SB900 trigger help

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paulminus273

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I think I posted this on the wrong forum before anyway
I have use a couple of the cheap flash guns off camera with rf602 triggers but now an old friend has given me 2 SB900’s . I would like to try out the cls and I know that I can use the pop up flash on the d90 to control the sb900’s but
A in bright sun IR is not that reliable
B on camera flash is not that desirable to me
So in order to use cls I could use pw radio triggers, expensive or I could use an Nikon cable to control one much cheaper.
The question is can I get a cable system to control both
Thanks for any help you may be ale to give
 
With TTL, no

with sync leads, yes, but you might as well just use rf602s.
 
CLS is fine indoors or for shade/overcast skies (so great for up here :lol:), but for it to work with any sense of reliability in sunshine the trigger (in your case the D90 onboard) and the receiver ports on the SB900s need to be in the shade.

That's not to say you can't use CLS in bright sun, it just means you need to think carefully about where you position everything.
 
As I understand it there is a lead that will control one of camera and still give me the cls
But if I can only use them with rf602s they are no more use than the cheap ebay ones at 1/20 the price
 
Maybe forget the pop-up and put one SB900 on a dedicated cord as commander for the second gun? A lot of the problem with IR triggering is line of sight when the pop-up doesn't give you much scope, and the fact that often the camera is quite a distance from the guns. On a cord, you can put the commander flash right in amongst the action, and usually get it both close and in line of sight for reliable triggering.

It's iTTL/CLS, but with just two flash guns operating - enough for a lot of things. If you go RF-602, you'll lose the pop-up anyway.
 
Thank you for the input, I would never have paid that much for flash guns ( the 2 would cost more than I paid for my first dslr and lens) but having all whistling and dancing guns it would be nice to try using all the clever bits and I don’t like pop up flash anyway (the light is in the wrong place most of the time) so the cable route looks like the best option.
I have been using rf602 triggers on my cheap guns and my studio flashes if I am not impressed with the sb900 I may well sell them nad get a better lens or something
 
I'm sorry but I don't understand what you're trying to do. As such some of the following may not be helpful but.....

1. The pop up on a D90 will control 2 X SB900s. I believe it also supports different groups so you could have one as TTL, one as manual etc. You can control the power etc from camera and also use high speed sync. Range will be limited due to the power of the pop up - especially if it's sunny.

2. You could use one SB900 on camera to control the other off camera (and either use 1 or 2 of them in the exposure). Again, HSS, remote control etc. Range will be much further and even on a sunny day you can (with care) use them fairly reliably.

3. You could buy an SU800 and do everything you can in 1 but at greater range and a little more easily.

4. You could buy an SC17/18/29 cable (check because there are some differences and I get confused), put one of the SB900s at the end of it and do any of the cool tricks above. I know people who use an SU800 on an SB29 to very good effect.

5. You MAY be able to use an SC29 to one flash gun and an SC19 to the other and run both cabled in TTL (it gets quite complicated - some combos don't support TTL).

6. You could get the (brand new) Pocket Wizard mini and Flex kit and do all this cool stuff via radio instead of light.

None of those can be sone with cheap eBay ones at 1/20 the price ;)

Or you can do as I did last night, whack them on RF602 and use them as dumb lights :)

street-style-bts.jpg
 
Thanks for the help Jonathan
I have been using cheap ebay guns with rf602 triggers so the sb900 would be wasted.
1 don’t like popup :- limited range and the time I would want hss is on a sunny day and prefer ocf
2 again I prefer ocf
3 and 6 I have used my kit budget upgrading to a d90
4 Is better
5 would be the answer if I can get it to work
 
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