triggering bowens flash heads and nikon sb910

brahim

hi guys,
i've just bought 2 bowens gemini pro500 (have not received them yet) ,and i would like to use them with my nikon sb910.
can i use the trigger pixel king to trigger the flash sb910 in ttl mode and the two bowens heads and how can i do it please
thank you

chris_weinert

Hey Brahim,

Studio flashes are synced via the photocell sensor, so you can put your SB-910 to Manual mode and trigger it with any wireless trigger (or PC cable, or directly on the camera), and the studio flashes will be triggered by the flashing SB-910. For this, you have to activate the slave mode at the Bowens with the "CELL" button at the back.

I wouldn't use studio flashes in combination with TTL and don't understand why you would want to do so, but in case you want to anyway, the cell mode can be set to ignore pre-flashes of the trigger flash. It has the modes to ignore between 1 and 4 pre-flashes, or it can be set so it "learns" how many pre flashes to ignore. Refer to page 5 and 9 of your user's manual. If you don't have that, you can download it from Bowens here:

http://www.bowensdirect.com/index.php/downloads/dl/file/id/16/gemini_r_and_pro_user_guide.pdf

This all only works for the x-sync times of your camera, which is usually around 1/200 sec.

Some more advanced stuff: Since many (especially the not-so-expensive ones) studio flashes have longer flash duration, there's a trick how you can syncronize to shorter exposures, at least 1/500 and with some flashes even up to 1/8000. This specifically works with the Pixel Kings, if you use them in TTL-Mode with your SB-910 and do NOT set the studio flashes to ignore pre flash. If you skip the SB-910, and connect the receiver to a Bowens directly, you can get the same result if you connect the receiver using a PC cord, but leave the TTL mode. I'm not sure how it works with the Bowens specifically, but with cheaper studio strobes it does.

Best,
Chris