[Doug]

I just bought a Nikon D80. Most things are going well but I am having problems with my slave flashes. For the most part, they don't work. I need them for my close-up photography.

They fire when the D80 flash fires but seem to have no effect on the image captured. This happens with three different slave flashes. All are being fired by sensing the D80’s flash since the D80 has no PC sync connector.

Any ideas as to the problem and to possible solutions?

[VikingPhotography]

This is probably best directed to the support staff at Nikon USA and/or the manufacturers of your slave flash units.

A straightforwards way to avoid such an issue would be to use a hotshoe mounted SB-800 as a flash commander, and a couple of remote SB-800/600 units as your slaves - though I doubt such advice is useful to you at this point

[Dabhand16]

Just a thought - is the camera set to fire pre-flashes for red-eye reduction? If so, that is probably triggering the slaves too early.

[brian wright22]

I think this is similar to my Canon 350D. I have a Canon 430EX flash (the latest) .I have been trying to trigger the 430EX with an add on trigger unit to this remotely sited flash. Detailed testing by me using this setup, using the built in flash on the 350D as the primary flash to trigger the remote trigger unit connected to the 430EX has no affect on the end result.
The reason for this is that there is a pre flash which sets the camera exposure etc and on DSLR's very quickly following this, fires the internal flash again. The response of the remote Slave trigger unit is not fast enough and it fires too late. Although to the naked eye it appears to be instantaneous.
The setup required for digital cameras usually requires complex manufacturers add ons to be puchased.
Unlike most film SLR cameras the remote triggered flash from the built in flash worked very well. This is because the film camera did not require a pre flash to set the camera aperture etc.
It would be nice if manufacturers had the necessary electronics built into their DSLR camera bodies that allowed the internal flash to trigger the remote flash unit without having to purchase two extra flash guns.
Regards Brian

[VikingPhotography]

Brian,

The answer here, of course, is to use an external lightmeter and set your camera's exposure and flash power output levels manually. There is no pre-flash from either built in or hotshoe mounted strobes when they're triggered in this way.

Pre-flash is required for all TTL metering modes that you camera might use, whether that be programme auto, shutter priority or aperture priority (or any variations thereof)

In the days of film SLR's, there was still a pre-flash required if you set P, A or S modes - the camera had to know exactly what shutter speed and aperture was required and this was the only way of doing so when in auto or part-auto modes. The only difference with film cameras - particularly Nikon - was that they calculated the flash output duration by taking a reading off the film whilst it was being exposed.

[brian wright22]

Many thanks VikingPhotography for putting the "icing on the cake" very understandingly and expertly put.
Regards Brian

[Doug]

Thank you Brian. You answered my question and gave me some things to try. I ordered a hotshoe PC adapter.

[Doug]

Regarding my slave flashes having no effect with my new Nikon D80: I turned off the preflash (I think) and that seemed to not solve my problem.

I bought a hot shoe adapter for my Nikon D80. It solved the problem. As some suggested, the problem seemed to be timing. Seemingly, the slave flash fires too slowly when triggered by its own flash sensor. When triggered by a cable from my Nikon AS-15 PC hot shoe adapter all is well.

I would like to have my slave flash as a supplementary flash (to the on-board flash) but the onboard flash cannot be used with the hot-shoe adapter in place. Sad.

One anomaly: I also bought an “Optical Slave Flash Trigger with Sync Socket” from eBay merchant “photogearok” ($15 incl. shipping) for my old Nikon N90’s SB-25 Speedlight. I didn’t expect it to work but it does, just fine. So what? Maybe my slave flash’s internal sensor is too slow but the new one is fast enough?

[Dabhand16]

The only remote slave triggers I've used are the ones that look like a ball, half white and half black with a socket for a lead from the gun to to plug into. Often they have a rubber sucker to stick them onto either the flash or a suitable surface. The pro's I work with also use them for slave flashes (held onto the guns with elastic bands!) and the only thing you have to watch out for is that the connections are clean and tight.

Although it will cost more, Nikon have a range of flashguns that can be independantly controlled by the camera, but I think once you have cracked the way to get the job done, you won't have any more problems.

Have you considered using other lighting methods? I mean from a couple of table lamps to a simple studio set up using, for instance, desk lamps. You might be pleasently surprised. Just make sure the colour balance is set properly.

[Doug]

Thank you for your suggestions, Graham. Yes, I have just started to use an inexpensive light tent and several desk lights with daylight fluorescent lights in them. It works well for smaller objects.

Doug