F80 and Multiple SB-800s?

I just got an SB-800 with the intent of using three of them for street

portraits at night (taking advantage of some of the ambient lighting).

My original idea was as follows:

1. Main light off to the side with a reflector on the other side, the

reflector quite a distance away to leave half of the face mostly in

the shadows.

2. SB-800 as a background light

3. Occasionally, an SB-800 on the camera as a fill light.

I had hoped to do this all with TTL metering. However, I am completely

stumped, I had *thought* that I could use an SU-4 on the mainlight

(off to the side) and set the background SB-800 (or could I make due

with an SB-600?), however, as I poke around the SB-800 that I have, I

can't figure out how to get multiple SB800s and/or 600s to work as

master/slave. It looks to me as if I need an iTTL compatible body

(D70, D2H) to do this.

Does anyone have any suggestions/ideas for the mentally befuddled and

intellectually bankrupt? I have the perfect opportunity to test the

whole mess next weekend (need to figure it out before a shoot in 2 weeks).

I am NOT married to the idea of wireless, but figure I need about 25'

from the main light of mobility....could probably do what I need to

with 15', tho', so wired solutions (which have me equally confused)

are also definite possibilities.

You can operate an SB-800 in "SU-4" mode with an F80. The remote flash will match the duration of the triggered flash. You can also operate the SB-800 as a manual, remote flash.

You can use TTL control if one flash dominates and requires good exposure and the other(s) are used as accents or for background. If you need good exposure control from multiple lights, the simplest way is to run everything in manual mode, including the camera, and to use a flash meter.

For 15 feet or more, you need a line-of-sight between pairs of flashes, extending back to the wired flash. You can still trigger remote flash indirectly, if there's enough light reflected from walls and ceilings. That's problematic in large spaces.