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D40 for studio portraits?

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Dragonboy

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Hi everyone,

Newbie question here. I was wondering if you could use the D40 for studio portraits? How do you connect the D40 to the flashes? Many thanks
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.
 
I have a D90 and a D40. I also have the SB400 and the SB600.

You can control the SB600 wirelessly with the D90 (in commander mode) but not the SB400.

The D40 cannot do wireless and the SB400 is not suitable for studio work.

Studio stuff needs at least a flash like the SB600, and ideally you want two.

The D40 is great little camera for everyday shooting, but for studio work you will need a SB800 or SB900 to act as commander for your flash, unless you have fixed lighting.

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Geoff Wales
Sydney
Australia
 
In a studio you probably want to use the flash system they have there.

You can do that by putting a Nikon AS-15 flash sync adapter on the hot shoe of your D40. Then you can use the professional light systems.

Nions CLS light system may be used as an alternative and you can control several SB 6-8-900 flashes by controlling them from a SB 8-900
--
life is raw
 
hi,

so i just need a Nikon AS-15 and a studio kit such as a Interfit EX150 Mark II - 2 Head Kit and thats it to take studio pic's in the house? =-) Does the nikon AS-15 work as the wireless commander? I also have 1 SB600 and 1 SB400. Many thanks
Torgeir Jensen said:
In a studio you probably want to use the flash system they have there.

You can do that by putting a Nikon AS-15 flash sync adapter on the hot shoe of your D40. Then you can use the professional light systems.

Nions CLS light system may be used as an alternative and you can control several SB 6-8-900 flashes by controlling them from a SB 8-900
--
life is raw
Click to expand...
--
.
 
Dragonboy said:
hi,

so i just need a Nikon AS-15 and a studio kit such as a Interfit EX150 Mark II - 2 Head Kit and thats it to take studio pic's in the house? =-) Does the nikon AS-15 work as the wireless commander? I also have 1 SB600 and 1 SB400. Many thanks
Click to expand...
Hi Dragon
Ok so you dont have access to a STUDIO.
No the AS-15 is no commander, the SU-800 is :-)

If you dont want to spend more cash, then get a SC-28 chord to put one the flash off your cam. The SB-400 is not good for your intended use, sell it and buy a second hand SB-800 and the cable.

life is raw
 
Limecat said:
Pocket Wizards?
Click to expand...
That would be the best way, but also the most expensive.

Also, with Pocket Wizards, you have to be careful about shutter speed. Because the camera doesn't know a flash is being controlled, it won't lock out shutter speeds higher than the flash sync. This can result in partially exposed frames if the shutter speed is above the flash sync.
 
I use a D50 for home studio portrait work so I'm in a similar position to you regarding the lack of commander mode. I use a set of the cheap cactus radio triggers from China bought through ebay, but any of the generic radio triggers right up to Pocket Wizards should work. I have these attached to a bunch of cheap speedlights, also bought through ebay! You could use whatever lights you wanted, you just need to make sure you get the triggers with the right connections e.g. hotshoe if you're using speedlights or jack plug for studio lights.

Of course you'll be working in full manual mode but if it's in nice controlled studio-like conditions it's really no problem. Spend some time playing around and write all the settings, flash positions etc. down and next time you'll be surprised how quick you dial everything in.

Check out the Strobist website for info, tutorials and inspiration.
 
Pocket wizards, Elinchrom Skyports or the inexpensive Cactus triggers are your best bet if you want to go wireless...which is what I would recommend. The new Cactus trigger are available and more reliable. I recommend Midwest Photo Exchange, great service and prices. Other than these workarounds for off-camera flash triggering the D40 should work just fine as a studio camera.

--
Nikon D90, 16-85VRII, 50 f1.8
Canon A590IS
 
Hi,

i think im gonna get one of the Interfit kits with the Interfit flash transmitter. The pocket wizards are too expensive for a beginner like me. Thanks
M Morgan said:
Pocket wizards, Elinchrom Skyports or the inexpensive Cactus triggers are your best bet if you want to go wireless...which is what I would recommend. The new Cactus trigger are available and more reliable. I recommend Midwest Photo Exchange, great service and prices. Other than these workarounds for off-camera flash triggering the D40 should work just fine as a studio camera.

--
Nikon D90, 16-85VRII, 50 f1.8
Canon A590IS
Click to expand...
--
.
 
binary_eye said:
Limecat said:
Pocket Wizards?
Click to expand...
That would be the best way, but also the most expensive.

Also, with Pocket Wizards, you have to be careful about shutter speed. Because the camera doesn't know a flash is being controlled, it won't lock out shutter speeds higher than the flash sync. This can result in partially exposed frames if the shutter speed is above the flash sync.
Click to expand...
That shouldn't be a problem with the OP's D40, with shutter speeds over ~1/100 controlled electronically through CCD gating, allowing non-TTL flash sync at any speed.

--
Patco
A photograph is more than a bunch of pixels
 
The D40 is fine for a home studio application.

To control off-camera mounted speed lights use a cable adaptor on the flash shoe. You can get cheap flash units used for manual setting, 3-4 of them should be $25-50 each. Adding some easy to make accessories, light modifiers and stands and a backdrop you can do very well. There is a popular movement of using low powered speed lights in place of studio strobes for very flexible, portable and low cost studio work. Checkout the most popular web site/blog in this field:

http://strobist.blogspot.com/

There are lessons and examples, assignments and comments/discussions about the techniques. The highly portable and small size of the gear makes it very attractive for a lot of non-pros plus it is very low cost.
--
Stan
St Petersburg Russia
 
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