflecter

but I don't have a stand for it (need one!) and is hard to hold it when trying to focus on the images.

Braineack · Apr 9, 2015

Get a pair of YN603 triggers.

Designer · Apr 9, 2015

The Nikon CLS is a proprietary system, so I doubt very much if your Yonguno flash will respond properly to an SU-800.

But if you try it, report back to tell us how it works.

I have purchased Pocket Wizard transceivers, and those will fire probably any flash.

You could use a cable if the distance to your flash is within reach of the cable.

If the Yonguno has optical slave mode, you can fire it with your built in flash, but you will have to mitigate your on-camera flash in some way to not contribute light to the composition. A reflector of some sort might do it.

astroNikon · Apr 9, 2015

I have the one Yongnuo designed for the SU-800 .. the 560 ?? (want to buy it?)
All I know is that the Yongnuo uses the SU-800 IR and unfortunately it was limited to about 8 feet distance - it had a very weak IR receiver. The Nikons I could put 30+ feet away and worked fine.

Getting to the point .. if you want to use cheaper flashes go with Radio Triggers and the Yongnuo radio triggers are just fine. The 603s for manual only and the 622s if you plan on using any TTL in the future especially if you think you'l like the TX unit which is similar to the SU-800. With the TX you can control the light intensity from the camera TX unit it self - in 3 groups (wish it had 5 though).

I now use the Yongnuo 622s and the TX controlling unit. It's pretty good for such a low price. I sold my SU-800 - it did have some features that the TX didn't have but I didn't use those much.

TCampbell · Apr 15, 2015

astroNikon said:
I have the one Yongnuo designed for the SU-800 .. the 560 ?? (want to buy it?)
All I know is that the Yongnuo uses the SU-800 IR and unfortunately it was limited to about 8 feet distance - it had a very weak IR receiver. The Nikons I could put 30+ feet away and worked fine.

Getting to the point .. if you want to use cheaper flashes go with Radio Triggers and the Yongnuo radio triggers are just fine.

You might be able to squeeze more distance out of the Nikon or Yongnuo optical system. On the Canon system, the receiver is in the lower part of the flash -- and I'm guessing that's true of the Nikon system as well. If the flash (and it's pick-up) are just facing forward, the distance is a bit limited. But if you turn the lower half of the body so that the receiver is pointing at the sender you get a LOT more distance (and you can even get these things to work outdoors in full daylight). Take advantage of the fact that the head on the flash can be pointed independent of which direction the lower half of the flash body is pointing and you still have all the versatility you need (as long as you have line of sight).

Radio is, of course, a lot more versatile since it doesn't even require line-of-sight.

Alyssa15267 · Apr 17, 2015

How much would you sell the 560 for ? And is it in decent condition??

WayneF · Apr 17, 2015

Alyssa15267 said:
Hi all,
I've been wanting to start playing around with off camera flash.. I have a Nikon d5100 witch does not have cls. I also have a yn 460 speedlight, a stand and umbrella.... I've been looking at the Nikon SU800 commander and was wondering if it will work with the yn 460? What else would I need? This is all new to me and a little confusing but I am wanting to learn, so please help

The Yongnuo YN565EX or YN568 will work as a Remote with a Nikon Commander. The 568 also adds HSS (which the D5100 cannot do). See Review of the Yongnuo YN565EX Speedlight

The SU-800 will add a commander to the D5100. However, the D5100 still will not have the FV Lock function, which is very seriously needed to prevent pictures of blinking subjects. The SU-800 is IR filtered and better abut this than other commanders, but the remote preflash is not filtered. FV Lock is the work around.

Surely the SU-800 price is better spent towards a camera upgrade (to D7200 that has a commander. Models with a commander also have FV Lock).

FV Lock: See Using the Nikon CLS Remote Wireless Flash System - Part 2

There are other ways to use off-camera flashes without a commander. Radio triggers, optical slaves, etc. All of these are Manual flash, no TTL except with Commander. No blinking problems. See How to trigger speedlights Off camera

D-B-J · Apr 17, 2015

The SU800 is great in theory, but it really sucks in practice. You need line of sight at all times for it to trigger the flashes, it works poorly or not at all in bright sunlight, doesn't work from long distances, etc. What I ended up doing was using pocketwizards in conjunction with my SU800, and now I can remotely control from hundreds of feet away

That being said, that's all quite expensive. I'd recommend some yongnuo triggers--many have used them and liked them here. Also, your flash should have an optical slave mode, which can be triggered by the onboard flash of you D5100.

Jake

Braineack · Apr 17, 2015

My YN622TX works like the SU-800 in conjunction with my YN622s at a much lower price point and with radio signals as oppossed to IR.

astroNikon · Apr 17, 2015

Alyssa15267 said:
How much would you sell the 560 for ? And is it in decent condition??

It's actually in great condition. I think it's the YN-500 (I have to check) as it was designed specifically for use with the the SU-800' IR system. But there are cheaper and better flashes out there now.

And that 8 feet IR distance was no fluke (the InfraRed, not the flash trigger - the flash trigger worked fine). The body was pointed right towards the SU-800. I had to run many tests specifically for distance and compared to my Nikon flashes. It drove me batty for a while because I was initially using it as a Background flash, but it wouldn't flash even with the body pointed right at the SU-800. When it was closer it worked just fine. I can't tell you how many shots were wasted becz it would not trigger. I ran tests specifically just with the flash's IR receiver (checked manual, etc to know exactly where the IR receiver was) pointed right at the SU-800 and it worked close up but as you moved it further back it wouldn't trigger.

It's actually cheaper to buy a radio trigger Yongnuo TX unit and two 622N than a SU-800.
The SU-800 also uses the old small camera battery which may cost up to $11 each at a regular store.
So I still recommend getting a Yongnuo TX and two 622Ns versus a SU-800.

astroNikon · Apr 17, 2015

$135 for the Yongnuo TX and TWO 622N radio triggers
==> http://www.amazon.com/YONGNUO-YN-62...id=1429283713&sr=8-2&keywords=yongnuo+tx+622N

I sold my su800 for $160 .... I'd totally recommend the Yongnuo triggers instead.

KmH · Apr 17, 2015

Alyssa15267 said:
Hi all,
. . . I have a Nikon d5100 witch does not have cls.

Your D5100 does indeed have CLS - See pages 203 - 205 of your D5100 Reference Manual.
What your D5100 doesn't have is Commander mode, and Auto-FP flash sync.

Nikon flash units that have SU-4 mode can be triggered off camera by the flash of light from the D5100's built-in flash unit, or the flash of light from any brand of flash unit mounted on or off the D5100's hot shoe.