Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Good morning all,

Sorry for this rather ignorant post, but I could not find the info anywhere I looked.

I have the Cyber Sync transmitter and receiver for my B800's. My transmitter is not working again. Somebody at a past show commented, why do I not use my flash to trigger my ABs.

Now the dumb question of the day. How do I use my flash to trigger my strobes? I have a Nikon D700, and a SB900.

Thanks,
Penny

There's a slave eye on the back of the B800 that "sees" other flashes. It's always on unless you plug anything into the sync port, which disables the eye.

Just put your SB900 in manual mode and the B800's will fire when the SB900 fires. If you don't want the output from the SB900 to contribute to the exposure just dial the power down. It doesn't take much to trigger the Bees. It will work best if the back of at least one Bee is facing the SB900's flash though.

It won't work if the SB900 is in TTL because a pre-flash from the SB900 will trigger the Bees too early to be included in the exposure.

Thanks,
Can I use the regular pop up flash to trigger the Bees, or does it have to be my SB900?

It can be your pop up, but it must be in "M"/manual mode (flash setting, not just exposure setting). However, the SB900 will provide more power and more directionality due to its rotating head.

However, be aware that if your flash can set of your Bee, so can the next guy's flash.

Incidentally, what are you experiencing with your CyberSyncs?

This is the 2nd transmitter that I have killed. For some reason, they start out working fine on my D700, then after about a month or two, they stop working. I have been meaning to order another one, but I would like to know why they are not working.

Penny, before you order another one.... are you sure you have a good battery in the transmitter? Also verify that the transmitter and receiver are on the same frequency. If neither of these solve it, try pushing down gently on the CST while firing. It is possible that the CST isn't making good contact in the shoe; if it works while pushing down (and doesn't work when not pushing) then this is probably the case. You can also try putting the CST in the shoe backwards to see if it makes better contact that way.

You can check the battery status bu pressing the test button. If the LED blinks red once, you should have a good battery. If it blinks red multiple times or not at all, then the battery is low or dead. It should exhibit the same behavior via the test button or hotshoe. If not, then the foot could be suspect.

If the CST does blink once in the hotshoe, check that the receiver is blinking red in response. If not, double check your frequencies.

In a pinch, if the foot fails, you can run the sunc cord from camera to CST.

I have 2 new batteries that I have tried. It has to be a problem between the D700 and the transmitter. If I hook my lightmeter up to the transmitter to test the lighting, it works fine. Once I put it on my D700 it does not work. I have made sure that the contacts are all the way in, since it is a very, very tight fit. I have not tried to turn it around to see if that makes a difference.

Is there such a thing as a sync cord splitter? I have been using the cord, but that limits me to one light, I normally shoot with 3, one camera left, one camera right, and one with a diffuser aimed at the backdrop.

Thanks for all the info!

Penny

If they're all lights with a optical slave (like the Bees), all you need is one sync cord. It will trigger on Bee, which in turn will trigger the rest via the optical slave.

DUH! I'm so thick sometimes. Thanks for all the help.
:)

Penny