Triggering studio lights with built in flash!

[scoff]

I have some wireless triggers for my lights, but tried the built in flash on recommendation the other day.
It was reduced to 1/128th power so it didnt really effect the model, seemed to work really well..

Just wondering if anyone has any goods/bad points of using this method Vs a wireless trigger?

 

[V8burble]

It is no different to your lead flash triggering the other flashes via their cells.

In most situations your studio flash will be vastly over powering your built in flash so it will have no effect on the exposure. As long as you can select a reasonable shutter speed on your camera whilst still using the flash say 1/160" (don't know your camera) so that ambient isn't allowed in to the equation at normal studio apertures f/8-f/11 say, then no problem at all... I don't have a built in flash, I use Pocket Wizzard clones (the Phottix/Interfit ones) that can also be triggered by my Sekonic meter.

 

[HoppyUK]

It works fine, but is not a very popular method because on many cameras you can't disable the pre-flash from the pop-up, with the result that the studio lights fire too early and the shutter misses everything.

But if you can switch the pop-up to full manual (no pre-flash) as you can on many Nikons and now some Canons, you're away. Some studio flash brands (Elinchrom) now have a slave which ignores the pre-flash and are designed to provide this triggering option. It'll knacker your camera battery more quickly though.

 

[scoff]

Thanks
Shooting 60D at 200-250 F8-F10 usually.

I can use fully manual flash mode, so pre-flash is eliminated.
The battery side of things is my main concern, everything else seems ok

Cheers

 

[garryg163]

Beware the preflash on some guns as its a measure for the autofocus. Caught me a treat first time as I had a group of VIPs that needed shooting in a hallway. Thank god for long synch leads!