Wireless Remote Flash system

[evejam]

Hi hope you can help or point me in the right direction.

I am looking to expand my flash system, however I am unsure which is the best way to do it.

Should I buy something like the Seculine T2D Wireless flash trigger

or

Should I buy the Nikon SB-900 to work with my SB-600?

I have been trying to find the pros and cons of each system but to no avail and I am still a newbie when it comes to flash photography.

Many thanks in advance if you can provide some guidance.

Kind regards

Dafydd

[inkista]

What camera body are you using? If you have a D80/D90 or better body, the pop-up flash can be used to "command" your SB-600.

The basic tradeoffs and difference between using CLS (the Nikon speedlight system) and radio triggers are:

Cost: Radio triggers are less expensive than using CLS, which requires Nikon speedlight units.

Range: Radio units have a much larger range than CLS, particularly outside in bright sunlight. CLS is near-infrared-based light signalling, which works better indoors where it has surfaces to bounce off, and the light signal is more clearly visible. Bright sunlight can wash it out, and outside means no bouncing of the signal.

Line-of-sight requirement: Radio receives in all directions. With light signals, the sensor has to "see" the signal: so you can't tuck a flash with a receiver out of sight of the commander unit: the sensor has to face the commander and have a clear "line of sight" to the commander. In radio, a receiver doesn't need to "see" the transmitter to receive the signal.

i-TTL. Radio triggers mostly do not support i-TTL, CLS does. i-TTL is where the camera can set the flash power automatically based on through-the-lens (TTL) metering. This is similar to having an automatic mode for the flash power. With radio triggers, you mostly have to shoot with the flash in Manual mode, and manually dial in the light level you want the flashes to deliver.

The sole exceptions to this are the RadioPopper PX units (which translate the light pulses to radio and back again), and the TTL-capable PocketWizards. They're both pretty expensive.

high-speed synch. Similarly, radio triggers do not support high-speed sync. CLS does. Your camera body has a hard limit on how high the shutter speed can be and still have the entire frame illuminated by a flash burst. Shutter speeds are mainly controlled by the size of the gap between the front and rear shutter curtains. The larger the gap, the slower the shutter speed. At speeds faster that your sync speed, the gap becomes smaller than your sensor. Because a flash burst is much much faster than your shutter speed, only the portion of the sensor exposed by the gap will see the flash burst, and you'll have black bars at the top and/or bottom of the frame.

Most cameras and flashes today can do high-speed synch, where the camera synchronizes the flash to put out precisely timed pulses of light, as the gap travels across the sensor for the exposure, so the entire frame does get lit, but this requires a lot of communication between the flash and camera body, and you seriously reduce the power output of the flash. Most radio triggers only communicate the "fire" signal. So, no high-speed sync with radio triggers. You're limited to your sync speed or slower (typically 1/200s or 1/250s).

Again, the RadioPopper PXs and the TTL-capable PocketWizards can still maintain the communications needed for high-speed sync.

Remote commanding: Radio mostly triggers don't do this, CLS does. Setting the power levels on remote flashes from the commander unit is something CLS is great at, and radio triggers not so much. There are some exceptions. The Cybersync Cybercommander has some capability in this direction, as do the RadioPopper JrX units, but it's not exactly the same as what's built into the CLS system. And again, the RadioPopper PXs and TTL-capable PocketWizards can still maintain this form of communication.

[OsmosisStudios]

There are 2 ways of controlling flashes. You didnt mention which body you have, which has a HUGE impact on what you can do and where you'd go.

If you have a Master-flash Capable body (D70/s, D80, D90, D200, D300/s, D700,), then I'd recommend an Sb-900 or two Sb-600s, depending on whether you're going to be using it mainly on-camera (900) or off-camera (600s).

If you DONT have a master-flash capable body (D40/x, D60, D3000, D5000 or the earlier D100, D1 and D2 series), then things get tricky. Because these don't have the CLS capabilities you'd be better off with some kind of radio trigger and some cheaper compatible flashes. Generally speaking, though, this means not using the flash units on-camera.

[evejam]

I have a Nikon D40 which I am very happy with and now looking to expand my range of photography, I mostly do outside work so it would appear the Nikon CLS is not the best option.

So will now look for radio remote trigger system and some nice basic flash. Maybe the Nissin Di622 which seems to be similar to the Nikon SB-600.

So I am thinking maybe two Nissin Di622 would complement my SB-600 nicely and give me the best options.

Will have a look at the Radio popper and pocket wizards.

Many thanks for taking the time to reply.

D