What cheap flashes can be wirelessly triggered by a Nikon SB-900?

Question

I have a Nikon SB-900 and I love it. I am looking to expand my off camera capabilities and would love to buy another flash.

The one important factor I'm looking for is the compatibility between my SB-900 and the new flash to work wirelessly. Wireless i-TTL isn't mandatory, but definitely a plus. I'm fine with setting the new flash in Manual mode.

Simply put, I want to keep the SB-900 on my Nikon D3100 and the new flash on a light stand. When I take a shot, I want both to go off, and the new flash should be triggered wirelessly. I don't want to have to buy a wireless commander since the SB-900 can do that already.

Thanks!

Asked by Jeff Lange

Answer

If you want to use i-TTL, the safest options it to go with Nikon. The cheapest Nikon flash available new would be the Nikon SB-700, or the Nikon SB-600 if you can find it used.

However, if you don't need i-TTL, you can get away with any cheap flash. For example I have a pair of YN-460 speedlights, dirt cheap compared to the Nikon flashes but can still be used as optical slaves. Combining optical slaves with using i-TTL on the SB-900 may not work however, as the slaves can be fooled by the pre-flashes used for measurements. Some flashes have a mode that is supposed to ignore these preflashes and only trigger on the "real" flash, but I can't vouche for the accuracy of these systems, YMMV.

Also note that, as an alternative to using optical slaves, you can use radio triggers. These will have to be purchased separately, and you need one unit per flash, plus one for the camera, but it will give you increased reliability and range. It will also get around the problem of the on camera flash affecting the lighting in the picture even when set to "off", as a pulse from that flash is required in order to trigger any other, i-TTL or not.

Something worth considering is that you could get 2 or even 3 flashes + radio triggers for less than what that SB-900 cost you ...

Answered by Freed

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How do I control the camera in Kite Photography?

Question

I saw an older post on the site that mentioned Kite Photography. I find that very interesting, and I want to try it.

I have a couple of old compact cameras that I wouldn't mind putting them at risk. (Ideally I would like to try it with on old Olympus mju 300.)

What tips and information do you have to share?

I cannot really figure out how to have the compact camera take pictures while in the air, and away from my hands. How can I accomplish that?

Asked by sdmythos_gr

Answer

that's an interesting question!

The first thing you need to consider I guess is the type of kite you wish to use; i.e. will you be using a single line kite, or a 2-4 line controllable kite? I'd recommend using a large-ish single line kite which will allow you to more easily use a really long line which will help to get the camera to a better altitude. Probably go for a delta kite or a parafoil/flowform kite of around 1-2 square metres.

The second thing to think about is how to activate the shutter. The easiest way would be to simply use the time delay having the camera mounted about half way along the kite line (as shown in Fig. 78 of the image below). If you want a more elaborate way to activate the shutter (which also enables you to have the camera mounted closer to the kite and hence higher) you could consider using radio control gear from an old car or plane; you'd basically need to mount a servo with a cam on the output shaft mounted on top of the camera (this is shown in the photo below). I'm doing exactly this to get aerial shots from a radio controlled aeroplane!

[[Images from the book "Kites and other wind machines" by Andre Thiebault removed due to copyright infringement]]

My own remotely operated shutter release, soon to be attached to an RC plane!

Edit After initial tests, I can confirm that I do not recommend attaching a camera to a remote controlled aircraft :-(

(See below image)

Answered by mdresser

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How limiting are the line-of-sight requirements of Canon's optical wireless flash system?

Question

I have a Canon 7D and 580EX II Speedlite, and am trying to make the jump into flash photography, particularly portrait work. I understand that the 7D's wireless trigger works by line-of-sight. Will this prohibit me from triggering flashes that are off center? For example, an umbrella to the side (either directly to the side or front-and-to-the-side) of the subject pointing toward the subject. I'd assume that the back of the flash wouldn't be facing directly at my camera.

I haven't bought the gear yet, but I was hoping the trigger on my camera would be good enough to forego the need to purchase any additional triggers.

Answer

The flash is triggered by the popup-flash of the 7D.

The signal is transmitted by light, it is just way too fast for the naked eye to see. The popup flash would strobes rapidly, like sending out morse-codes, and the external flash would pick it up and fires in sync. The whole thing is super fast, like in 1/500 of a second.

Understanding that, you now know that the limitation of such approach is that when the light is too weak, it will not reach the flash, and the external flash will not fire.

Another situation is that, when the surrounding it very bright (under direct sunlight for example), the popup flash is relatively weak, and the "morse-code" signals cannot be properly detected by the external flash.

Reducing the distance between the popup flash and external flash should solve this.

I use the 60D, and it has the same system too. I do not do a lot of outdoor daytime shot, I usually have a cable with me should I need off-center external flash. However I use the wireless flash system indoor very often. It is sufficiently reliable when you are in an indoor settings. Provided that you have some walls to bounce some of the light around, it really isn't a must that the flash must be at line of sight.

Ultimately, in an indoor settings, in a small room, I can place the external flash anywhere I want, and it fires no problem. If your portrait work focus on indoor shooting, its absolutely fine.

Finally, you already have the 7D, you do not seem to have the flash unit yet. You must buy a flash regardless which wireless option you choose, right? So why don't you buy a good flash unit, try out the wireless function on the 7D, then decide if you really need other wireless solution?

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Are there wireless file transfer adapter options for the Canon 550D/T2i?

Question

Is there an equivalent to the wireless adapters available for higher-end Canon DSLRs? The closest thing I have found are the EyeFi cards but was wondering if there are any other alternatives.

Answer

No, there are not any for the Rebel line. The EyeFi is your best option, and works well with the Rebels, especially the T1i, T2i and T3i. The newer EyeFi products support saving to mobile devices running iOS or Android, similar to the Canon wifi adapters pushing to FTP. It also can push video and RAW to your computer or to their servers.

The biggest disadvantage is that you don't have the wireless tethering feature that the high-end adapters provide. There are options though, you can look into something like onOne's DSLR Remote, which uses a USB tether to a laptop, and then you use your iPhone or iPad to remotely control and use Live View to frame your shots. This works really well when framing group shots, and you're out in front of the camera arranging the group, or you're actually in the shot. It's also helpful for nature photography, when a IR trigger won't reach because of the sun and you don't want to be near the camera.

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Is there an inexpensive remote for the Nikon D300s?

Question

The Nikon D50 had a very inexpensive, but reliable wireless remote. Recently bought a D300s but don't want to purchase the expensive Nikon brand remote. Does anyone have a recommendation for an inexpensive but reliable alternative?

Answer

I found infrared remotes to be too slow for my taste, and bought a cheap YongNuo RF-602 sender/receiver pair (less than $50) for my nikon. It is not perfect, but way better than any infrared remote I ever owned: no need to point the remote to the cam, the delay is shorter, works over bigger distance.
I even bought extra cables so I can use it with any of my DSLR.

Oh, and it can be used to remote trigger your flash, too.

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Why is the D7000 commander mode flash firing during exposure when the manual says it won't?

Question

I'm wondering if I'm using the D7000's Commander mode incorrectly. Page 225 of the Nikon D7000 manual says

The built-in flash does not fire [in "--" Option], although remote flash units do.

Yet what I've found is that the built-in flash in fact does fire, adding ugly on-camera, direct flash to my photos especially for short-distance subjects. I present Exhibit A below, where it is seen that both the remote SB900's and the on-camera's flash are captured, even in "--" Commander option. How do I fix this?

Answer

They lie.

It does, it just not supposed to fire enough to matter. The flash is how it communicates with external units.

You can get an SG-31R unit to block it and let the IR only through.

Your other option is to ditch CLS and go with radio triggers - of which, if you search, we have various questions about.

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Methods for wireless real-time remote backups of images?

Question

This question was inspired by the recent question about Shooting Demonstrations and Political Events and the older How do you protect yourself at protests? question. It was originally posted as a comment.

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Has anyone come across an approach for making wireless, real-time, remote backups of images? Perhaps something along the lines of using an Eye-Fi card to send pictures to a cellphone that uploads them to a website? Or really any method that could prevent loss of images in the case of deletion or damage to equipment.

Answer

An Eye-Fi card in the camera coupled with a phone that can act as a wireless hotspot should do the trick. The Eye-Fi card will (based on your configuration) automatically upload the photos to a service of your choice such as Flickr, and the portable hotspot means that you'll have connectivity as long as you have cell coverage. For a hotspot there are several Android phones that offer the feature as well as the iPhone and standalone hotspots like the MiFi.

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