radio control of flash options

I'm currently using D700 and sb 5000 with diffuser and soft box for simple off camera flash control with pop up flash optical command.

I've started looking for radio controllers like nikon wr-r10(unavailable) and pocket wizard controllers.

What are you using currently and what would you recommend? I'm using my equip for indoor and outdoor portrait work.

Thanks

look for eg. Yongnuo

I use Godox 2.4GHz system, X1T and X1R for Nikon and it has never failed me. The XPro transmitter has a better interface, but both work equally well.

I use manual Photix triggers but the affordable Nikon WR-A10 Wireless Remote Adapter is the way I would go particularly with the SB 5000.

Both Godox and Yongnuo wireless triggers are supposed to be very good and good price points. Good hunting.

Not much of a people shooter. - In studio I am happiest with setting lights up and using a dumb radio &/ optical slave trigger(s) for everything on "hands on"-manual. For portable use I got Yongnuos and their EOS-TTL radio remote, which I am also using in manual RC mode on other cameras (to be able to reach the speedlite inside a brolly box).

I don't feel a big need for, or really confident about "RC-TTL flashing", assuming that setting manual things up and firing away should bring more consistency.

 

Upon radio remotes: I like Yongnuo's a tad more than Jinbei's but their UIs don't make me fall in love with them; I'd want dials and (or) direct access buttons, for each and every flash or group, instead of walking through menus with up and down arrows and changing settings with 10 "+/-"button clicks per f-stop or long pressed buttons.

Advantage of the remotes over a simple slaves master trigger: You get feedback that your batteries are inserted properly and the entire thing seems ready to work. AF assist beam can be handy. - OTOH: The tiny 12V batteries in simplest radio triggers last quite a while and you have no need to turn the bugger off.

 

I am not interested in high speed sync capability (until I'll have gotten hold of a Sony) if I can't live with a small aperture I'll break out some filter.

 

No clue what kind of higher end stuff is floating around and offering what exactly. - I think Yongnuo remotes can use Canikon speedlites via radio TTL? (<- Sorry, I don't have such lights and am not even sure if I want to bring my Canon with a Strobist studio kit).

Simple YongNuo 603Ns do practically everything I want. No frills, but absolutely reliable.

 

My forays into using i-TTL have been disappointing and frustrating. I decided years ago I wanted nothing more to do with it. So it's manual control of flash, or AA mode where necessary. Both of which can be handled by 'dumb' triggers.

 

I'll concede that remote 'power' setting of flashes is useful when they're buried in a softbox or otherwise less accessible, and to that end I've recently got a set of Godox flashes that take their own specific power-controlling triggers. The camera-mounted transmitter allows changing the power level on each flash individually or in groups (in 1/3rd stop increments). Still no TTL control though, and that's just the way I like it.

 

Incidentally, I've read a few head-to-head distance tests of PW triggers against others, where in nearly every case the PW loses out.... but if you really want to pay over the odds for a set of triggers....

 

As a footnote: It baffles me that Nikon would (finally!) produce a radio-controlled flash, and not the necessary camera controller. Even though the combination might price itself out of the market against stiff 3rd party competition.

Edited May 3, 2019 by rodeo_joe|1

A flash shoe based controller is not provided probably because many users are expected to have older flashes that they can still mount on the hot shoe while using radio-triggered SB-5000 remotes at the same time. I think Nikon chose to use a separate connector for the radio trigger to allow for better mixed system use of SB-5000's with the older Nikon flashes. Now, they could also provide a hot-shoe based controller, but what would it contain? An LCD screen and buttons? The camera interface probably suffices for most users. Most of the electronics to achieve the radio control of flashes are inside the camera now, so a large controller unit is not needed to house that. It might have a better user interface for flash control, that is true. My guess is that Nikon is working on something like this, though if people opt out for that then the older flashes become paper weights since no one's going to use optical triggering of remotes while radio is available with the same features. While some third party manufacturers have provided a pass-through radio controller, I don't think that would satisfy Nikon's requirements for mechanical ruggedness. Yes, I get it, WR-A10 + WR-R10 doesn't inspire the feeling of ruggedness, either but I imagine more expensive damage would result from impact on a pass-through transmitter + hot shoe flash combination.

 

TTL flash is convenient in the hot shoe, but probably most shooters opt to use manual settings for remote flashes since TTL remote can be a bit wild in terms of results especially if you have multiple groups of TTL remotes. :) However, groups of TTL remotes can be set up to follow an A:B exposure ratio paradigm where the variation should probably be less than in unconstrained TTL with multiple remote groups. The idea is that the key/fill ratio is set as a constant and the automation is used to find how much output is needed to get a correct overall exposure, or to mix with ambient light.

 

If shooting in ambient light with one remote flash, manual flash has the problem that if the subjects change position quickly (I might ask them to play hide and seek or chase each other), it's hard to keep up by adjusting the manual flash settings to keep the exposure correct. TTL remote flash may provide better results in such circumstances, though there is a learning curve to it as well.

Edited May 3, 2019 by ilkka_nissila

I spent many happy years with a D700, D800 and D810 using the optical pop-up flash with some cheap and moderately powerful SB-600s. I had the occasional failure to fire, and I didn't do it all that often or go with particularly demanding situations, but it basically worked. I went with Godox radio triggers with my D850 - switching everything to Nikon's radio system would have been very expensive, and blocks the 10-pin connector I use as a wired trigger). I could have bought a new flash as an optical trigger (SB-800, SU-800, etc.) but the same money got me to a third-party radio solution that ought to be more reliable (and I can keep using the SB-600s optically on my back-up D810). I get that Nikon might want users to mix and match, but I don't really see why the SB-5000 couldn't have doubled as a radio trigger, allowing me to convert between systems incrementally - I believe you also can't radio trigger it and also use it as an optical trigger for my SB-600s (that only works with the SB-5000 in the hotshoe), and replacing all my SB-600s with SB-5000s was more money than I wanted to shell out just to get back to my pre-D850 functionality. I shoot flash little enough that Godox's automation is a good start for me, but also being able to alter power remotely is important to me - otherwise Yongnuo seem cheaper and more portable.

 

I've not used it, but the older X1T-N Godox transmitter (unlike the newer one with the big LCD) has a pass-through hotshoe. I've no idea whether you could get away with a combination radio trigger and infrared (using, say, an SU-800) that way - obviously it blocks the integrated flash.

 

I thought the D700 didn't work with the Nikon radio system anyway?

I don't really see why the SB-5000 couldn't have doubled as a radio trigger, allowing me to convert between systems incrementally - I believe you also can't radio trigger it and also use it as an optical trigger for my SB-600s

 

No, but you can use the WR-R10 on camera to trigger the SB-5000's by radio and at the same time use either a flash on the hot shoe or an SU-800 to trigger the SB-600's as remotes (optically). Or just use the SB-600's as hot shoe flashes.

 

just to get back to my pre-D850 functionality

 

Well, you do get more than that, by going with the SB-5000's, you get reliable triggering in any lighting condition and greater distance range than with optical CLS. I know that many people report some modes working and others not working with various third party radio triggering systems, and some features working on some Nikon cameras and not others. I just didn't want that kind of uncertainty.

I thought the D700 didn't work with the Nikon radio system anyway?

 

No, it doesn't; the cameras that work with radio AWL include D5, D500, D850, D7500, Z6 and Z7. You need to buy a lot of new stuff to use the radio AWL but at least the older flashes don't turn useless overnight.

Well, the SB600s aren't useless if I buy an outdated SU-800 to trigger them with! (On-camera flash? Who'd use such a thing?)

 

I realised I meant to advocate PC-sync cables as a cheap way of running a flash a long distance, if that helps.

Well, the SB600s aren't useless if I buy an outdated SU-800 to trigger them with! (On-camera flash? Who'd use such a thing?)

 

You already have radio triggers that you can use with them, yes?

 

Without having explicit data on the subject, I suspect the use of a hot shoe flash on the camera is 100 times more common than the use of a remote flash. :) By using a narrow beam and tilting it, it's possible to bounce the light so that it comes back from the direction you want the light to be provided on the subject, which solves many common lighting problems, e.g., at events, and in indoor portraiture, while allowing the photographer to stay mobile. Setting up remote flashes can quite often cause tripping hazards and restricts the photographer to a certain area.

 

I realised I meant to advocate PC-sync cables as a cheap way of running a flash a long distance, if that helps.

 

PC-sync cables are a good way to drop stuff by pulling on the cable. Alternatively, what can frequently happen is that the cable comes off the socket by accident.

Ilkka, you're spoiling my whinge, bro! Yes; I have the Godox triggers because that's how I stopped the SB-600s being useless (off-camera) with the D850. They would have become useless overnight had I not spent even more money than my existing D850 upgrade (and new cards) mandated. I'm now back to everything working, just slightly poorer and less integrated into the Nikon system than I would have been.

 

I'm curious about Canon's automated swivelling flash thingy. I generally find I'm in rooms with weird wall paint or high ceilings, so I'd rather have direct control over the flash, and don't bounce much (which, given my shape, is surprising). I admit I've used on-camera flash under duress (usually for documentation rather than artistry) - although the integrated flash was pretty useful for that, and I've had to start carting around an ancient Nissin flash which I bought in my D700 days just in case. The argument of using on-camera flash for fill does apply, but only a bit. Still, I've wandered around with a flash on either end of a monopod with the camera held in the middle, giving a vague clamshell lighting arrangement; even portable solutions can use off-camera flash.

 

Yes, I've learnt about the PC cables falling off the socket; I gather threaded ones exist, but I've yet to find one. Perhaps I should have said it's sometimes a viable solution, ideally with some slack in the cable. I did also say "cheap" rather than "good", although it's certainly resistant to third party flashes, daylight, etc.

A few years ago I got tired of the CLS failing me, especially outdoors, so I purchased a Yongnu YN 622N-TX flash controller and 4 receivers and have never looked back. I use an SB900, SB700, SB600 and an old non cls Vivitar 433. All work fine. Can't for the like of me, see why I should buy an SB5000.

Can't for the like of me, see why I should buy an SB5000.

 

If everything works fine, there is no reason at all to change to something else than what you are using.

so I purchased a Yongnu YN 622N-TX flash controller

Yup, same here + a bunch of 560 MK IIIs and for special occasions a Yongnuo 685 for HSS flash.

Yup, same here + a bunch of 560 MK IIIs and for special occasions a Yongnuo 685 for HSS flash.

Correction: it is a Sunpak 433. And yes, I love the HSS capabilities. Like a whole new ballgame indoors and outdoors.

PC-sync cables are a good way to drop stuff by pulling on the cable

The tolerances of making it a nice tight fit were a nightmare. My students used to regularly end up standing on the cable-end after it fell out, resulting in me trying to reinstate 'roundness' with a small pair of softjaw pliers. And then it still wouldn't trip and the central pin would need adjusting with a pair of needle-nosed pliers..... :mad:

 

It was a poor design continued way after it should have been replaced. The screw-secured version prevented fallout (!), but ensured trip and crash......:(

 

I went IR and then RF as soon as I could......:)

If all you're using is on-camera flash, then even TTL is superfluous.

Give AA (Auto Aperture) mode a try, and learn the meaning of exposure consistency. It'll follow the action as fast as you can point the camera, works with bounce flash and even works with diffusers and modifiers as long as you keep the sensor clear and pointed at the subject. Fill flash requires a bit of mental arithmetic, but even that can easily be done using AA mode. (Set the auto aperture two stops or so wider than the lens aperture.)

 

And AA mode doesn't care if you only have dumb triggers, or even use an entirely different make of flash from the camera you're using. Nikon speedlight on a Sony or Canon camera? No problem, as long as the flash has AA mode.

Thanks for all the constructive comments. I’m leaning toward godox because of flash power controls and price.