Trigger Nikon flash Via Canon Body ?

[2WheelPhoto]

"Canon 5D MIII" <--- I don't blame you there. I was expecting more from Nikon too.

 

[KmH]

Hey guys,

So I think i'm making the switch to Canon after being a Nikon shooter for a very long time. The D800 just seems to have way to many issues already and the D4 is out of budget and also would cause a divorce. I'm thinking of going canon 5D MIII.

Is there any way of triggering Nikon Flash units with a Canon. I don't need the flash on the camera body. I'm not going to be using this everyday but we have thousands of dollars in Nikon Flash Units that it would be a shame to let them go to waste. figured it would be nice to use them with a remote trigger. I know how to use slave mode and have the canon flash trigger them but in order to keep the wife happy i'm not going to jump into a Canon flash purchase the same day/week as my 5D purchase.

I have some remote triggers I was going to try to get the Canon transmitter and pair it with the nikon receiver and see if that would work.

thanks in advance.

If you are using things with a PC cord, then they should work fine. This includes things like pocket wizards and cheaper radio triggers.

However, if you want to use the built in flash on a Canon body to trigger the Nikon flashes using the optical slave technique, then it won't work, as the signals used are different between the two brands.

A SB-700, SB-800, or SB-900 in SU-4 mode will trigger on the flash of light from any flash unit.

 

[Tiberius47]

Hey guys,

So I think i'm making the switch to Canon after being a Nikon shooter for a very long time. The D800 just seems to have way to many issues already and the D4 is out of budget and also would cause a divorce. I'm thinking of going canon 5D MIII.

Is there any way of triggering Nikon Flash units with a Canon. I don't need the flash on the camera body. I'm not going to be using this everyday but we have thousands of dollars in Nikon Flash Units that it would be a shame to let them go to waste. figured it would be nice to use them with a remote trigger. I know how to use slave mode and have the canon flash trigger them but in order to keep the wife happy i'm not going to jump into a Canon flash purchase the same day/week as my 5D purchase.

I have some remote triggers I was going to try to get the Canon transmitter and pair it with the nikon receiver and see if that would work.

thanks in advance.

If you are using things with a PC cord, then they should work fine. This includes things like pocket wizards and cheaper radio triggers.

However, if you want to use the built in flash on a Canon body to trigger the Nikon flashes using the optical slave technique, then it won't work, as the signals used are different between the two brands.

A SB-700, SB-800, or SB-900 in SU-4 mode will trigger on the flash of light from any flash unit.

Ah, okay then. I have absolutely NO experience with Nikon flashes. Do they take into account any metering preflashes?

 

[KmH]

Not in SU-4 mode.

 

[KmH]

SU-4 mode is a manual control mode, not a TTL mode. The camera doesn't meter the flash and you have to set the speedlight output power level manually.

Pre-flashes are used by the camera for 2 purposes:
1. To provide light it can meter to judge exposure.
2. control signals that set the speedlight power.

To use TTL the camreera and speedlight have to speak the same language.

 

[Tiberius47]

I think you misunderstood my question...

If the pop up flash on my camera is in TTL, then it's going to use a preflash to determine the correct exposure. If a Nikon flash detects this preflash, will it fire then, or will it wait until the actual flash?