Third party remote flash for Nikon D5500

Olymguy

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I am putting up this question again because I found the other discussions rather outdated and I am quite confused by different suggestions and the long endless discussions about which triggers (brands) and flashes are suitable to couple together with Nikon D5500. I am intending to use D5500 at least for a year, so I am not going to upgrade to a D500 (probably my next gear), but I am willing to spend on some third party flash and remote trigger gear.

Just to round it up; I would really appreciate if I can get a clear answer what third party gear (brand and model) I need to buy that works with Nikon D5500. e.g. remote trigger that can command two or three remote flashes via my D5500.

Cheers/

Ed
 
Last edited:
I am putting up this question again because I found the other discussions rather outdated and I am quite confused by different suggestions and the long endless discussions about which triggers (brands) and flashes are suitable to couple together with Nikon D5500. I am intending to use D5500 at least for a year, so I am not going to upgrade to a D500 (probably my next gear), but I am willing to spend on some third party flash and remote trigger gear.

Just to round it up; I would really appreciate if I can get a clear answer what third party gear (brand and model) I need to buy that works with Nikon D5500. e.g. remote trigger that can command two or three remote flashes via my D5500.

Cheers/

Ed
Hi.

Depending of what you want, You will need either:

An optical transmitter for the camera that is compatible to the Nikon mount shoe and a flash, that is compatible to the Nikon AWL (AWL - Advanced Wireless lightning system) or

a radio transmitter for the camera that is compatible to the Nikon mount shoe and a radio receiver for the flash.

Try this:



or do a search your self -

There's a lot out there - but not much, that is fully compatible to the entire Nikon CLS. To have that, you have to buy a Nikon optical trigger and a Nikon flash.

BirgerH.
 
I am putting up this question again because I found the other discussions rather outdated and I am quite confused by different suggestions and the long endless discussions about which triggers (brands) and flashes are suitable to couple together with Nikon D5500. I am intending to use D5500 at least for a year, so I am not going to upgrade to a D500 (probably my next gear), but I am willing to spend on some third party flash and remote trigger gear.

Just to round it up; I would really appreciate if I can get a clear answer what third party gear (brand and model) I need to buy that works with Nikon D5500. e.g. remote trigger that can command two or three remote flashes via my D5500.

Cheers/

Ed
Hi.

Depending of what you want, You will need either:

An optical transmitter for the camera that is compatible to the Nikon mount shoe and a flash, that is compatible to the Nikon AWL (AWL - Advanced Wireless lightning system) or

a radio transmitter for the camera that is compatible to the Nikon mount shoe and a radio receiver for the flash.

Try this:

http://www.yongnuo.eu/catalog.html?page=shop.browse&category_id=10

http://www.neewer.com/imaging-products/flashes-speedlites/shoe-mount-flashes

or do a search your self -

There's a lot out there - but not much, that is fully compatible to the entire Nikon CLS. To have that, you have to buy a Nikon optical trigger and a Nikon flash.

BirgerH.
Much appreciated ! :)
 
Hi.

Depending of what you want, You will need either:

An optical transmitter for the camera that is compatible to the Nikon mount shoe and a flash, that is compatible to the Nikon AWL (AWL - Advanced Wireless lightning system) or

a radio transmitter for the camera that is compatible to the Nikon mount shoe and a radio receiver for the flash.

Try this:

http://www.yongnuo.eu/catalog.html?page=shop.browse&category_id=10

http://www.neewer.com/imaging-products/flashes-speedlites/shoe-mount-flashes

or do a search your self -
I did some search and looks there is another new controller , YN560-TX N which you can use on a flash from the same company. The only thing is it has manual control but over 6 groups of flashes. Probably manual gives also more control over the TTL mode.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/222179723637?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Would be great to have your idea.

Cheers/

Ed
 
Hi.

Depending of what you want, You will need either:

An optical transmitter for the camera that is compatible to the Nikon mount shoe and a flash, that is compatible to the Nikon AWL (AWL - Advanced Wireless lightning system) or

a radio transmitter for the camera that is compatible to the Nikon mount shoe and a radio receiver for the flash.

Try this:

http://www.yongnuo.eu/catalog.html?page=shop.browse&category_id=10

http://www.neewer.com/imaging-products/flashes-speedlites/shoe-mount-flashes

or do a search your self -
I did some search and looks there is another new controller , YN560-TX N which you can use on a flash from the same company. The only thing is it has manual control but over 6 groups of flashes. Probably manual gives also more control over the TTL mode.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/222179723637?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Would be great to have your idea.

Cheers/

Ed
Actually - I would like to see David Lal chime in here - he's the flash master of the forum, I think - specifically when speaking manual operating. If he chimes in - listen to him - not to me :-)

He will probably agree, that manual control has advantages over Nikons iTTL - far over with experience - when I doubt a little, it is because Nikons iTTL (and entire CLS) implementation simply is the best, you can have - and all the time is being developed. Nikons iTTL simply is doing a good job.

That said - if you really want to work with a lot of added light - like a studio-work - I can't imagine, that there is an automatic way - you will need to learn to use the light manually.

If that's the case, there's no automatic way for the camera neither - maybe focusing as an exception - it's pure manual, in my opinion :-)

My advice - give it a try - and enjoy the learning period.

BirgerH.
 
Actually - I would like to see David Lal chime in here - he's the flash master of the forum, I think - specifically when speaking manual operating. If he chimes in - listen to him - not to me :-)

He will probably agree, that manual control has advantages over Nikons iTTL - far over with experience - when I doubt a little, it is because Nikons iTTL (and entire CLS) implementation simply is the best, you can have - and all the time is being developed. Nikons iTTL simply is doing a good job.

That said - if you really want to work with a lot of added light - like a studio-work - I can't imagine, that there is an automatic way - you will need to learn to use the light manually.

If that's the case, there's no automatic way for the camera neither - maybe focusing as an exception - it's pure manual, in my opinion :-)

My advice - give it a try - and enjoy the learning period.

BirgerH.
.. I have to chime in. I wasn't going to but how can I not after that accolade (which makes me blush!).

The reason why I wasn't going to say anything is that in fact, I don't know that much about fancy remote flash triggers or Nikon CLS/iTTL either. I do have (and love a SB800) but I'm not a terrific fan of the Nikon flash system: Nikon flashguns are so expensive (SB910 is in the GBP £400 region) and quite frankly, for the kind of photography I do, I can get just as good results without CLS/iTTL.

Apart from my SB800 I have a whole arsenal of flashguns, I think, maybe 10 of them. I can fire many of them all together either using their inbuilt optical triggers or using low cost optical triggers. I have also made my own triggers.



bear_5_zoomed_out.jpg


Many of these flashguns cost hardly any money. In fact, some were broken but virtually free - so I mended them. Working out exposure really isn't difficult (begin with understanding the guide number) but one item of kit I'd recommend to anybody planning to use multiple flashguns is a flashmeter. Mine is a simple one about 30 years old. It did not cost a lot even when new.

One particular older style flashgun I'd recommend - if you can find one - is the Nikon SB26 (note, not the SB25 or SB27 etc.). It is very powerful and has a delayed slave mode. That means in can be used even when the camera is using the pop-up in CLS/iTTL mode or for instance (I do this a lot) there is a SB800 in the hot shoe. An SB26 on Ebay will cost in the region of GBP £50 -£90.



Home -made optical/sonic flash trigger being tested

Home -made optical/sonic flash trigger being tested



@Birger: Thanks for the kind words!

David
 
Thanks Dave, very helpful advice indeed. After the discussion I just purchased two manual flashes and a flash trigger. I think that would be more fun and creative.

All the best

Ed
 
Speak with someone from Metz, they will help you to select the right flash for now and for when you get your D500. Metz is quality gear with quality support.
 
Speak with someone from Metz, they will help you to select the right flash for now and for when you get your D500. Metz is quality gear with quality support.
 
I've been an OEM Nikon speedlight user for a while and recently picked up a Godox V860nII

I am really impressed and will probably sell off most of my Nikon Flash units and replace them with the Godox. While not quite as well built as a Nikon it preforms incredibly well and has built in radio receiver and transmitter. It can control other Godox flash units by itself as master or be controlled with a radio transmitter. It also works with the Nikon optical CLS system. The biggest positive for the system is it that it uses a Li-polymer battery back and recycles twice as fast as AA batteries with 3X the number of full power pops. Build quality is very good. It's a really nice speedlight. I also use Yongnuo 622NII series transceivers and a 622N-TX transmitter with the entire system.
 
I have a Yongnuo YN-685, two YN-622 slave transceivers and on YN-622 controller (I also have an SB-800). The I bought all the Yongnuo units for under $200 total and they're great. They work well with each other, with my D7200 and with my SB-800. The build quality looks fine, there's ample customization and I can't think of a reason to go with anything else, particularly if it's more expensive.

Steve
 

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