SB-800 Remote Firing Help

[NikonUser]

Hi there,

I'm playing around with my SB-800's remote firing fuction but am having a little trouble getting it to behave how I want it to...

I've set the camera's on board flash to Commander Mode (TTL)

And when I take the flash off the camera it goes into remote mode (A)

When I fire the shutter there is a series of very short bursts of light from the SB-800 before it actually goes off. Is there any way to stop this and make it go off straight away? (like when it's on the hotshoe)

By the time the pre-flashes have happened the subject (jittery insects) has usually fled.

Thanks for any help

Paul

[xorl]

The pre-flashes serve 2 purposes:
- Working out how much light needs to be pumped into the scene
- Talking to the slave flash(es).

When using iTTL it is unavoidable.

If you don't mind setting things up manually you can put the SB-800 into SU-4 mode (with an appropriate amount of power) and set your camera to manual flash 1/16. Use manual mode on your camera to control the amount of flash/ambient light in your picture.

The SB-800 will fire as soon as it detects another flash. If your D70 flash is having a negative affect on your image you can stick a business card or your hand in the way to bounce it elsewhere. SU-4 mode is very sensitive and should trigger as long as some flash bounces around and hits it. This works well for static scenes.

The SB-800 is very flexible, there are lots of options to play with. These are just the basics. Hope this helps.

[Aussie Dave]

Although I haven't tried this (and I haven't got my camera at work to test this theory), I believe that by adjusting the flash-head to any other position (other than horizontal) turns off the pre-flashes.

So....with the SB800 off-camera, you could adjust the head to 45deg. or even vertical, then point the head directly at your subject/scene. The flash should recognise that the head is not horizontal and not pre-flash....

Just a theory....would be interested to see if it works.

[beetleboy]

Tilting the flash head doesn't make any difference..

Using SU-4 is prolly your best bet in this situation and as an added suggestion, try and get hold of some kind of IR filter (like on the front of a tv remote) and stick it over your camera's onboard flash. This way only the IR light passes through which I'm pretty sure the SB800 will pick up but the onboard flashes light won't affect your image.

I've seen the stuff around but can't for the life of me remember where atm!

Try google!

Liam =]

[Aussie Dave]

Tilting the flash head doesn't make any difference..

Yes, my apologies. Reading the SB800 User manual, my suggestion only works with Cameras in Group 1 (F5, F100 etc..)

[NikonUser]

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

I will try playing around with some manual modes next time.

Would getting an off camera cord help me at all?

Paul

[beetleboy]

Cord would help..but then what would be the point of buying a nice expensive wireless flash system if your gonna bung a cord on it!!

Liam =]