Question about Nikon D70 Speedlight Commander Mode

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

On 25 Jan 2005 10:38:15 -0800, kasterborus@yahoo.com wrote:

>Hi,
>
>Something has been bugging me about the Commander mode in the Nikon D70
>built-in speedlight.
>
>I've used this to control an SB-600 Speedlight.
>
>Does the output of the D-70 speedlight contribute to the picture or is
>it clever enough to fire just the pre-flashes to sync the SB-600 and
>then not fire when the main picture is being taken?
>
>Or does the D-70 speedlight actively try to contribute to the picture.
>Anyone know?

From my tests, in commander mode, it doesn't seem to be trying to
contribute to the picture, just fires enough light to be picked up by
the slave(s). It is however, firing during the exposure (eg, not
simply relying on timing for the final trigger go-ahead).

The nice thing is, the on-board flash is usually bright enough to
create small catch-lights in the model's eyes (depends on ambient
lighting).

If it's a studio setup, I've had more luck using an external bounce
flash attached to the camera to trigger an off-camera SB-800 in SU-4
slave mode. (You can do the same with the on-board flash BTW, just not
easy to bounce it!) This way, you get to manually balance the power
settings of each flash. A few test shots and histogram use is required
before getting the balance right. The more flashes you add into the
equation, the longer it takes to get right.

--
Owamanga!