multiflash photos & sb800 remote triggers

does anyone have any experience with using the sb800's off camera and triggering them with remote triggers, like pocket wizards. i know they have an optical slave but i find that doesnt work well in bright conditions or over long distances. ideally i would like to find something that will sit on the D2x or D70 with multiple recievers that can plug into a number of sb800's. if not, are there any other portable flash units that will work. any suggetions will be appreciated

...will do the trick to trigger 4 remote SB800s (trigger only, no TTL or iTTL of course).
Kent

hi Kent, thanks for responding. i suppose i can have an unlimited number of slave flashes using the equipment you mentioned as long as i am willing to restrict myself to 4 seperate groups, is that correct? also, how does the reciever connect to the sb flash?
mick

I have set mine up with a patch cord to the first SB800 and used this as the master. Two sb600's for back drop and hair light and one more SB800 for main light. You do not need any other item to fire flashes. iTTL is usable to. If you do not have it, take a look at the CLS book that Nikon puts out with the SB's. You can down load it free from the Nikon site, I don't have the url with me at the momment. It is somthing of a bear to understand all the options, but once you do you will be a happy camper.

If you mean to trigger other strobes (not SB's) with an SB, then I am way off for you. This I have not done yet.
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D70Rookie

I just looked back at your post, should tell you that u can set up "3" different channels, and then 4 different groups. As for distance, not to sure about this, I use mine in close prox to the master flsah.
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D70Rookie+

Not sure what you mean by groups. But anyway, they connect to each other via a simple sync cord (the SB800 has a port on the side and the receiver has 2 on top for triggers).

mikygee said:

hi Kent, thanks for responding. i suppose i can have an unlimited
number of slave flashes using the equipment you mentioned as long
as i am willing to restrict myself to 4 seperate groups, is that
correct? also, how does the reciever connect to the sb flash?
mick

Click to expand...

To my knowledge, the SB800 does not have RF. Am I missing something ;-)
Kent

I think you are correct. RF for the long distance stuff I think. No sure how far the photo emitters can go, and in daylight too.
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D70Rookie+

If you want to trigger your remote flash at a distance more than 33 feet then the camera then Pocketwizard is your best choice.

If you use the SB-800’s iTTL control then the remote SB-600/SB800 must be no more then 30 Degrees off axis of the camera and within 16 to 23 feet or a maximum of 33 feet for a flash directly behind the subject.

If you want to use the SU-4 wireless mode then the remote flash in TTL mode must be within 23 feet or 130 feet in manual mode.

That leaves you with a Pocketwizard for a distance up to 1600 feet with a line of sight connection. You will not have iTTL or TTL only manual. Also the distance is affected by obstacles and can be as little as 250 feet if you move the transmitter closer to the ground or 3000 feet if you have it 50 feet in the air. The Pocketwizard MultiMax can also be used as a relay to increase the distance.

This information is not from personal experience but from the SB-800 and PocketWizard MultiMax instruction manuals.