Just got SB-800 - need some help

[kamran]

Hello everyone,

I got my SB-800 two days back. It's a great flash but is a little complex for starters like me. It works great on my D70s. My question is that whether I can use the built-in flash of the D70s and the SB-800 together for lighting a scene? I was able to get the SB-800 to work in wireless mode (by setting D70s flash on Commander TTL mode and SB-800 on Remote mode - Channel 3). But when I use the SU-4 mode on the SB-800 and put the camera on normal TTL mode, the SB-800 does fire together with the camera flash, but the SB-800 flash doesn't light the scene in the photo. A clarification would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Kamran

[Heath Bennett]

I have only ever used the commander mode for this purpose, Kamran. It seems to me that this is the only mode that will sync bost flashes with the shutter. I may be wrong.

[xorl]

My question is that whether I can use the built-in flash of the D70s and the SB-800 together for lighting a scene?

Yes, but you need to use the flashes in manual mode. When using Commander mode the D70 flash cannot light the scene - it can only send commands to the slave flash.

I was able to get the SB-800 to work in wireless mode (by setting D70s flash on Commander TTL mode and SB-800 on Remote mode - Channel 3). But when I use the SU-4 mode on the SB-800 and put the camera on normal TTL mode, the SB-800 does fire together with the camera flash, but the SB-800 flash doesn't light the scene in the photo.

The D70 preflash will be triggering the SB-800 SU-4 before the shutter opens. Set the D70 flash to manual to disable the preflashes. You can then fiddle with the different power levels on the flashes and the aperture on the camera to balance the lighting.

[kamran]

Thanks Xorl! It works in manual mode. But getting a proper exposure this way is really difficult. Most shots came out overexposed (although both flashes were set to their lowest powers).

I think I will be sticking to commander mode and will toss in another SB-600 or SB-800 if I need multiple light sources.

Thanks again.

[xorl]

You need to set your camera to manual (M) mode as well. To start with set your camera to ISO200, 1/500s, ~f11. Hopefully the ambient light level is low so it will not affect your photos. Play with the flash power/positioning to get the lighting level you want. You can tweak the aperture setting on the camera to perform fine adjustments to the exposure. Later on you can try balancing ambient light with the flashes by lowering the shutter speed (and maybe the aperture). It's pretty crude doing it this way but with a little practice it's not too hard. If you have a flash meter it is much easier/quicker.