Canon & Nikon Flash query!!

[J4MIE_P]

Hi There Everyone,

I have a difficult question to ask and thought I would ask you for your ideas.

I currently have a Canon 400D with 580EX MKI and 430EX MKII

If I was to use the 580 on-camera, and the 430EX as a slave, my question is can I use a Nikon flash as a third?

I know that Nikon flashes work on Master/Slave, but they are also optically triggered, are they not?

So if I was to borrow someone's Nikon flash aswell as my own, would the Nikon flash work?

Sorry if it's a bit random, but my mate can hire free Nikon flashes from Uni, and wanted to know if i could use them without renting out the Nikon camera too.

And no "Why dont u buy a Nikon camera jokes please guys "

 

[TheBionicDan]

Yep, you can set the Nikon flash to su-4 dumb slave and it should fire in response to the Canon flash units.

That will certainly work with the SB600/800/900 anyway!

 

[J4MIE_P]

WOOP Thanks for the super fast reply aswell

Thing is, would there be a delay? As I know if i use my 430, and optically trigger my studio flashes they are too slow to respond before the shot is taken.

 

[TheBionicDan]

Shouldn't be. I quite often trigger SB800's and 900's in SU-4 mode from studio flash with no problems whatsoever. This is just my experience with them but I'm sure someone will be along in a moment to shoot me down

S'pose you might have to watch out for preflash from the Canon units?? If the Nikon units are free then best thing is to give it a go eh!

 

[J4MIE_P]

haha
Thanks for all your help
Just to clarify, Canon's can not be optically triggered can they?

 

[itsdavedotnet]

canons can be optically triggered if you pick up one of these:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.8201

what'll have been causing the issues for you is the preflashes on the flashes that are in TTL mode. bung them into manual and there'll be no real delay

 

[specialman]

You could go for an SB24/25/26/80DX with an optical slave built-in. They'll trigger off any flash that fires.