Commander Mode & Optical Slave

[scootermcq]

I have a D90 with 2 SB600 flashes. I am trying to add a 3rd speedlight fired via a cheap optical trigger.

I am finding that the preflashes of the 600's set off the optical trigger prematurely and the flash is out of sync. I have searched the manual, internet and the camera menus and can not seem to find a work around. In fact, everything I have read says I can't do what I want to in commander mode.

Has anyone had any luck finding a work around in this situation?

[OsmosisStudios]

You cant.

The CLS system you're using for the SB-600s fires a pre-flash to A) judge power and B) send information from the camera to the flashes. The optical slave is triggering on the preflash, not the actual exposure.

Even if youre fire in manual mode on the flashes, the camera sends a preflash to tell the flashes how to fire.

Sorry.

[scootermcq]

Yup, that's pretty much what my research has told me. As I don't want to drop another few hundred on another flash, I was thinking about 30 bucks on a "smart" optical trigger that can learn to ignore the pre-flashes. Does anyone know if those actually work?

[OsmosisStudios]

Never heard of these smart triggers. Sounds a little too good to be true, to be honest.

[scootermcq]

I just figured out a work around....

FV lock... this should work for portraits. Set up as you wish, and then hit the FV lock. It takes a "pre-flash" and locks there. Now there are no more pre-flashes when you take the photos and the optical trigger works fine. I have not tried on a portrait yet, but I can get all 3 flashes to fire at the same time this way, so I seem to be getting close to winning.

[scootermcq]

OK, the FV lock works great in a portrait set-up. I got a few minutes to play around tonight and got all three lights to fire at the same time with 2 in commander and 1 optical. I had to flag the optical to keep the weak commander preflashes from doing damage, and both sb600 have to be TTL mode in commander. Neither can be in manual or they still preflash.

Set them up as you want, focus and FV lock. If you need to change anything, i.e. upping the main then you need to FV lock again, but once you are dialed in, you can keep shooting and all three fire. The other nice thing is the TTL does not change your lighting on you and gives you consistant lighting. (which was why I used manual mode in commander).

I really think I will save some pesos and buy another SB600 or (dare I say it) SB900 for the longer throw and SU4, but that will be a bit down the road. Next thing in the budget invovles prime lenses, so I am glad I figured a work around for this flash which will only be a back ground light anyway.

[scootermcq]

Originally Posted by OsmosisStudios

Never heard of these smart triggers. Sounds a little too good to be true, to be honest.

I have decided to bite the bullet and be a guinea pig on this. I ordered an optical that is supposed to ignore the preflashes, because I would prefer not to work in TTL for this application. Here is the description of the product:

New Programmable Sonia® Brand INTELLISLAVE®
the Ultimate solution to preflash triggering!

new remote digital slave unit with rotating hot shoe
ideal for Digital and AF auto focus cameras
customize it to your camera's pre flash
compatible for use with most flash models
slaves can be triggered early if your camera produces a pre-flash,
for white balance adjustment and other camera settings.
this slave can be programmed to ignore pre-flashing,
and only trigger the remote flash when
it receives the camera's main flash.
female PC socket for connecting an additional flash via a pc cord
Hot shoe rotates 360° for complete directional control of flash and sensor
cold shoe with a metal 1/4" standard tripod screw mount
range is 250 feet (76m)
this slave is generally unaffected by daylight,
requires no additional power and
accepts flash sync voltages up to 100V DC.
Instructions included

note: not compatible for use with Canon EX EZ models

I will post back when I get them to let anyone following this thread know if they actually work or not.

[zona5101]

i know this comment is a tad late...but why optical and not radio slaves? Radio you don't have to worry about other flashes (yours or someones eles) tripping the strobes, you don't have to be line of sight, don't have to worry about a big soft box blocking the recepter...etc...

[scootermcq]

Originally Posted by zona5101

i know this comment is a tad late...but why optical and not radio slaves? Radio you don't have to worry about other flashes (yours or someones eles) tripping the strobes, you don't have to be line of sight, don't have to worry about a big soft box blocking the recepter...etc...

I have radio triggers, and they do work nicely, but one of the reasons I upgraded to the D90 was to be able to control the speedlights in power or like a hair light on & off for someone who is bald.

The optical will be on the background, so set it and forget it, where I may want to change power on a hair light with blond vs brunette vs bald and I am unable to do remotely with radio.

[zona5101]

Originally Posted by scootermcq

I have radio triggers, and they do work nicely, but one of the reasons I upgraded to the D90 was to be able to control the speedlights in power or like a hair light on & off for someone who is bald.

The optical will be on the background, so set it and forget it, where I may want to change power on a hair light with blond vs brunette vs bald and I am unable to do remotely with radio.

right, 'cause using your pop up flash to control the sbs means you can't use your camera hot shoe to trigger the background light... got it.