Using off camera flash with my Nikon D90

<p>Hi,<br>

I just discovered how to use my 600 speedlight off camera with my Nikon D90 camera. That being said, in order to get the speedlight to flash, the only way I know how to do it is to have the internal on-camera flash go off as well to set off the speedlight. With the on-camera flash it adds that awful flat flash look to the picture. Are there any D90 users out there that know of a way to use the speedlight off camera without having to use the on-camera flash? If not, do you know how I can get my pictures to look better with the on- camera flash? Right now it just seems to overpower the speedlight flash anyways so I'd rather just keep the speedlight on the camera without the internal flash going off and get better pictures, but there must be a way to get better pictures with it off camera as well.<br>

< p>Any help would be greatly appreciated.<br>

< p>Thanks.<br>

�</p>

<p>You need to go into the TTL menu (where you set the exposure for flashes) and set the exposure on the popup flash to "--". Then it will just emit a very tiny light that will trigger your SB600.</p>

<p>Other possibilities:</p>

<ul>

<li>Instead of firing wirelessly, use a wire.</li>

<li>Use radio triggers rather than the built-in optical trigger.</li>

<li>Nikon SU-800 Wireless Speedlight commander</li>

</ul>

<p>These may offer certain advantages & disadvantages but Devon's solution is the one that most directly addresses your issue. You may find that even when set this way it will still produce a small amount of illumination--you may see it in a reflection, etc.</p>

<p>The IF spectrum of the pop-up flash is what triggers the SB-600, so it has to fire (unless you do as Andrew suggests).</p>

<p>Devon is correct on how to use the built-in flash to trigger the SB600 but not add to the exposure. Under section E2 of the menu - Flash CTRL for Built-In flash - set it to Commander mode (I think you figured that out) and then in the Commander Mode menu set the Built In Flash to " -- ". See pages 185-190 of your manual. You can also make adjustments for the SB600 in the camera as opposed to going to the flash and adjusting it there.</p>

<p>Note that even when you have the pop-up set to '--', it <em>will</em> still emit a bit of visible light, because it has to communicate with the remote slave. You can add a $13 Nikon SG-3IR hot-shoe-based IR filter that will block the last of that visible light for you, while still passing the IR that controls the slaves.</p>

<p>oops - double post!</p>

<p>Devon is correct by saying that "a very tiny light that will trigger your SB600". To get rid in this visible portion of the trigger signal, Nikon provides special filter that costs about $15 and installs in the camera hot shoe and stands in front of the popup flash. </p>

<p>Only SU-800 uses pure Infra Red signals, while all cameras buit-in flashes, SB800, SB900, they all use a wider spectrum, that includes visible portion of the light, even if told not to do so by the "--" setting.</p>

<p>When shooting close distance portrait, or at high ISO, this "very tiny light" could possibly be visible in photos, that many people complain about. Change in ISO, or aperture, or longer distance, would minimize the undesirable light, but only use of the filter or SU-800 would eliminate it.</p>

 

<p>oops - triple post!</p>

<p>Matt beat me to it every time, even by a fraction of a second... he is so good!</p>

<p>Thanks so much for your help everyone. I set up the camera as suggested with the TTL and it is much better. The filter is a great suggestion and I'll be looking into that right away. I figured the flash had to go off to trigger the SB600 but I'm so glad to hear there are ways around the flat lighting.<br>

All your help is so appreciated.</p>

<p>Also, if I'm shooting something very reflective that shows the pinpoint of light that the popup still emits, I just remove it in PS. It's very tiny.</p>

<p>One more suggestion...</p>

<p>SB-600's are not all that expensive; so why not purchase another one for the hot shoe.<br>

This way you have the ability to tilt, rotate, bounce etc without any meaningful contribution from the flash directly. Nice cheap way to trigger optically triggered studio strobes too.</p>

<p>Prepare yourself for Nikon's CLS..It easily becomes addictive. ;)</p>

<p>"SB-600's are not all that expensive; so why not purchase another one for the hot shoe." - this is not a good idea.</p>

<p>Once you insert SB600 in the D90 camera hot shoe, you will loose the CLS multiflash automation. </p>

<p>The in-camera pop up flash cannot operate as a commander and will not popup if SB600 sits in the hot shoe. The SB600 cannot be a commander, so you lost major CLS flash system advantage, the ability to command many flashes.</p>

<p>However, adding another remote SB-600 (not in hot shoe) is a good idea, just do not put it in the hot shoe. Your camera popup flash will command 2 remote SB600 flashes.</p>

<p>If you want a commander in hot shoe for whatever reason, get SU-800, SB900, or SB800.</p>

<p>For your problem just get the $15 (or $13) filer and see how that works for you. Then go from there...</p>

<p>OOps..<br>

Right..Finger malfunction..Thanks Steve</p>

<p>If there are no batteries in the flash in the hotshoe, will the camera disallow triggering the shutter?<br>

My old camera doesn't know a flash without batteries. My old camera is not that smart.</p>