Nikon multi flash set up help

melekalikimaka

what is the 'cheapest' multipal flash set up for a nikon camera, was gonna go down the sb800 and a a few sb 400s, til i discovered they cant be wirelessly controlled, and stuff forking out for sb600, was thinking old film sb22's or something or sunpak flashes and radio units or possibly sync cords...any advice?
would be used for small gig, outdoor and studio shots i suppose

DaireQuinlan

first off, obligitory strobist link.

If you don't want TTL then practically any assortment of flashes will do, so long as they have PC sockets and can be manually controlled. You'll then need either a bunch of PC cords and some splitters, or some remote trigger (radio poppers, ebay triggers or whatever) to fire the strobes. Also a flash meter if you don't plan to chimp a lot whilst setting up I guess, although with digital this isn't as drastic as with film.

The reason I mention strobist is that there a bunch of manual flashes that seem to be the preferred tools for these kinds of things. The downside is that having been mentioned on strobist, they tend to go up in price :-(

For cheap remoting I have a nikon SB-26, has a built in optical remote so it can be slaved to another strobe, also all the above (manual/sync etc) and does TTL with nikon film bodies (which is ACTUALLY why I got it, I only discovered the other plus points later :-))

melekalikimaka

interesting, been to the strobist site, interesting stuff, but i want a cheap basic set up rather than complicated at the mo. i think a radio transmitter, some recievers and some cheap as manual flashs will be my plan, flash meter maybe also, pocket wizards seem the best and not overly expensive, and one reccommend manual flashes that cos chips? those sb26s are nearly as much as a new sb400 :eek:

quilmore

with SB900, SB800's and SB600's you can do magic
they all talk to the camera and they all do what needs to be done to take a balanced picture every timwithout you having to do more than set the flashes initially

with manual flashes you can go cheaper, same with studio lights (full kit for £200 in flea bay), but it's more trial and error and guessing than anything else
valid in every means, most great photographs were taking like that

but nikon's lighting system is soooooo god
2xSB600's and a SB800 will set you back some 700 yoyos

TBH, I'm waiting to move to a bigger place to get the £200 studio lights kit and play with it, but a good friend of mine have done that and end up selling all and buying SB800's, it's much easier

PopeBuckfastXVI

melekalikimaka wrote: »

interesting, been to the strobist site, interesting stuff, but i want a cheap basic set up rather than complicated at the mo. i think a radio transmitter, some recievers and some cheap as manual flashs will be my plan, flash meter maybe also, pocket wizards seem the best and not overly expensive, and one reccommend manual flashes that cos chips? those sb26s are nearly as much as a new sb400 :eek:

Have a look at the stobist kits on mpex... might find one that suits you?

I have a d80

I'm currently using an SB600 wiht the 'starving student' 'no pc' kit and it works pretty well... you do get some misfires every now and again, and the flash can fire if you knock the light stand. I've got the second optical kit (more or less) on the way too... should give me a two light setup to play with without breaking the bank.

Anyway you can check out the kits yourself, there's a range of options there.

I've had no trouble dealing wiht mpex, and I would reccommend them.

http://www.mpex.com/page.htm?PG=Strobist%20Kits

pixbyjohn

melekalikimaka wrote: »

what is the 'cheapest' multipal flash set up for a nikon camera, was gonna go down the sb800 and a a few sb 400s, til i discovered they cant be wirelessly controlled, and stuff forking out for sb600, was thinking old film sb22's or something or sunpak flashes and radio units or possibly sync cords...any advice?
would be used for small gig, outdoor and studio shots i suppose

Look on Ebay and get a couple of these. you can attach to any older cheap flashguns and your on camera flash will trigger them. I have used them in the past and found them great. There are these type without battery or you can also get similar with a battery to power them but these work perfectly ok.

Optical Slave Flash Light Trigger / Sync Socket Studio EUR 12.27

Good luck,
John

melekalikimaka

so this set up?
http://cgi.ebay.com/Vivitar-2700-Thyristor-Flash-Strobe-w-Slave-Trigger_W0QQitemZ310080459385QQihZ021QQcategoryZ15221QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262

a few of these would do it?

PopeBuckfastXVI

just make sure you trigger with a Nikon, or on board flash, because if you attach one of those vivitars to your hotshoe you'll fry the circuits

melekalikimaka

aye i know. i knew there was a cheap ass way to do this

pixbyjohn

melekalikimaka wrote: »

so this set up?
http://cgi.ebay.com/Vivitar-2700-Thyristor-Flash-Strobe-w-Slave-Trigger_W0QQitemZ310080459385QQihZ021QQcategoryZ15221QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262

a few of these would do it?

yer very man:D

bp_me

For a new flash setup, some CLS capable units (SB-600/800/900) and radio poppers (when the multi channel version comes out) would be my prefered way to go.

A little more expensive initially than buying off brand equipment and triggers but worth it in my opinion.


http://www.metzflash.co.uk/pages/metz48af1.html

^^ The specs of that are written in such a way as to suggest compability with the Nikon CLS, but I haven't actually tried to find out.

Also, at GN48 it's a fair whack more powerful than the SB-800 (highest GN modern nikon speed light)

melekalikimaka

looks good , prices aint too bad either , i-ttl would be easier to deal with too. its even more powerful than the sb900