D200 & SB800

[richardbaer]

This may be obvious, but nowhere on the forum or in the manual can I find it

answered. If you set the D200 as commander, but do not use the SB800, does the

onboard flash still function as an iTTL, and if so is there any disadvantage to

keeping it set to commander, so you can just turn on the SB800 when needed

without changing any menu settings? Does using it this way effect the flash

output, or battery life more than normal just using it as iTTL flash, not set

on Commander?

[frank_skomial]

Your described shooting method perhaps was not envisioned by Nikon.

Nikon will try to salvage the picture from a wrong programming, but that is not quaranteed.

 

Read flash/camera manuals and use modes that are pre-defined for you. And that is if you set a flash in camera as a commander, make sure the remote is powered On, and set as a remote.

 

If yo do not use a remote, do not program the flash in the camera as a commander, as there is no remote flash to command.

 

If you are too tired to switch menus, the D200/SB-800 is not for you, so get a simpler automated camera, that will save your efforts to do anything.

[Matt Laur]

Frank: I'm the LAST guy to complain about having to touch a menu in order to alter the camera's behavior in a subtle area like remote flash management... but there are times when the remote SB800 is blind to the commander, or when it's fallen into standby mode, etc. I found Richard's question to be an interesting one because, lazy though I'm not, I haven't actually taken the time to truly quantify how the built-in strobe and the camera's metering/logic behave when the expected slave isn't there to contribute to the exposure. My gut reaction, from anecdotal experience, is that CLS goes downhill pretty fast when you're not actually providing it with the tools it expects... and the camera's control over the pop-up strobe when it's in Commander mode does seem to skew towards underexposure if it turns out to be going solo. I guess it's time to try some real tests!

 

Also, Richard: don't forget that your camera has a quick way to show you your most-recently-fiddled-with settings, which can be quicker than having to navigate the menus.

[richardbaer]

Thanks Matt for your response. Sending the 200 back is not a reeasonable nor desirable option. I am trying to improve my shooting, especially over the D70 that I originally used and is now my backup. Yes, it did most everything for me, but I had less control and less flexibility so I moved up. I am also planning on running some tests with and without a remote flash, but it was late and I had hoped someone would know the answer. THANKS for the reminder about the recent items menu, that is a positive response even if nothing else works satisfactorily.

 

I think the first response was degrading. It basically said give up and go back where you came from, a new camera is beyond your capabilities. And how much knowledge and information is that recommendation based upon? Otherwise what is this forum for but asking questions and trying to improve one?s picture taking abilities? And sometimes learning from the experience of others is preferable to repeating the same mistakes other have already made. I will never live long enough to make all the mistakes myself, so I hope to learn from others.

[Matt Laur]

Richard: Don't part with that D200! There's more going on there, but you'll be really glad for it in the long run. You've certainly raised an interesting point here (about a Commander-mode strobe with no troops to command), and I'll be interested to see if anyone else chimes in before I get a chance to be a little more analytical about it myself.

[williamdovidio]

I use the sb800 and D200 all the time and have very minimal problems. I actually

purchased the pocket wizards because of these same issues, and everything was fixed

between the commander settings and remote iTTL. When using the wizards I will set the

Sb800 to remote or SU4, but first turn or the standby mode before you select the setting.

This will keep the units synced. You can also turn everything off and on whenever needed.

I use the pocket wizards mostly because I have to sync multiple strobes and multiple

SB800's. I've used up to 8 SB 800's on one shoot. You have a good setup, don't return it

just yet.

 

William Dovidio

[richardbaer]

I ran some quick (handheld) tests with the D200 onboard flash set to Commander. There appears to be no appreciable difference in the results with or without the SB800, quantitatively. There are some subtle subjective differences which make the SB800 off the camera provide a better balanced overall picture (in my judgement) but quantity of light they appear almost identical. Of course, that does not answer the question of battery usage/life, but only time will tell on that question, if in fact it is significant at all.

[richardbaer]

Additionally, for anyone interested, during the above, I tested the onboard flash as Commander and as iTTL alone, and then with and without the SB800 as remote, and SB800 alone on the hotshoe. Bottom line, I cant see any appreciable difference if you leave the onboard flash set to Commander or not, with or without the SB800 other than the better quality picture with the two flashes used together. Light output appears relatively unchanged. Battery life is the only unresolved question it seems.

[frank_skomial]

"Nikon will try to salvage the picture from a wrong programming" - so there is "cant see appreciable difference"

 

If you analyze CLS protocol sequence that was provided by someone last year, there is a difference in amount of pre-flashing produced, possibly doing unnecessary communication attempts.

 

If you are happy with what you are doing, that is all that matters.

[Matt Laur]

Frank's right. I think Richard's right that the final output probably makes this academic (which means that leaving the pop-up in commander mode isn't a bad default if you're frequently firing up the remote and taking it back down in the middle of a situation)... but, there's no question that you're burning up just a wee bit more in-camera battery juice when you use the Commander mode, since it's trying to reach out and yammer with the (absent) slaves with a few more pre-exposure pulses. You have to pay the price for that somewhere along the line. On the other hand, if you miss a key shot because you had to go menu surfing, that extra skosh of battery life, one way or the other, will seem pretty insignificant.