SU-4

I currently own an SB-28 and an SB-600 speedlight. I also have a D50. My

question is: can I trigger an SU-4 mounted on each of these flashes with the

built-in speedlight on the D50? I realize that the D50 does not have a

commander mode for i-TTL flash but can I at least get a manual trigger and

just control the output from each speedlight locally in manual mode? If this

is not possible, what cable(s) and adapter(s) would I need to do it by wire?

Thanks in advance.

 

Ed

That should work. The SU-4 just turns your flashes into dummy flashes.

Oh to add to that. Make sure to change your built in flash output to manual mode from TTL mode or it will get confused by the preflashes.

An SU-4 only works up to about 15 feet with a direct line of sight, especially in a large room. You can use it in automatic mode, where the flash duration is determined by the duration of the master, or in remote mode, where it merely acts as a trigger.

 

If you have any serious work to do by remote, get Pocket Wizard units.

Automatic mode is the only real reason to buy an SU-4, but as Sam says, it's not going to

work with an iTTL camera. You _could_ turn off TTL entirely on the D50 and put the SU-4

into the simple remote mode that Edward refers to, but this essentially means the

(relatively expensive) SU-4 is really no better than an ordinary cheap optical hotshoe slave.

 

If you have Nikon film SLRs, the SU-4 is really nifty, and I can highly recommend it. If you

don't, save your money and buy cheap slaves, or if you want iTTL control back, put it

towards an SB-800, then maybe sell the SB-28 to a Strobist reader.

 

If you want really robust remote triggering, I'd be taking Edward's advice. PocketWizard

looks excellent.

Automatic SU-4 is nowhere near close to iTTL. Both flashes get turned Off when proper level of light produced by both flashes is reached, as measured through the lens. You do not get the iTTL/CLS capability to make programmable distinction between the master and slave flashes independent light contributions.