I recently purchased 2 of Elinchrom BX400 strobes and I do have 2 SB-900 units before that. Originally what I wanted to do was to use two strobes on the subject and one of SB-900 on camera(D700) as Master, and the other SB-900 as Slave hitting white background behind the subject. The BX400 units have optical light sensor so that it fires when there's other flash going off.
I set the SB-900 master to lowest power setting and Slave unit to FULL power. When I test shoot with this setting, everything fires at once, but the image doesn't seem to register lights from BX400 strobes. I only see background lit with subject really dark. I cranked up the BX400 to full power, but nothing changes in image lighting. So I think the BX400 is registering later than SB-900 lights Do I need to use Skyport units instead? Or settings in the camera
I have no idea at this point. Any suggestions from pros and experts in this field?
Ted has the right answer, but to go a little further. Studio lighting is a manual operation except for systems like the Elinchrom RX. You cannot use features like Nikon's CLS in combination with a studio strobe. You will need to use your SB-900's in SU-4 mode. You could use them as a key light but I find they are better used as background, hair, etc. lights. You will have to adjust the exposxure output manually.
If you hold the center button the the SB-900 down a couple of seconds that will take you into the menu. Choose the wireless option (check your manual). You can then choose from several options like Remote, Commander, Manual, SU-4, etc. Choose SU-4. This will allow you to operate your SB-900 completely manual and trigger it from the light it sees from your Elinchrom's. Basically it's the same as having a built in slave (which it is) like the ones in your BX-400's. You will need to meter or guess the expossure ouput just as you would the studio strobes.
on a side note: the brand new elinchrom 250 & 500 BX Ri flashes can be programmed to ignore one, two or more pre flashes - automatically recognizing that even.
Gregg Heckler wrote:
If you hold the center button the the SB-900 down a couple of seconds that will take you into the menu. Choose the wireless option (check your manual). You can then choose from several options like Remote, Commander, Manual, SU-4, etc. Choose SU-4. This will allow you to operate your SB-900 completely manual and trigger it from the light it sees from your Elinchrom's. Basically it's the same as having a built in slave (which it is) like the ones in your BX-400's. You will need to meter or guess the expossure ouput just as you would the studio strobes....Show more →
It's been a long day and I didn't have time to read this reply. I wish I did. Setting the SB900 in manual mode didn't do the trick at the shoot, so I just used 400BXs for today, but I just did what you said, and yes, there is SU-4 option. (Now, this is why it's so important to read manual. ^_^) I'll test this setup tomorrow. Hope it works.
danceswithfrog wrote:
on a side note: the brand new elinchrom 250 & 500 BX Ri flashes can be programmed to ignore one, two or more pre flashes - automatically recognizing that even.
I'm too late for that now. I wasn't aware of those models then. But thanks for the info.
Do I need to use Skyport units instead? Or settings in the camera