Su800

[Uncle Frank]

A tip of the hat to Gordon (Greyflash) and others who helped me figure out what the SU800 is all about. I use on-camera flash a lot, but have shied away from multiple flash wireless CLS because it seemed complicated, and involved a number of bright control flashes that are distracting. But the SU800 makes the setup easy, and the control flashes are mostly infra-red, virtually unnoticeable. Oh, and the SU800 is very lightweight compared to an SB800.

I picked up the SU800 yesterday, and tried it out with some very difficult subjects... glass items. If you've ever tried to shoot glass with an on-camera flash, you know it's almost impossible to get a good result.

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Can't wait to try it out on people. And since the SU800 can control 3 groups, I'm going to buy an SB600 for a hair light.

 

[greyflash]

Hey that is super Frank, the SU800 is a fine piece of gear and you are already putting it to good use. Your glassware shots above demo the value of getting your flash off camera and you will realize the same thing with people that wear glasses. Congratulations on your purchase and good luck as you find the value in people photography. By the way, I also use the SB600 as a hairlight. Put it on manual and adjust it accordingly from the SU800. How fun.

 

[genehsu]

I believe you can control 2 groups with your D200. The D70 can only control 1 group. If you need more varied control, you can always put your SB800's in SU-4 (optical slave) mode and set the flash output manually. The problem with using the on-camera flash as the trigger is that the reflection can be seen in reflective surfaces, such as the glass in the product shots. Then you can use a piece of exposed film or the fancy schmancy SG-3IR to block the visible light from the on camera flash.

 

[dmwphoto]

Frank
Glad you saw the "light". The SU-800 is a really user friendly way to maximize the CLS system. Your 2 test images above are great. Cant wait to see what else you can do with it.
Dave

 

[Uncle Frank]

I believe you can control 2 groups with your D200. The D70 can only control 1 group.

If you use an SU800 as the Commander, I believe you can control 3 groups, no matter if you're using a d70 or a d200.

 

[genehsu]

If you use an SU800 as the Commander, I believe you can control 3 groups, no matter if you're using a d70 or a d200.

Yes, I agree. I should have been more clear. I believe those limitations are without a SU-800 or an on-camera (or tethered) SB-800.

 

[airbiscuit]

The SU-800 is surely a nice piece of "hardware".

I'm ordering mine soon after I got my SB-800s. Then when it comes to shooting at the stage at my school hall its going to be guns blazing erm I mean flash :biggrin:

 

[Uncle Frank]

I tried out SU800 CLS on some flowers yesterday afternoon. I don't usually care for the results of mixing flash and blossoms, but using two flash heads off-camera made quite a bit of difference. I used an SB800 with a soft box from frame left, and another SB800 to the right bounced off the white ceiling.

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I had an opportunity to use the same setup for some people later in the day, as Nancy and I played in a Texas Hold'em tournament at a local eatery. Here's some CLS shots of the desperados trying to take Nancy's chips at the final table...

Steve the Counter, always figuring out pot odds.
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Dangerous Deb, sucking out on the river again!
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And Alex... always on the attack.
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It looked pretty grim for Nancy for a while. Her stack of chips was shrinking dangerously after a couple of bad beats.
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But when the the fat lady sang, she was the only one standing!
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Note: I used the little mounting plates on the SB800s, and placed them on tables and counters rather than setting up light stands. Sometimes I held the main flash in my left hand, arm fully extended, and operated the camera one handed. I still have to work this out.

 

[Jez]

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So now we know what you smell like too.... :biggrin:

Glad to hear your enjoying the SU800 experience - I love it!