HELP! Triggering external lights with D90

[wonderer]

So i bought the Interfit 150 kit as im starting out with the basics of studio lighting,got myself a white backdrop,all ready to start experimenting.

Then realised i can only trigger the lights with the pop up flash. I have three lights in all and they all fire when the pop up flash goes off but the image is still exposed as if the on camera flash is the only light source used. Is this because the image has been taken a split second BEFORE the 3 flash heads go off?

Am i correct in thinking the D90 has no socket to connect the sync cord that came with the interfit kit and that the only way to connect the D90 is with a hotshoe radio trigger?

Or is there a way to sync the interfit kit when using the on board flash to trigger them?

Or is my brain going to explode trying? :bang:

 

[Mr Mike]

So i bought the Interfit 150 kit as im starting out with the basics of studio lighting,got myself a white backdrop,all ready to start experimenting.

Then realised i can only trigger the lights with the pop up flash. I have three lights in all and they all fire when the pop up flash goes off but the image is still exposed as if the on camera flash is the only light source used. Is this because the image has been taken a split second BEFORE the 3 flash heads go off?

Am i correct in thinking the D90 has no socket to connect the sync cord that came with the interfit kit and that the only way to connect the D90 is with a hotshoe radio trigger?

Or is there a way to sync the interfit kit when using the on board flash to trigger them?

Or is my brain going to explode trying? :bang:

Regarding the built in flash, in commander mode set it to --, it will then only flash to fire the remote flashes and this will NOT be seen in the shot.

 

[Flash In The Pan]

Am i correct in thinking the D90 has no socket to connect the sync cord that came with the interfit kit and that the only way to connect the D90 is with a hotshoe radio trigger?

Or is there a way to sync the interfit kit when using the on board flash to trigger them?

Or is my brain going to explode trying? :bang:

The reason your lights are going off before the camera takes the shot is because they are being triggered by the ttl pre-flash of the D90 onboard.

You can change this in the flash menu just to give a single triggering flash that won't (in theory) add to the exposure, or alternatively you can add a hotshoe-pc socket to the D90 for around £8-10.

 

[wonderer]

Regarding the built in flash, in commander mode set it to --, it will then only flash to fire the remote flashes and this will NOT be seen in the shot.

Thanks for the reply. I changed the flash setting to commander mode and -- but the exposure is darker now the onboard flash is not taken into account. The interfit lights are still going off before/after the picture is taken?

How can i get the camera to register the flash from the 3 heads during the exposure?

 

[Flash In The Pan]

Thanks for the reply. I changed the flash setting to commander mode and -- but the exposure is darker now the onboard flash is not taken into account. The interfit lights are still going off before/after the picture is taken?

That's because you've got the onboard flash set to either ttl or commander, it needs to be in manual mode. All of this is in your D90 manual.....

 

[Richard King]

best and cheapest way.. buy some poverty wizzards on ebay

 

[HoppyUK]

best and cheapest way.. buy some poverty wizzards on ebay

That is the best option. Such as a set of Yongnuo RF-602 tiggers from FlashInThePan above - check his For Sale thread. You only need one on any of the flash heads, and the other heads will fire off that via their built-in optical slaves.

You can do it by disabling the pre-flash in full manual mode, as FITP described, or you could do it with the sync cable you've got using a hot shoe PC adapter £10 from Jessops, but the cheap radio trigger route is favourite.

What you are doing at the moment is disabling the main flash, so it doesn't affect the exposure, but leaving the commander pre-flash on to control the remote TTL guns (which you haven't got) but that pre-flash is triggering the studio lights ahead of shutter sync, as you suspect.