Wirelessly controlling a flash?

[HckySo]

I have a Nikon D50 so no commander mode.

I want to be able to wirelessly control one or more flashes. I've been looking into getting a Pocket-Wizard Plus II but then I found out the Nikon SB-800 flash can act as a commander. I currently have a Nikon SB-600 flash that I can use has a wireless slave flash but I need something to control it. Is the Nikon SB-800 or the Pocket-Wizard Plus II a better choice to control a few SB-600 flashes?

 

[Kirbdog]

SB800 or SU800

You have two Nikon options the SB800 is a very good strobe and can act as the commander. It can remotely fire several remote strobes like the SB600 and other SB800's. There is also the SU800 that is strictly a commander and a bit cheaper than the SB800 but it is only a commander. Its advantage is it does not have to pre flash to fire the other strobes that it is controlling.
Sorry I don't have any experience with the Pocket Wizard.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

Unless I am missing something the Pocket-Wizard Plus II will not allow for wireless iTTL like a SB-800 or SU-800 will.

 

[HckySo]

Right, that's why I wanted to use a flash on my camera to take care of that and then attach the pocket wizard to the bottom but the D50 doesn't have a sync cord.

But in any matter I don't use TTL, I just set it to one setting and change the exposure accordingly.

 

[beavo451]

But in any matter I don't use TTL, I just set it to one setting and change the exposure accordingly.

What a shame. Nikon has the advantage in this area. Why not use it?

 

[QuantumLo0p]

When I do wireless I use two different methods, depending on what I want:

1) Use my SB800 on the camera as the commander flash and use my trusty old SB28 flash with a SU4 wireless slave controller.

2) Use my camera as the commander, the SB800 as a wireless slave and my SB28/SU4 also as a wireless slave.

I know you can't do method #2 with your D50 but you could do the other method. However, it requires a pricey flash for the commander and another setup for a slave such as another pricey flash or a SU4 with an older flash.

I love the SU4 because it gave my SB28 purpose again and it was relatively cheap. Without it I would have sold the old SB28 on Craig's List for sure and it's a sentimental thing for me also; my first serious camera was my F100 with vertical grip and the SB28.

The Nikon Creative Lighting System can be a very valuable tool. It will never be a full set up of strobes, umbrellas and powerpacks but a studio set up will never match the portability of a quick Nikon flash set up. It has enabled some very nice shoots for me!

 

[ChrisA]

I have a Nikon D50 so no commander mode.

I want to be able to wirelessly control one or more flashes. I've been looking into getting a Pocket-Wizard Plus II but then I found out the Nikon SB-800 flash can act as a commander. I currently have a Nikon SB-600 flash that I can use has a wireless slave flash but I need something to control it. Is the Nikon SB-800 or the Pocket-Wizard Plus II a better choice to control a few SB-600 flashes?

You don't need such expensive and fancy equipment. All you need at some cheap manual strobes. Vivitars or whatever. They sell for under $100. Buy a few of them.

Next fit each one with a little optical slave unit made by Wein
http://www.weinproducts.com/safesyncs.htm
The HSXLD model is what you need. It is about a one inch cube and costs about $40. Put one of these on the shoe of each cheap strobes. On the bottom of the cube is a tripod socket. So you can use cheap tripods if you don't have light stands

Now take you SB600 and set it to 1/16th power and aim it to the ceiling. when the SB600 pops all of the Wein controlled strobs will also fire.

The Nikon system is quite expensive and "light is light". You'd be better off buying "real" lights like Alan Bees or even used comercial grade lights like Speedotron or Norman. I bought a three head Norman system with a small 800W powerpack for about the price of three Nikon stobes. The comercial grade system is incomparably better

 

[XjeffX]

If you're only going to do one off-camera flash I'd stick with a SB800 and use Nikon's CLS. It works very well. I'm lucky that my D200 has commander mode so I use my one SB800 & a reflector for a pretty simple but effective lighting setup.

Pocketwizards are great for tons of uses, but I would say that they're too expensive for this simple of a setup.

You can also try the cheapo-ebay remotes.

Check out http://www.strobist.com for one of the best off camera sites ever made. It really is an awesome learning tool.

 

[wmmk]

Hi everyone, I'm in close to the same situation as HckySo, but I'm using a K100D. Any tips?

 

[techster85]

Okay, so right now I have two D50's, one SB600, and I'm about to buy another flash, I think i'm going to get another SB600. I am also going to be upgrading to either a D200 or a D2xs within the next six months. Can these cameras in commander mode control two SB600's? or do I need to get a SB800 or SU800? I'm assuming that the D200 could wireless flash two SB600s? I hope this question makes sense haha.

 

[HckySo]

That's correct yes, the D40 and the D50 doesn't have commander mode but all the others do which can command the SB-600 flashes as slave flashes.