Tips for SB800 on Nikon D60

[bigone5500]

can anyone give me some tips for using an SB800 flash on a D60? I have borrowed one and can't figure out how to get good photos with it.

[scootermcq]

Try this....

Set the ISO around 800
Set the camera on manual
Set aperture to 5.6
Set Shutter to 1/40-1/60
Leave the flash on TTL
Set flash to rear curtain sync.

Use a diffuser or bounce it off a white wall or reflector. If you have to, use the ceiling.

Play with the settings, but that should give you a good starting point to work with. Of course these settings are for indoors. If the room is bright, keep an eye on your meter and make sure you don't need to speed up the shutter to not overexpose. Outside is a whole other ball game, and almost impossible with a D60 as it does not support FP flash and the top sync speed is 1/200.

[bigone5500]

Thanks Scott. I'll do that and see what happens.

[bigone5500]

What tips can you give me for taking photos of a closeup outside or of plants at distances up to ~30'? Is this flash necessary outside? I'm figuring that on a bright day, it will help eliminate shadows.

[scootermcq]

The D60 does not support Nikon CLS, but do not fear, the sb800 has a slave mode that you can fire with the on board flash.

Dial down the onboard flash to the lowest compensation you can

1. Turn on your SB800.

2. Now get into the submenu by pressing and holding the "sel" button for 2 seconds.

3. Arrow right (the "single tree" button) to get the upper right quadrant highlighted.

4. Push the select button again.

5. Scoll down ("-" button) until "SU-4" is highlighted.

6. Push "sel" again to select.

7. Push and hold "sel" for 2 seconds to get out of the submenu.

8. Your flash will now say "REMOTE."

By pressing the "mode" button you can toggle between automatic and manual. Choose manual.

By pressing the "+" or "-" buttons, you can change power in 1/3-stop increments all the way to 1/128 power.

Place the flash on a 45 angle to the subject on the shade side and fire it from the on board flash. Play around with the power until you get what you want. You might also want to try some white cardboard etc on the other side to bounce back some of the light. Try different angles and power settings until you get the affect you want.

Remember to keep shutter speed below 1/200th so that the flash will sync with the shutter being open.

*edit* I "borrowed" the instructions for placing the SB800 in SU4 from the strobist website.

[bigone5500]

Thanks Scott. I had heard that you could use the D60 to do that but didn't know how. That will be a fun thing to play around with.