master/slave flash question

Qarik

I have some questions about master slave flash arrangements which I am hoping somone can clarify.

1)Say you have recent nikon camera body that uses it son body flash as a master to trigger an off camera slave flash like the sb600. Does the the on camera flash actually go off? I heard the trigger pulse is actually the "preflash" which is "imperceptible"

2) say you have the sb800 on camera and you set that as master..same question as above..does the sb800 flash actually go off?

3) say you set the sb600 as a slave. Will it go off with any flash even thought it is not set as a master? Or does something have to be set as master.

Thanks in advance!

Cygnus Studios

Qarik wrote:

2) say you have the sb800 on camera and you set that as master..same question as above..does the sb800 flash actually go off?

3) say you set the sb600 as a slave. Will it go off with any flash even thought it is not set as a master? Or does something have to be set as master.

Thanks in advance!

The master will flash with the slave. The slave will not flash without a master if set as slave.

jstew

Slave Flash
You set the flash on camera as a master flash (it will go off but if you want you can adjust it way down) The others (up to I think 9 units will be set in different banks) the different banks can be controlled from the master flash on camera ( or off camera using off camera cord) I use up to 5 sb800s sometimes and control everything from the master unit.. here is a shot in my back yard of a finch 2 SB800's off camera
and one on the hot shoe. Look in the eye! The one on the hot shoe was over a stop less ev. Also you have natural light added in.

Shane422

I have a D90 which allows you to set the pop up flash to "---" in commander mode. I can also set it very low (i.e. 1/64). At the "---" setting, it only fires the preflash (used for metering and communication with the SB off camera), I think it might actually be lit during the exposure, but nothing that contributes to the exposure at that setting. I only know that because I recently took an pic of a window and could still see a dim light from the on board flash reflection. I can't speak for the function of a SB800 since I don't own one.

The SB600 does not have a "slave" setting, but does have a wireless mode. A slave would fire with any other flash. The SB600 in wireless mode will only fire if it receives the Nikon preflashes.