d70 onboard flash problem.

wlriv

sorry for the noob question, but i havent found an answer anywhere (except to send it into nikon).

i picked up a d70 from a friend. got a good price, and the warning that the onboard flash did not fire.

it is not a burnt bulb - and the flash pops up when the auto function tells it to.

i purchased the sb-600 which works great, but i would like to have the onboard one working (i also heard that the wireless function of the sb-600 wouldnt work unless the onboard one was firing...?)

thanks in advance.

DoctorIt

If it pops up, but doesn't fire, Nikon service may be your only solution as its most likely a bulb or some other real failure. Doesn't sound like something easy to fix.

Sorry. But if you have an SB-600, you should be fine. I don't think I've used my onboard since I got an SB-800.

wlriv

DoctorIt wrote:

If it pops up, but doesn't fire, Nikon service may be your only solution as its most likely a bulb or some other real failure. Doesn't sound like something easy to fix.

Sorry. But if you have an SB-600, you should be fine. I don't think I've used my onboard since I got an SB-800.

thanks dr.

do you know if it's true that the sb-600 wont act as a wireless unit if the onboard doesnt fire?

i (obviously) attach it to the top of the cam, and it works fine that way, but as i learn the camera and lighting better, it sounds like you dont always want the flash to fire directly onto your subject.

DoctorIt

wlriv wrote:

thanks dr.

do you know if it's true that the sb-600 wont act as a wireless unit if the onboard doesnt fire?

i (obviously) attach it to the top of the cam, and it works fine that way, but as i learn the camera and lighting better, it sounds like you dont always want the flash to fire directly onto your subject.

Only the new D200 and I believe D80 can act as master to fire an SB remotely. Nope, even if your onboard flash was fully functional, you couldn't do this. :nono

wlriv

DoctorIt wrote:

Only the new D200 and I believe D80 can act as master to fire an SB remotely. Nope, even if your onboard flash was fully functional, you couldn't do this. :nono

shazam! looks like ill be picking up the cable eventually.

thanks!

DoctorIt

wlriv wrote:

shazam! looks like ill be picking up the cable eventually.

thanks!

or another SB-800. That can act as a master. You can do some really great lighting with 1x SB-800 and 1x SB-600.

Lee Massey

DoctorIt wrote:

Only the new D200 and I believe D80 can act as master to fire an SB remotely. Nope, even if your onboard flash was fully functional, you couldn't do this. :nono

I don't believe that the above statement is completely true. The D70 does have a built-in commander mode which can wirelessly trigger a SB-600 or an SB-800 given that the pop-up flash works.

The difference between the D70 and the D200 is that the D70 can control only one group of (mulitple) flashes while the D200 can control multiple groups of flashes and from the D200 you can increase/decrease the lighting of each associated group (lighting ratios).

Here is some documentation:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/ittlslave.htm
http://photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00Do40&tag=

I hope that helps...

Thanks,

Lee

DoctorIt

Well sh*t! For the longest time, that has been of the main attractions of the D200 for me, that it had a commander mode. I never use more than a single flash anyway, so the difference between single or multiple remotes is not an issue for me.

I swear this isn't in the manual for the D70 or the SB-800!

thanks for setting us straight, Lee!

Lee Massey

Hi Doc,

I am pretty sure that I have done this with the D70 for one flash and the results were good. I'll see if I can find some examples or run a test...

The D200 is definately more versatile, but for one flash the D70 does a great job.

Give it a try and let us know...

Lee

DoctorIt wrote:

Well sh*t! For the longest time, that has been of the main attractions of the D200 for me, that it had a commander mode. I never use more than a single flash anyway, so the difference between single or multiple remotes is not an issue for me.

I swear this isn't in the manual for the D70 or the SB-800!

thanks for setting us straight, Lee!

wlriv

lee - do you know if the onboard flash is required for the commander mode to work?

CookieS

I have a D70s and a SB 600 and It will fire the SB600 remotley with the flash on board camera as slave, ( see direction manual) but its a pain as you must first go into the menu and selct a certain flash mode, I can never remember? then change it back for regular flash .

DoctorIt

wlriv wrote:

lee - do you know if the onboard flash is required for the commander mode to work?

Unfortunately, even in light of our new knowledge, pretty sure the onboard has to fire and you are still at a disadvantage. The SB-800 is being triggered by picking up the light from the onboard flash. I just tried out it out, and it does in fact work, but the d70 fires a lot of pre-exposure flashes to tell the SB to fire during the exposure.

Lee Massey

The Dr. is correct.

You will need the onboard flash of the D70 to work to trigger the SB-600 off camera. Your camera communicates with the SB-600 to assist in determining the correct exposure via the built-in flash (assuming that you are using the D70s and one flash).

Hopefully you can get your built-in flash fixed.

Thanks,

Lee

DoctorIt wrote:

Unfortunately, even in light of our new knowledge, pretty sure the onboard has to fire and you are still at a disadvantage. The SB-800 is being triggered by picking up the light from the onboard flash. I just tried out it out, and it does in fact work, but the d70 fires a lot of pre-exposure flashes to tell the SB to fire during the exposure.

DoctorIt

Lee Massey wrote:

The Dr. is correct.

Imagine that!

See, it works! (D70 in commander + SB800 remote)



(thanks again, Lee)

wlriv

thanks for the replies guys - im going to drop it off at samys in the next day or so - the sensor(s) are dirty and im too much of a wimp to try and clean then myself. guess ill see what they say, but it sounds like it will be taking a trip down to nikon.

Lee Massey

Best of luck with Nikon Service. I haven't had any experiences with they yet (thankfully) but from what I have heard they do a good job.

Again, best of luck...

Thanks,

Lee

wlriv wrote:

thanks for the replies guys - im going to drop it off at samys in the next day or so - the sensor(s) are dirty and im too much of a wimp to try and clean then myself. guess ill see what they say, but it sounds like it will be taking a trip down to nikon.