CLS Speedlight plus non cls speedlight

<p>Hello mates,<br>

I have two flashes, a SB600 and SB28. I'm looking into getting a wireless trigger system. Two brands that interest me are radio poppers (JRX), and flashwave.</p>

<p>Question: with the Radio Poppers, which support CLS, would I be able to a) fire off the SB600 on or offshoe in iTTL mode, and b) fire off the SB28 just as a manually set slave flash? (may have got the terminology wrong). Would love to have dependable HSS in bright light :) - not on the slave flash of course.</p>

<p>If not I'll just get the more affordable flash wave and be limited to full manual on both flashes which is fine with me.</p>

<p>Background: I'm looking to dabble more into studio/strobist offshoe flash photography. My main subjects will be macro work at home, at the park etc, and hopefully one day I will be able to get the courage to shoot portraiture. Please keep in mind I'm an amateur.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>Alvin</p>

<p>Radiopopper's JRX is not for CLS, only manual control by having the speedlight in manual and using the JRX Basic receiver or by controlling the strobe power remotely from the JRX transmitter and having the JRX Studio receiver and the RPCube for Nikon (which is not yet available) and having the speedlight in TTL mode.</p>

<p>Using the system above you can trigger both Nikon speedlights remotely or you can trigger the SB28 remotely and have the SB600 in the hotshoe in manual or iTTL mode with the JRX transmitter hooked up to pc sync on your camera (if your camera have a pc sync connector). Only the SB600 on camera can do "HSS".</p>

<p>To use CLS, where you control the speedlights from the camera body (not the PX transmitter or on the flash itself), you need to use the radiopopper PX system. But the PX transmitter needs a CLS capable master flash to hook up to which can be the popup flash or something like an SB800 but not the SB600. However you can still control your SB28 manually with a JRX receiver but I think the PX transmitter still is awaiting a firmware update before that will work.</p>

<p>A simple manual non CLS/HSS might be better to start with. Personally I think radiopoppers way of intercepting the light comminication from the flash is a kludge while the new upcoming pocketwizards are doing it the right way. YMMV of course :-)</p>

<p>There have been many, many problems reported with the Pocket Wizard TTL triggers. They are also way too expensive. Personally, I wouldn't go near them. The JrX are not yet Nikon compatible for Nikon iTTL, they still need to come out with an adapter cube. They say it's pending. With the Jrx system they say you will be able to mix iTTL triggers with "dumb" (non-ttl) triggers. I would skip the Flashwaves. There are other alternatives that perform better. The CyberSyncs are 100% reliable out to 450 feet. They are simple triggers, no iTTL. There are also RF-602, available on e Bay and other places (such as DealExtreme) for bargain basement prices. They offer plenty of range for portrait use and have been getting great reviews for portrait distance. These are also simple triggers. They are perfect if you want to "dabble."<br>

Kent in SD </p>

<p>Can I say *doh*! Thanks for the correction Pete! I though the jrx would work with CLS too, need to read more :) However from the way you describe it, I think the best affordable option would be to just get some usual triggers and forgo hss for the time being.<br>

Kent: I don't think I've read about the RF-602, thanks for the tip! I will check 'em out. Yep I only wanna dabble, however hearing some horror stories on the cactus triggers, I thought it would be wise to spend a little bit more to get a reliable product. Google time!</p>

<p>Cheers!</p>

<p>Alvin</p>

<p>I looked into this scenario recently as I too have a mix of iTTL and non-iTTL flashes. I'm convinced that radio-wireless iTTL is not yet ready for the big-time. Radio Poppers are a cool concept and I'm glad someone was able to engineer it and bring it to market but I think it's a bit too much of a workaround for my taste. The new Pocket Wizards, (when they finally arrive) look like a sweet option and I think they'll have far fewer problems than the Canon equivalent, but they are pricey and not yet available.</p>

<p>That leaves us with fully manual or stock, non-radio iTTL. With my work, I've found that I need both systems at various times. One day I might be shooting an indoor event and have no time to meter light and thus prefer the ease of iTTL, while the next night I might be shooting sports and can't wait for the pre-flash communication before my shutter releases. There are also times when the iTTL simply will not work (line-of-sight, etc).</p>

<p>What I decided to do was get a set in inexpensive radio-slaves and buy only iTTL compatible flashes for the future. After much research, I adopted the CyberSyncs and have absolutely no regrets. Ebay-type triggers might appear to give a better value but I've already thrown away two sets in two years, so they proved to be a false economy. They also left me looking like a chump in front of clients way too many times when they'd refuse to fire at 10ft. or pick up a near by cell-phone and start rapid-firing like a machine gun. You could also go with classic Pocket Wizards but I have to tell you that the CyberSyncs will give you comparable performance (mine have NEVER mis-fired on thousands of shots) at a fraction of the price and they're backed by the best warranty in the industry.</p>

<p>As for the future, I'm waiting to see how the new Wizards behave with Nikon and I'm stocking up on used SB-800s. If I can get the reliability of my current setup, with the ease of TTL and remote adjustability, I'll gladly throw down the cash for a superior product. For now, I'm set. Time to save for that D700!</p>