CLS w/ Studio Strobes

[pete_harlan1]

<p>Has anyone tried to use the Nikon CLS with studio mono's?</p>

<p>I tried to use my SB 800 off camera as a snooted hair light in conjunction with my studio permanent strobes.<br>

It appears to me, the power of the studio lights confused the SB 800 sensor.<br>

I was immedietly greeted with the high/low audible warning from the SB when the studio flashes fired.<br>

The SB did fire, but at a greatly reduced output. This makes no sense to me as I had the SB in full manual.<br>

Hmm?</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>How were you actually triggering things? CLS and studio strobes don't mix, so you need to take the SB-800 <em>out</em> of CLS slave mode, and put in SU-4 mode, so that it's a "dumb" optical slave. That way it will simply fire at whatever power you have it set to, and won't confuse matters by trying to think about what it's doing. Of course, it needs to re-charge between flashes, and can't usually do that as quickly as your studio strobes, nor as many times per minute (without over heating, if you're using it at high power).</p>

[pete_harlan1]

<p>Thanks Matt,</p>

<p>I was hoping the SB-800 could work in remote operation (WITH) studio strobes, so I could adjust the SB-800 output levels from the camera.<br>

My studio strobes are hard wired to trigger, so I am still curious why the studio strobes interfered with the SB-800? Perhaps the SB-800 interpreted the MAIN strobes as a pre-flash?<br>

I could understand if I triggered at least ONE studio strobe optically, but I don't.<br>

SU-4 mode is fine as you say as a optical slave only, but I have no control over output. I was kinda' hoping against all hope here..Oh well.</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>Yeah, you can't have it both ways, I'm afraid. But at least with the SB-800 you <em>can</em> put it in SU-4 mode (unlike the SB-600, which doesn't work that way).</p>

[em_user]

<p>I'm not positive but I believe the Radiopopper system will allow you to use CLS in conjunction with strobes. Maybe someone with first-hand knowledge can chime in on the pros and cons of that system.<br>

http://www.radiopopper.com/</p>

[joseph_wisniewski]

<p>It sounds to me like the CLS preflashes (that's how CLS masters and slaves communicate) are setting off at least some of your studio strobes. So your studio strobes flash during part of the CLS dialogue, and "drowning out" the CLS flashes talking to each other.</p>

<p>Did you turn off the optical slaves (photocells, etc) on every last studio strobe, and hard wire them all together to the camera, or are you triggering just one strobe by wire and letting that strobe trigger the rest of your studio strobes via optical slave? If you're doing that, it's not going to work, because the CLS is firing the strobes early.</p>

<p>David, the Radio poppers won't help in this situation... Unfortunately, there's no commercial controller that I know of that can remote control the power on a manual Nikon flash. Even a long cord to the camera won't get the proper control. It is possible to make a device that manually controls the power of one (or more) Nikon flashes using the old TTL (fire/quench) signals, but again, that's not "off the shelf".</p>

[frank_skomial]

<p>"Has anyone tried to use the Nikon CLS with studio mono's?" - Yes, if you trigger remote monolight via radio or cables. They work great, and independent of each other.</p>

<p>CLS light determination can be easily overpowered and ruined exposure by studio strobes.</p>

<p>monolight are just triggered when shutter is open. CLS flashes are tested during preflash time, and proper value determined from the test is used unchanged when the shutter is open, totally unaware of any light produced by other flashes like monolights.</p>

<p>You need to completely understand how CLS works, then can be used with any other strobes, as long as you know how much and where your uncontrollable light falls.</p>

<p>There are no monilights yet that would be CLS compatible, so their light cannot be used for TTL determination, it is just too late for them in the DSLR new flash system technology. May be some day... ? when/if Nikon/Canon allow technology licensing ?</p>

<p>Radio Popper what it can do for monolights it can only trigger some brand remote monilights, and also seems (reading new specs) can adjust their power output remotely, if you are willing to believe what you read there. Also you can adjust power by walking to the monolight, and trigger them by use of any other remote radio trigger device. The Radio Popper major advantages are better suited to transform and propagate the ETTL II, or CLS protocol, but monolights do not use any of that, just the triggering signal.</p>

 

[pete_harlan1]

<blockquote>

<p>My studio strobes are hard wired to trigger, so I am still curious why the studio strobes interfered with the SB-800?</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>I appreciate the responses, but I wish people would read the prior posts.</p>

<p>My entire studio is hard wired. I have plugins every 4 feet in the floor and a a few in the walls. There are no optical slaves anywhere in the loop; be it 1 strobe or 10.<br>

It's not a critical question since I usually use a grid with the hair light. The other night a friend came over unexpectedly..I didn't want to do a setup; esp for free. So I thought a one light quickie with a snooted SB 800 for hair light.</p>

<p>Again, the SB 800 was in full manual, sync cord directly to the camera and one strobe. When the strobe went off I heard the high/low warning sound from the 800 that indicates communication prob.</p>

<p>If it does work, it beats me how. I fully understand how the CLS communicates with pre-flashes..My contention is that the studio strobe is being picked up by the SB 800 and is being interpreted as a pre-flash.</p>

[frank_skomial]

<p>Simple test:</p>

<p>Cover the CLS / SU4 sensor on the remote SB800 with thick dark tape, and try if you get the same "bad" behavior influence from light of monolight ? - or it can be an electrical glitch?</p>

<p>Your remote SB800 flash can be in Remote mode, and at the same time in Manual mode, so even if you sync it via a wire, it will still be affected by other flashes. Make sure to reset the flash with the 2 finger method.</p>

<p>You talk about a "trigger" what is that ?</p>