Internal D70 speedlight fires.....

[lrutherford1]

I did look through the archives for this answer and didn't find it.

If I am using an SB-600 remotely (off camera) with my D70 (commander

mode) I was led to believe that the internal speedlight didn't fire

when the SB-600 fired. My internal speedlight DOES fire along with

the SB-600. Did I get it wrong? Is this normal?

 

Also, when I look at the "metadata" in Elements 4, it says the flash

did not fire when both flashes did in fact, fire. (Same setup as

above)

 

Thanks,

 

Larry

[chris hughes]

Maybe I'm wrong, but doesn't it have to fire in order to communicate with the SB-600?

[leicaglow]

It's not just your D70. My D50 does this too, so I'll be looking for an answer.

 

In the meantime, I was reading one of the photo magazines I get and some guy rigged up an on-camera flash diffuser using an opaque plastic film canister, like a Fuji or Ilford brand. He basically cut a slit in it so it wrapped around the on-camera flash. I immediately thought about using a Kodak canister (that is black) to eliminate the unwanted flash, but there's got to be a simpler solution.

[bruce_rubenstein___nyc]

The internal flash fires before the exposure is made to communicate with the SB600, but is not firing when the exposure is made and does not contribute to the lighting.

[rdeanda]

Michael,

 

How are you firing your D50 remotely? I don't think that the D50 has a commander mode.

[lrutherford1]

I think Chris and Bruce have to be close on this issue because adding the light from the internal flash would mess up a whole bunch of numbers.

 

Larry

 

 

Anybody using Elements 4 yet?

[bwcombs]

The onboard speedlite on the D70 does fire as a master for the

SB600 and/or SB800. Supposedly, it does not effect your final

exposure. I have found that for applications such as portraits,

table top shots, etc., this is true. However, when using this set up

for very close, or macro photography, the onboard flash does

effect the amount of light on the subject.

 

One trick I use is cover the onboard flash lens with a piece of

exposed film. This will reduce the amount of light substantially,

but still be able to trigger the slaved speedlites.

[errol young]

i thought that the camera's flash dose not influence the exposure at all. All it does is communicate with the SB800/600 by sending small communication flashes.

 

Why? I don't know. but this is what my experimentation a year ago found. Too bad I say.

 

The SB800, I understand can act as a controller and light the frame. I may get a 699 and try this out this year

 

Errol

[greglyon]

My experience using SB-800 as remote with D70 commander is that it DOES in fact fire and contribute somewhat to the exposure. It took me by surprise at first but now that I know and expect it it usually works well. I'll have to try BW Combs' technique, sounds intriguing. I'd considered filtering the flash to match ambient light but not to drop it out of the exposure...

 

This only became completely clear to me when I was using slow sync under tungsten lighting and had filtered the SB-800 with the amber filter, and set camera to Tungsten light balance. Any object within a couple feet of the camera gets a distinct blue cast from the unfiltered D70 flash, especially when the SB800 lights the subject from side or back. A couple feet further back and you get interesting effects like blue eyes look REALLY blue...

 

You can also see catchlights in eyes from the D70 onboard flash firing. It's subtle but distinct if you're looking for it.

 

I'm not aware of a way to turn this 'feature' off. I think it is required to fire the remote flash(es)...