Off camera/strobe lighting

[dxrocnxj]

so im gonna buy a wireless trigger off ebay for my sb600, are they sufficient enough for a while? where can i buy stands, umbrella mounts, cheap umbrellas, softboxes. am i better off buying a kit somewhere instead of buying little by little along the way because i really just dont have the money for all of it right now.


but what im thinking is purchasing little by little - a few stands, a vivitar flash (strobist), umbrella, and one softbox. i ultimately want to purchase an alien bees 800 light, but for now i want to learn the in and outs with my sb600. so if you guys could help me find the MUST HAVES for a simple set up. and what has and has not worked for you.

thanks!

[XaiLo]

I think I paid $20 for the collapseable umbrellla they suggest at strobists and they have an Impact stand that's also $20 dollars but it's not air cushioned. I purchased the air cushioned Impact to my surprise it's rather nice. But it got some good reviews on B&H so I decided to take a chance. It's built well quite sturdy and strong.

[Fiasco]

Doesn't the D40 support Nikon's CLS (Creative Lighting System) to trigger the SB-600. That's how I trigger my SB-600 from my D80's onboard flash.. I also trigger the AlienBees in the studio with the onboard D80 flash. No need for triggers, at least that's what works for my setup.

[achuang]

If you've been reading strobist then go with what they recommend as buying from MPEX. It has all the strobist gear you need and they come in kits to make it a bit cheaper. Fiasco, the D40 doesn't have the capability for CLS. The ebay triggers are probably the cheapest wireless route.

[dxrocnxj]

If you've been reading strobist then go with what they recommend as buying from MPEX. It has all the strobist gear you need and they come in kits to make it a bit cheaper. Fiasco, the D40 doesn't have the capability for CLS. The ebay triggers are probably the cheapest wireless route.

i actually just read that it does, so whats it mean for me?:)

[achuang]

Go with what you can afford. I didn't buy the kits because I wanted more specific items. The westcott double fold umbrellas are good. I bought a white shoot through and reflective silver. If I had to buy again I would just buy 2 white umbrellas. The compact Lumopro stands that are copies of the manfrotto nano stands are cheap and exactly the same.

[Rooz]

i bought umbrella sands off ebay for bugger all, $20 ?? and they are great.
spend some time reading dylan...
http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101.html

[aparmley]

i bought umbrella sands off ebay for bugger all, $20 ?? and they are great.
spend some time reading dylan...
http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101.html

I second the above suggestion. . .

[tizeye]

i actually just read that it does, so whats it mean for me?:)

Technically, the D40 does have the CLS system, however, the CLS system is far more than wireless. It includes thinks like adjusting for focal length that normal TTL may exclude. For wireless operation, the SB600 cannot be used as Commander, for off camera operation, it requires the SB800 (SU800, or that ebay unit) as Commander then the SB600 can be set as remote. I may be wrong, but looking at the SB600 manual, it doesn't appear that it can be commander with any camera, only remote.

[dxrocnxj]

Technically, the D40 does have the CLS system, however, the CLS system is far more than wireless. It includes thinks like adjusting for focal length that normal TTL may exclude. For wireless operation, the SB600 cannot be used as Commander, for off camera operation, it requires the SB800 (SU800, or that ebay unit) as Commander then the SB600 can be set as remote. I may be wrong, but looking at the SB600 manual, it doesn't appear that it can be commander with any camera, only remote.

yeah i think i knew thta only just never knew the term CLS

[LR Max]

The cactus triggers are crap. My buddy blew out his 3rd set after owning them for 2 months. I haven't heard anything good about the Vivitar flash either.

For a flash, pick up a SB-80DX. Used, they are like, 100 bucks. Good and have optical slave. Also they can accept all the accessories that are for the SB-800. The gel kit for the SB-800 fits exactly.

Look at flashzebra.com, get a hotshoe-to-pc converter and a 15 foot PC cord. Start with this and then expand.

[XaiLo]

Dylan, I've read in a few reviews that there are some serious issues with the latest version of the Vivitar 285. The D40 does implement CLS functionality just not wirelessly (unless you have an SB-800, which can be controled using the optical slave). The silver umbrella really does cast a hard light despite strobist claim that you can soften it up, while true it's still harder than I would like. But I think that would work fine for your style of shooting Dylan. achuang where'd you get the white collapsibles from B&H did't carry them.

[btuner]

heres 2 alienbees b800 on about half and an sb600 on a tripod, all optically triggered, there were 3 of us shooting and it all worked seamlessly off just the optical trigger

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2171/2422699835_5a9c7f9d83_o.jpg

[achuang]

Dylan, I've read in a few reviews that there are some serious issues with the latest version of the Vivitar 285. The D40 does implement CLS functionality just not wirelessly (unless you have an SB-800, which can be controled using the optical slave). The silver umbrella really does cast a hard light despite strobist claim that you can soften it up, while true it's still harder than I would like. But I think that would work fine for your style of shooting Dylan. achuang where'd you get the white collapsibles from B&H did't carry them.

I bought it from www.mpex.com/strobist
They're pretty cheap at around $19 each. I have the reflective silver and a white shoot through with the black spill light cover which costs extra. Don't bother buying the white shoot through with the black cover, because you'll be using it as a shoot through most of the time. If you buy the one with the black cover it costs an extra $7 i think.

[achuang]

Technically, the D40 does have the CLS system, however, the CLS system is far more than wireless. It includes thinks like adjusting for focal length that normal TTL may exclude. For wireless operation, the SB600 cannot be used as Commander, for off camera operation, it requires the SB800 (SU800, or that ebay unit) as Commander then the SB600 can be set as remote. I may be wrong, but looking at the SB600 manual, it doesn't appear that it can be commander with any camera, only remote.

The D40 does not have CLS built in. Yes it can use Nikon's CLS if there's a SB800 or SU800 but I'm talking about having CLS built in (popup flash acts as commander).

[dxrocnxj]

The D40 does not have CLS built in. Yes it can use Nikon's CLS if there's a SB800 or SU800 but I'm talking about having CLS built in (popup flash acts as commander).

gotcha.
id love to get some alien bees lighting, just simply cant afford it. :(
so i wanna get a little starter kit to learn the ins and outs.
i wanna broaden my shooting, shows get boring.
same stuff all the time.

[achuang]

gotcha.
id love to get some alien bees lighting, just simply cant afford it. :(
so i wanna get a little starter kit to learn the ins and outs.
i wanna broaden my shooting, shows get boring.
same stuff all the time.

I'd love to get some Alien bees lighting too, and they are cheaper than a SB800 but I can't get both at the moment. It's one or the other, so I'll choose the SB800 or SB600 because it's portable and not all shoots can be done at home where there's power. Goodluck with your selection. LRMax's idea of buying a SB-80DX with the optical slave built in is not a bad idea. The Nikon SB26 also has an optical slave but the one on the SB-80DX is much more sensitive. There should be plenty on ebay.

[Fiasco]

heres 2 alienbees b800 on about half and an sb600 on a tripod, all optically triggered, there were 3 of us shooting and it all worked seamlessly off just the optical trigger.

btuner... That's the same setup I use. 2 B800's and my SB-600 triggered from my D80's onboard flash. :)