[Dave]

Looking at the Nikon SU-800 to in relation to Nikon CLS system. Now I can see it can control sevral groups of SB flashguns remotely, allowing diff compensation per group of flashes.

My question is the D200 already allows you to do similar with the built in flash, by using the Commander mode (Go to Menu, Pencil icon, Built in flash, Commander mode & then right to all the options). OK it's limited to 2 groups of remote guns, but what else does it lose over SU-800 ?

Colin gives some example shots of what can be achieved with the SU-800 setup here :- Couple of portraits

[Dave]

Well just tried this out. Followed instructions above setting D200 built in flash not to fire & Set Group A to TTL mode. D200 built in flash does fire off pre-flash, but then immediately fires off the remote SB800

Using just the menu on D200 I found I could play with the compensation of SB800 no problems. By placing SB800 to side of a subject , I found I could then use the D200 menu to set built in flash to TTL to provide extra light source to image, then play with compensation to get varying degrees of fill in flash vs the shadows produced by SB800 to the side.

Note if you have a SB-600 you need to set the D200 Group to channel 3 (default for SB600). For the SB800 it is channel 1.

Note also you can perform the same from the D80 & I assume the new D300 ?

The Nikon D70/s also has same function, but only 1 group setting & you cannot use the built in flash to provide extra lighting to scene.

So what are waiting for ..... have a play & let me know how you get on

[Hacker]

The big difference between the SU-800 and the in-camera mode is the ease of use, you don't have to keep diving into the menus to make changes. The menu is easy to use and I was able to use if straight out of the box - no RTFM! Secondly, it does away with the pre-flash which can make some subjects blink.

I notice on another thread you been offered one for £99 - snap it up, it's worth every penny.

[Dave]

Originally Posted by Hacker

Secondly, it does away with the pre-flash which can make some subjects blink.

There's a way to stop that Nikon | SG-31R IR Panel | 4905 | B&H Photo Video

or another way is to hit the Set FV - flash Exposure lock ... this fires the preflashes just the once & every shot after that is not needed

[Dave]

Reading up some more it appears the 3rd group on SU-800 is "manual" only, yet if you used a SB-800 as the master, it can have the 3rd group as TTL