Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

My setup: Nikon D7000 in commander mode so i can control my SB 900. I want to use the SB 900 to trigger the AB800 as I can increase/decrease my flash power on the SB 900 from my camera. This is the issue I am having:

When i use this setup the AB800 triggers as a slave but my captured shot only shows minimal light on the side the SB 900 is on. It is as if the AB800 never fired (however it is).

I am using a 1/250 or 1/200 sync speed.

Can anyone help me correct this or explain why this is happening?

I use Canon products, but it sounds like your D7000 is sending pre-flash instructions to the SB 900. That's the way Canon wireless flash works. The pre-flash is a rapid sequence of low-powered flash pulses that tells your SB 900 what power to use etc. It's usually not noticeable to the human eye, but it is sufficient to trigger the Bee's slave eye. Thus, the Bee is firing before the exposure is actually made and does not contribute to the exposure at all. If you're using TTL, the Bee's output may even be causing your SB 900 to fire at a lower power than you'd like by confusing the TTL metering.

If you want to use your SB 900 and the Bee together, you will have to find a different way of triggering them. If the SB 900 has a PC sync port you could use that to fire the SB 900 and then it should trigger the Bee optically in sync with the exposure. Also, I believe Nikon flashes have a dumb "optical slave" mode. If that's the case, you can just set your flash that way and trigger both the SB 900 and the Bee optically. The key is eliminating the pre-flash.

The more sophisticated solution is radio triggers. PCB's offering is the Cybersync stuff - you could get a Cyber Commander (or a CST) for a master, a CSR+ for the Bee, and a CSRB+ for the SB900 and that would work great. (If the SB 900 doesn't have a PC sync port, you'd need PCB's speedlite adapter also.) You would be able to control the Bee's power with the Cyber Commander but you'd have to adjust the SB 900's power on the flash itself.

I also use the Phottix Strato 4-in-1 radio trigger and I'm very pleased with it. You could use it to trigger the SB 900 and then the Bee would correctly trigger optically.

itwimberly is correct: The AB slave is firing when it detects the preflash communication between your d7000 and the SB900. The only workaround that I am aware of is radio triggers.

The easiest, lowest cost option is a CST and one receiver (CSRB type) that you can use for either the SB900 or the AB, with the other set on slave mode (I believe the SB900 does have a slave mode). You could add a second receiver, so both lights are radio triggered, eliminating the dependence on slave mode (which can be intermittent or nonfunctional in certain conditions where line of side is obstructed, or outdoors, in sunlight).

If you want ttl control, I believe there are new Pocket Wizard options that will support that, at some greater cost. I am not familiar with them in any detail, though, so you'd want to research that.

If the D7000 has a popup flash, you can probably just put it in manual mode and it would correctly trigger the Bee and the SB900 if in the dumb optical slave mode.

Another option for wireless TTL is Radio Poppers. I've never used them and they're expensive but they get good reviews.

But in general, mixing TTL with studio strobes is tricky and usually not even useful. TTL is most useful in dynamic situations where the light to subject distance is variable from shot to shot. Normally with studio strobes you're in a more controlled situation and you can just meter, set your aperture and start shooting. You paid for the SB900 so you will probably want to throw it into the mix at times but it will be simpler if you meter it manually like the studio strobes.

Thanks for all the replies! After messing around with the settings and such, I think I found what the issue was. It appears that when I am using the "Commander Mode" in TTL for the SB 900 is does not properly expose the shot. If I use manual in "Commander Mode" it seems to work fine.

I will be doing some other tests today to see if the power levels of each effect the other.

You are setting your AB800 off EARLY with your commander's TTL preflashes. Your AB800 fires before the shot is even taken. Only your SB 900 is exposing the image. When you use manual as you are doing now... both the AB800 and SB900 fire at the same time. That is what is happening. You can buy cheap flashes such as Yongnuo YN460II for about $40 each. They have a setting that allows them to ignore TTL preflases and only fire when the actual flash goes off. It works flawlessly.

The feature works, but the eye on those things is practically blind. I find the slave function on my 460II to be one degree north of useless.