DSLRUsers.com

Posted: **Wed Mar 23, 2005 11:06 am**

Can you use the SB 600 flash as a remote flash and use the camara flash as the main flash.

murf59 (only a novice)

Posted: **Wed Mar 23, 2005 11:38 am**

I don't think so... I could be wrong though.

I think it is this reason most people decide on the SB-800

Posted: **Wed Mar 23, 2005 11:39 am**

Murf, you probably wont get an answer till this evening from someone who has one and can understand the flash system, so I will try to help. Not many here have the SB600, most went for the SB800.

As I understand if using flash remotely with on board flash, the on camera flash just triggers doesn't actually fire at full power. If the unit on camera is a SB600 or 800 (not the inbuilt) you can get full power from it and the remote. This is from my very, very basic understanding, maybe someone could confirm or correct. So I believe the answer to your question is no.

Posted: **Wed Mar 23, 2005 11:40 am**

Murf 59 - according to the manual for the D70 (page 187) you can use the SB600 in i-TTL mode for advanced wireless lighting, also manual.

Do you have the SB600, if not would recommend getting the SB800 as it is more versatile.

Posted: **Wed Mar 23, 2005 11:43 am**

Just to clarify my point, the SB600 can be used remotely, but the onboard acts as a trigger, not strong enough to be called a flash (or as murf asked - the main flash). Sorry for my confusing first answer.

Posted: **Wed Mar 23, 2005 11:46 am**

Glen wrote:Just to clarify my point, the SB600 can be used remotely

Thanks for proving me wrong :lol:

Sorry for the miss info Murf :oops:

W00DY

Posted: **Wed Mar 23, 2005 11:48 am**

Woody, don't think you are wrong, just this bit of D70 gear is quite confusing so no one even knows what are the right questions to ask, little alone the right answers. I do know the SB600 works remotely, as I was considering one as a second flash.

Posted: **Wed Mar 23, 2005 11:49 am**

Murf, the SB600 will work fine as a remote flash with the D70.

Using the D70 as the master instead of an SB800 has some limitations:
- The D70 can only control 1 channel/group.
- Unlike the SB800, the D70 cannot trigger the remote and fire itself.
If you only buy 1 flash then the D70 will always be master, so these limitations will apply even if you get an SB800.

Posted: **Wed Mar 23, 2005 11:51 am**

Thanks for all your help guys

Posted: **Wed Mar 23, 2005 1:12 pm**

I tried to get my 800 to fire remotely from the onboard flash and failed. I combed through the manuals and came to the conclusion that it can't be done. To clarify, I had a still life and I wanted to fire the 800 from the right side, onboard flash from straight on, does this work? (I'm pretty sure it doesn't atleast according to what I could find in the manuals).

Posted: **Wed Mar 23, 2005 1:31 pm**

dooda wrote:I tried to get my 800 to fire remotely from the onboard flash and failed. I combed through the manuals and came to the conclusion that it can't be done. To clarify, I had a still life and I wanted to fire the 800 from the right side, onboard flash from straight on, does this work? (I'm pretty sure it doesn't atleast according to what I could find in the manuals).

You can't fire both the SB800 and the D70 onboard. When using the D70 flash as the master it can only trigger a remote and cannot provide flash illumination as well. If you had a couple of flashes the SB800 can be used in the hotshoe to trigger remote flashes and flash itself.

If the SB800 wasn't firing at all you need to select remote mode on the flash and pick channel 3, group A so it will sync with the D70.

Posted: **Wed Mar 23, 2005 3:14 pm**

Murf - the correct (and probably not useful) answer is that neither the SB600 or SB800 can be used as the remote flash when the camera flash is used as the main flash.

Both can be used as remote flash when the camera flash is used as a trigger.

The SB800 can be used as a pseudo remote flash and the camera flash as main flash if it is set it to SU-4 mode.

There are limitations to this setup. Firstly, the on-camera flash must be set to manual mode(preflashes from iTTL will confuse the SB800). The SB800 in turn must be set to SU-4 wireless flash mode.

Posted: **Wed Mar 23, 2005 4:01 pm**

The more I read about the SB800 (and SB600) the more confused I get. An amazing but bewildering little device. :roll:

I have had some success just playing with it and I'm really looking forward to having our own edited manual in the future.

Posted: **Wed Mar 23, 2005 4:16 pm**

SoCal Steve wrote:The more I read about the SB800 (and SB600) the more confused I get. An amazing but bewildering little device.

I have had some success just playing with it and I'm really looking forward to having our own edited manual in the future.

SoCal,

Buy 2 of each and learn with the D70 :shock:

Yes, if you haven't use them extensively then of course more confusing once you read these above lines.

Posted: **Thu Mar 24, 2005 12:49 am**

Another tip with the SU-4/D70 hack. The SB800 has 2 flash modes when trigger via SU-4, Automatic and Manual.

Automatic is the default and relies on the camera to turn off the primary flash once it has received enough light (combined from all flash sources). The SB800 will sense that the main flash has finished and will stop itself. Unlike film cameras, Nikon digital cameras don't do TTL flash - they can't sense how much light has been received mid-exposure and turn the flash off.

Manual mode only uses the master flash to trigger the SB800, the SB800 is programmed to deliver a specific amount of flash.

When using the D70 to trigger an SU-4 flashes you may find it easier to set the slaves to manual mode since the D70 doesn't do TTL flash (press the mode button).