Flash set up for Nikon D200

Nickscape

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22 Feb 2012 - 11:57 AM

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I'm looking at flash options for my Nikon D200 and have come to a stand still looking at the options and am hoping somebody can help.

I can't afford the Nikon flashguns at the moment so have been looking at the Nissin Di622 Mk2 which gets good reviews and seems to do everything I need, the question I've been trying to find the answer to is whether this will work with the Nikon Creative lighting system? lots of the reviews say it does, however some say that it doesn't work properly. The Nissin information calls it Wireless TTL (I suppose they are not allowed to say CLS compatible?).

I want to be able to fire the flash remotely from the camera, with TTL if possible without having to buy lots of other parts?

Does the Nikon CLS work the same as wireless triggers you can buy or does the commander communicate through pre-flashes? The reason I ask is I need to know whether the flashes need to have a line of sight with the main commander (similar to slave modes) or whether the flashes can be hidden behind objects?

I'm going to be using the flash for lots of different things which complicates things, mainly for product photography, sports and interiors which all need off camera flash but without that much of a budget the choices are not great.

I have been looking at buying cheap flash guns with wireless trigger set and setting them all up manually but the cost seems to build up and is similar to purchasing 2 of the Nissin flash guns which hopefully be able to use wirelessly with automatic metering?

scottishphototours

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22 Feb 2012 - 5:51 PM

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The cls system works with infrared. People are using radio triggers now because they're more reliable. You'll find this out as you use cls...

applephoto (e2 Member)

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2 Mar 2012 - 3:59 PM

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As others have said the CLS system is infrared/line of sight and works on pre-flashes.

I have a mixture of Nissin, Yongnuo and Nikon flashes that I use in both CLS mode and trigger them with wireless triggers when needed. The CLS system is the easiest to use if you can get line of sight and the ambient light isn't so strong that it kills CLS flash signal. The big advantage with CLS is that you can use it in TTL and manual mode plus certain flash units will support FP (hi speed sync) If you want all that with wireless you are going to have to look at Pocket Wizards.

The Nissin unit I would recommend is the Di866MkII, at £189 it is less than half the price of the SB900 and a lot cheaper than the new SB910. It doesn't have the 200mm zoom head of the SB900/910 or the ability to change the light pattern but it doesn't suffer from the SB900 overheating problem ( I have had a tube replaced in one of my SB900 by Fixation at about £130). The Nissin is also very well built and has a small fill flash on the front.

Yongnuos are cheap and cheerful and do a good job as small fill flashes. The ones I have are very basic and do not support FP or TTL but they can be triggered by the CLS system and ignore the pre-flash. They also will give a very short flash speed (around 1/64,000) at low power which is handy for freezing action - I sometime use 3 of them when photographing dance, much cheaper than the pro studio gear.

For CLS I use the built in flash on my D7000 and I have it set as the first item on MyMenu which is also set to be activated by the function button, this means one button push and I am able to change the two flash groups and the onboard flash power and setting. On my D3 I use either the Nissin Di866 or an SB900 as the master.

I hope this is of help, Andrew.