Flash for Skate Photos

[ScottyGrayson]

I have a d300 and a sb-700. When I use the on camera flash and sb-700 remotely I can get 1/320s (sometimes blurry). If I turn the on camera flash's commander mode to not fire (--) i can get 1/400s or more which gives me alot sharper photos.

Sometimes I have alot of trouble getting my speedlight to fire remotely when I set the on camera flash to not fire (--). Sometimes only works for half the shots and it gets really frustrating. Why is this? What can I do to fix it?

Is there a cheap way to put another flash into my system? Strobe and pocket wizard type remote? Another speedlight with a pocket wizard?

 

[Leonard Migliore]

ScottyGrayson wrote:

I have a d300 and a sb-700. When I use the on camera flash and sb-700 remotely I can get 1/320s (sometimes blurry). If I turn the on camera flash's commander mode to not fire (--) i can get 1/400s or more which gives me alot sharper photos.

The claimed maximum sync speed for the D300 is 1/320. Any faster and you risk losing part of the image. That's just the way the shutter works. I have no idea what you're getting at 1/400.

Now, when you're using flash outdoors, this can be a big hassle because 1/320 often lets in enough daylight to drown out the flash. You have to work around this; sometimes you can't.

Sometimes I have alot of trouble getting my speedlight to fire remotely when I set the on camera flash to not fire (--). Sometimes only works for half the shots and it gets really frustrating. Why is this? What can I do to fix it?

You're triggering off the camera's built-in flash. Sometimes the off-camera flash doesn't see it (I guess this could be worse in daylight).

Is there a cheap way to put another flash into my system? Strobe and pocket wizard type remote? Another speedlight with a pocket wizard?

I use a radio trigger. Very reliable.

 

[Placation101]

ScottyGrayson wrote:

I have a d300 and a sb-700. When I use the on camera flash and sb-700 remotely I can get 1/320s (sometimes blurry). If I turn the on camera flash's commander mode to not fire (--) i can get 1/400s or more which gives me alot sharper photos.

Sometimes I have alot of trouble getting my speedlight to fire remotely when I set the on camera flash to not fire (--). Sometimes only works for half the shots and it gets really frustrating. Why is this? What can I do to fix it?

Is there a cheap way to put another flash into my system? Strobe and pocket wizard type remote? Another speedlight with a pocket wizard?

I would guess shooting outdoors you really want to overpower ambient light maybe with multiple flashes. With action shots if possible you are going to want to let the flash do the freezing rather than the shutter speed. Have you tried stopping your lens down so the flash fires stronger and you get more freezing?

As to the flash not firing may sound silly, but are you facing the sb700 sensor toward your camera. Regardless outdoors is a lot more difficult for the cls to handle. You could try bumping up the power on the on camera flash not so much it makes it in the final image but is stronger than the '--' setting. Not sure if that increases the power of the preflash or not? Anyone?

You should mention your budget really. There is everything from a professional level to a budget level available. Pocket wizard is a great but pricey solution. If you search b&h photo, amazon, or ebay you can find some more budget friendly deccent triggers. As far as flashes if you have time to set up where you are shooting you can get something like the yongnuo 560 or some other cheap flashes. They are manual, but can be triggered by camera flash just like the nikon. If you have a few of those you can stop further down and get more freezing action. I seem yo recall someone using those to do ski tricks off a jump.

 

[TTMartin]

For sports that allow a flash, I use a Manfrotto 233B Camera Mount Flash Bracket, and a 3 foot cord.

 

[speedy mate]

ScottyGrayson wrote:

I have a d300 and a sb-700. When I use the on camera flash and sb-700 remotely I can get 1/320s (sometimes blurry). If I turn the on camera flash's commander mode to not fire (--) i can get 1/400s or more which gives me alot sharper photos.

Sometimes I have alot of trouble getting my speedlight to fire remotely when I set the on camera flash to not fire (--). Sometimes only works for half the shots and it gets really frustrating. Why is this? What can I do to fix it?

Is there a cheap way to put another flash into my system? Strobe and pocket wizard type remote? Another speedlight with a pocket wizard?

Do you have the infrared sensor on the SB-700 facing your commander? The pop up flash does not put out much power for wireless operation. Joe McNally has a YouTube video demonstrating how far he can shoot using CLS with SB-900 as commander. You could get an SU-800 to wirelessly trigger your SB-700. Or an SB-800/900 to wirelessly trigger and retain capabilities of a camera mounted flash.

If you intend to keep TTL functionality you are going to be looking at some expensive triggers. If you want to fire away in manual flash mode you could get by with any number of triggers. Check out flashzebra.com for some. Personally, I use PW TT5 and AC3 units to maintain full TTL control.

 

[ScottyGrayson]

I've started to rotate the flash around so that the infrared sensor is facing more or less towards my camera and it has helped some. The only places it wont detect are behind me, underneath me, and when I am shooting vertically. The first two make sense, but I don't know why shooting vertically gives me less success.

So using a speedlight on my camera instead of the pop up will send a stronger infrared signal? Maybe the next step would be to use my sb 700 as commander on camera and buy some cheap flashes to trigger remotely since radio is so expensive. Is this a good idea? Any recommendations for cheap speedlights that can be triggered remotely?

 

[ScottyGrayson]

Just thought of something else regarding last post. Using cheap flashes remotely will not allow me to use TTL. On my sb700 in master mode there is a manual mode option to control the flash power of remote flashes. Will this work with non CLS flashes?

I haven't used manual flash much but my understanding so far is that you need to control flash power and zoom. Anything else I am missing? I don't understand guide number mode.

 

[speedy mate]

Just thought of something else regarding last post. Using cheap flashes remotely will not allow me to use TTL. On my sb700 in master mode there is a manual mode option to control the flash power of remote flashes. Will this work with non CLS flashes?

I haven't used manual flash much but my understanding so far is that you need to control flash power and zoom. Anything else I am missing? I don't understand guide number mode.

Using your sb700 in master mode won't do anything for non CLS lights. Here's what I did for a while:
I bought a cheap radio trigger for my camera hot shoe. Then I put said cheap radio receiver on my Sb600 to trigger it (hooked it to a hot shoe trigger). Then I got other cheap flashes and used optical slaves to get them to trigger when the sb600 fired. Only problem was no TTL or CLS so I had to walk up to every light to change the power. But it worked and was a lot less than speed lights. I have since spent a small fortune in my speed light kit and have wireless TTL with sb800s and PW TT5s.