So, I have a Nikon D-200, 2x AlienBees 400 strobes, and an SB-800 speedlight that I wish to use in a three light setup. Can I trigger the two AlienBees (AB)and the SB-800 without pre-flashes? Yes.
There are a couple settings required on the SB-800 and the D-200, but it works well.
I had the AB’s setup and wanted to use the SB-800 as a hair or background light. Normally I shoot in Nikon’s Creative Lighting System (CLS) which provides a great way to manage speedlights off-shoe.
CLS is a communication mechanism between the camera and the speedlight(s). It uses a pre-flash that unfortunately the AlienBees see, which in turn has them fire, followed by the SB-800 firing and the camera taking the shot. End result is an unlit picture.
So, the quick and dirty of it:
- AlienBees are set to fire from the on-board flash (i.e., no sync cord or remote used)
- Camera’s built-in flash is set for manual mode (e4 set to Manual and 1/128 power, to use as the strobe/speedlight trigger)
- SB-800 is set to SU-4 mode (hold SEL button until four boxes come up, navigate to the mode icon, select SU-4)
At this point, with the camera’s built-in flash up, when it fires (at 1/128th power), both the studio lights and the SB-800 will fire at their respective power settings. The SB-800 in SU-4 mode can be set to manual, at which point the power can be set from full (1/1) to 1/128. Also, you can change the focus from 24mm – 105mm, or leave the diffuser on which sets it at 14mm.
