Quaid
Well-known member
I disagree. Dealers find a way to sell all sorts of crap we don't want or need. They would be more than happy to sell us crap that we actually need...(Assuming demand for RF based CLS is real and not just a dpreview phenomenon).
How many different kit lenses were offered from Nikon with the D7000? Did dealers boycott the product because of the options?
That is one possible path that a design team could take, but a designated space could include the option of externalizing. Also, if I were designing it I wouldn't necessarily make the module removable or give it its own 'walls'. Don't limit your imagination. The flash body could be designed to internalize the smallest component bundle, and externalize the rest (think about the battery bump on the SB800).
That being said, the idea that there would be any appreciable difference in size between an RF & IR CLS module and the current system is only hypothetical. The design team may be able to fit RF & IR into a space smaller than what is currently allocated in the SB600/700/900. So this was a hypothetical problem, and even when assumed to be true it is still not a very convincing one.
When has selling someone more products to accomplish a diverse set of goals ever been a problem? We are already in the awkward situation of having to buy a second set of transmitters to get RF. I would venture a guess that the population of photographers who would like RF in their flash body is significantly bigger than the population of photographers who would be troubled by international RF laws. That's just a guess, but I think it's very likely to be true. Professional photojournalists who NEED to bring flash equipment across borders and are likely to encounter these problems are also the photographers least likely to be unable to purchase additional gear to meet their needs.
Although I didn't agree with the arguments you made above, I believe that this is a very good idea. Only the internal CLS processor would need to be modified and a socket added. It would be a compromise between internal RF and the current PW-style systems. I like it.Or they could always build in the IR unit, exactly as they do now. It's not expensive. The flash itself is the "transmitter", and the receiver is nothing more than a photodiode behind an IR window and some op-amps. That gives them backwards compatibility with 12 existing cameras that can flash out iTTL master signals (D300, D700, D70, D80, D90, D200, D40, D60, D3000, D3100, D5000, and D7000) plus however many more can do this by the timeframe of SB1200 plus the existing CLS IR controlled SU-800, plus the CLS master flashes like SB-800, SB-900, SB-1000, and SB-1100.
And then they just add a socket on the flash so that you can plug in an RF module, just like the Paul Buff CSXCV RF remote that plugs into the Einstein flash.
That's so simple, it could show up by SB-1000, no waiting 15 more years for SB-1200.
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A warming of several degrees, Melted ice and raised oceans and seas. The Army was finished, the Air Force diminished, but the Navy was quietly pleased.
