How do you activate the remote flash on a D60

[peter_howard2]

<p>I have the D60 camera (which as a newbie I must say how impressed I am with it's performance) and have purchased a Speedlight SB600 which I see can be operated by remote by the camera for off camera work - or at least thats what the SB60 handbook says. Now I've managed to set the flash unit onto remote, but try as I may I'm totally stumped as to how to set the camera to remotely trigger the flash. ANYBODY OUT THERE - HELP PLEASE ! ! !</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>Alas, the D40 and D60 don't provide that feature. That's a D80/90/+/etc feature.<br /><br />You CAN use the SU-800 as a controller for the remote SB-600 (and other CLS system strobes). Or, you can use an SB-800 or SB-900 strobe as a controller. You can also use Nikon's off-camera TTL strobe cables, but you're limited by cord length, obviously. The SU-800 would be the most powerful tool, in this regard.</p>

[gert_van_eynde]

<p>Hi Peter,<br>

If you wish to trigger it remotely via the Nikon CLS system then you'll need either a SU-4 or an SB-800. That's one of the differences between a D60 and D80/D90<br>

Cheers & enjoy the excellent camera,<br /> Gert</p>

[robbie_robertson]

<p>I ended up buying the SB800 to act as commander for the SB600 when I had a D40X- Having two speed lights is almost necessary when setting up good portrait shots anyway. Compare prices between the SB800 and the SU whatever commander, and you may come to the conclusion that having another speedlight is more cost effective and desirable than having a commander and a single speed light.</p>

[john_liang]

<p>I would go for R1C1 in that sense. You get two remote flashes and a commander plus you can build your own set of ring light for portrait.</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>I like Robbie's idea. Two speedlights: a good thing. The R1C1 arrangement does get you the commander... but those little strobes are really meant for macro work - they don't help much at portrait distances or when trying to handle a larger room.</p>

[peter_howard2]

<p>Thanks very much Guys - I had that sinking feeling way down that would be the situation, but thanks for all your suggestions. If that's the only "fault" I have with this I shall still be delighted. Only wish I could have gone the extra "mile" or two and got the D200 or 300 (the D90 wasn't about when I bought this) but thats really serious money we're talking about. Until I manage that - I can dream - and save for the SB800 I guess. Having said that, I seem to remember seeing a remote device on Ebay for around £20 - £20 - shall have to investigate further - my thanks for your input.</p>

[seismiccwave]

<p>Peter, don't sink yet.;-) Learn to use the strobe in manual mode. You can still fire the strobe using an optical slave. You don't get eTTL metering but that is not the end of the world. You can still adjust the power level of the flash, your aperture and to a certain degree your shutter speed up to the sync speed.</p>

[peter_howard2]

<p>Hansen, Thanks for replying. I am still a newbie to photography, so what you have said is rather technical for me - especially for a "senior" who is a still "Luddite" when it comes to this. However, having read what you have said several times, I think I get the "gist" of what you're saying - I take it you are referring to my SB-600 as the strobe and are suggesting that I obtain an optical slave to activate it. The adjustments can then be made manually - right??? </p>

[seismiccwave]

<p>Yes Peter. In the old days the flash/strobe were strictly manual affairs. You fire the flash through a sync cord from the camera. The flash fire at full power and you adjust exposure by closing down the aperture if the subject is close or opening the aperture if the subject is far.<br>

The new crop of camera and flash are very different. The flash have a brain inside that think for you. So their has to be some information exchange between the camera and the flash. That's the term eTTL or evaluative through the lens flash metering. If your camera has a command mode it will relay those digital information to your compatible flash and the flash will automatically shut down after it deemed to have achieve proper exposure (it is a little more complex but let's just say it is simple for now).<br>

Since you cannot fire a flash in command mode from your pop up flash you can do one of two things. First is if you want to keep all those good automatic things going between the camera and the flash you will need to buy a remote transmitter SU-800 from Nikon. This mount on top of the hot shoe and measure the distance between the subject and the camera. When you push the shutter the transmitter will tell the flash to fire and stop after making the proper exposure.<br>

The second method is the less expensive method. That is use your pop up flash as a trigger and put your SB600 as a slave on a optical remote. The SB600 will sit on the optical slave. The pop up flash will fire and the flash will trigger the optical slave triggering the SB600. You will have to set the SB600 to manual mode and you may dial in the power from 1/1 all the way down to 1/128th power I believe. You will also have to play around with the setting on the pop up flash to manual so you can adjust the exposure manually. Lots more fun but a lot more complex until you get the basics.<br>

The third method is to buy yet another flash like the SB800 that can act both as a flash and as a command module to fire the SB600 remotely with all the digital information.<br>

I hope this give you a little more confusion to see what you are dealing with.;-)</p>

[jalvarogutierrez]

<p>Hi Hansen,</p>

<p>Hope this finds you well. Are you saying in the second method that you can fire a sb-800 flash from my d60? How can I do it?</p>

<p>Regards</p>