Using the SU 800 off camera

jack1250

Hi,
I would like to activate my SU 800 Commander with a sound trigger to remotely fire two SB 600 flashes. My camera is a D7000.

I have tried mounting the SU800 on an off camera Hot Shoe adapter and connecting the sound trigger to that, without success.

I can get the SB 800 to fire if the sound trigger is connected directly to it but a second SB 800 would require extra sync cords, which I would prefer not to use.

I have no problems using the SU 800 in the conventional way.

Any suggestions please?

Jack1250

Juergen

Interesting application you have there Jack.
I never used a sound trigger. But I have used the SU800 with a Yongnuo 622 wireless trigger, which works fine. You maybe could fire your remote flashes maybe through those wireless triggers.

What are you trying to do?

Ade

Jack -- I don't have a SU-800 but I believe it requires CLS to work -- in that case a sound trigger would not be able to trigger it.

If the two SB-800s are "line of sight" from each other, then you can have the first SB-800 optically trigger the second one. I.e., put the sound trigger on one SB-800, then put the other SB-800 into a special "SU-4" mode. The second SB-800 will fire as soon as it detects the flash from the first SB-800.

TaoTeJared

I don't think it will work in that manner. I would just hook one flash up to the sound trigger and set the second flash in slave mode and try that.

Which sound trigger are you using?

Ade

(double post)

jack1250

Thank you all for your responses.
I am afraid that I got my SB 600s and 800s mixed up. I have been using two SB 600s.
I am hoping to use the Nero Trigger to capture images of water splashes, breaking objects etc

As it happens I do have an SB 800 and I will look into Ade's suggestion of using it as a Commander.
At the moment I have no idea what the SU-4 mode is or does, but I will do the research and come back.

As far as I am aware the CLS, Creative Lighting System, is just a fancy name thought up by Nikon, so that they can charge fancy prices. I am not aware that it has any technical implications.

TaoTeJared

CLS is more than a "fancy name" and is an advanced TTL system or i-TTL as Nikon calls it. The SU-800 is an extension of the body controls (basically a copy of what the body & SB900/910/800 commander mode is) and enables to change all settings without using a flash. It is a lot more complex than just a simple remote trigger.

I have looked at many of the triggers and I believe most of the "triggering" people use is the optical/laser/break beam mode and not sound. Not sure if that makes a difference in what you are doing. I have not looked depth into the Neo unit but have others. (Just really need to set up a "Project" for me to get one.) My guess is that you need to have all the units on manual mode, not TTL. The Nero needs to fire your camera and let the camera fire your flashes. Maybe that is what you are describing and I might be missing it.

Ade

With something like the Nero you can trigger either the flash or the camera; it's your choice depending on the circumstances.

If you need to trigger the flash, then with your setup you'll need to have the Nero trigger one of the SB-600s in a non-TTL mode, and then use the SB-800 in SU-4 mode. SU-4 mode is a type of optical slaving. More info from:

http://strobist.blogspot.ca/2007/08/unlock-superslave-in-your-nikon-sb-800.html

If you need to trigger the camera, then you can use the SU-800 or SB-800 (or perhaps your camera's built in flash) as commander, and use the two SB-600s as remotes. You get full CLS compatibility this way.