idahogoosehunter

I have a D5100 and a SB-910 and want to know how and what i need to trigger the flash externally. I have read numerous articles and I am confused. I would like to use both the flash on the camera and the Sb-910. Moist of the solutions I have seen it appears you give up the function of the flash on the camera when you use the sb-910 as an external flash unit.

I am old timer that enjoys taking good picture with good equipment. I used Nikon film cameras a flashes for years and have only transitioned to digital in the past everal years.

St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

Welcome to UHH

Bret Loc: Dayton Ohio

Hello Goosehunter and welcome to the UHH. That's the one and only thing I wish the D5100 had.....commander mode. You mite have to set your SB910 as a slave flash in manual mode and try that. Or...do what I did...ordered a set of SB910...one to use as a commander and one to use externally.

amehta Loc: Boston

The "first" flash does not have to be an SB910, it can be a cheaper speedlight, though I'm not sure exactly which models would work.

idahogoosehunter

Brett, Thank you I will consider that. I keep getting asked to take pictures at family events.

Thanks,

Idahogoosehunter

Patw28 Loc: PORT JERVIS, NY

Why not the Youngnuo flash triggers

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

TTL using the Nikon system works very well most of the time. I've even used it outside. You don't need another SB 910. The SB 800, 700 and 900 also work as commander units as well as contributing to the expoaire. The SU-800 is a commander unit only, no visable flash.

sbesaw Loc: Boston

910 is a great flash. Start on you tube by searching for "Nikon CLS" and watch some tutorials. D5100 does not have native CLS support. You can use cheap triggers but you will loose TTL (search YouTube for Nikon TTL as well) TTL works great on Nikon and I have used it on paid jobs. See if you can find a Nikon SU-800. New $240, used on ebay from $89. This will control your 910 off camera and will control any number of Nikon speedlights. I have used as many as six but it can go way higher. Only downside to this is there needs to be line of sight for units to see pre flash signal and this system can be challenged in bright sun but generally works very, very well.

Another more expensive solution is remote radio triggers that will work without requiring line of sight. After looking around I settled on Pocket Wizard 5 TTL for Nikon. Pricey at about $200 for each and you need one for camera and one for each flash. I have used the repeatedly and they have NEVER failed. I have heard that Youngo (spelling) mentioned above work well and are a lot less money. But get the TTL version as it will allow you great results while allowing you to learn manual flash.

Any questions PM me

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

You should check out any of Joe McNally's books.
http://www.amazon.com/Joe-McNally/e/B001I9N9XM
I particularly like "Sketching Light"
I attended one of his seminars a couple of months ago.
He uses the Nikon CLS system in TTL quite a bit. Sure, you can use manual (and in come cases you should), but the system works so well, why would you?

Also, if you haven't been to the Strobist website, get there pronto! Lots of great info about using remote speedlights.
http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/

pauleveritt Loc: Erie, Colorado

Check out Commander Mode on your camera. I use a D90 and a SB700 and an SB600 to create a three light set up. For $80 off of ebay, I got TWO light stands, with soft boxes, and a specialized mount to hold the two Speedlights. Put the camera in Commander Mode, switched the SB600 around 180 degrees so that sensor was on the correct side. Put both speedlights in slave mode. Click, shoot, on camera flash, and two speedlights fired in sync and NO MORE SHADOW on the backdrop. It took me about 10 minutes to read up on this and set up the flashes. Just remember to take the Speedlight OUT of slave mode when you put it back on the camera otherwise it will not work at all. OOPS!

Wall-E Loc: Phoenix, AZ

THe Nikon D3xxx and D5xxx camera bodies do NOT support Commander mode with the pop-up flash.
You can put the SB910 in 'SU4' mode (simple optical slave) and trigger from the pop-up. But no off-camera TTL without extra equipment as listed by others previously.

cidbearit Loc: Canton, MI, USA

I have the D5100, and wanted to do something similar. I couldn't justify the cost of Pocket Wizards, and after a bit of research, settled on the Trigmaster Plus 2.4G (http://www.aputure.com/Strobe-Lighting-System/). The price was right at Amazon, and they've worked well for me.

I have four, two that I use to trigger off-camera strobes, one that I use on the camera for shutter release, and the fourth that serves as my in-hand remote for the shutter. I've been very pleased with them. I have not used them at the full extent of their range, so can not say anything about their reliability outside of 40 to 50 feet.

As has been mentioned earlier, you lose TTL with the less expensive triggers, but I have not had a problem managing my strobe flashes in manual. As far as I know, you also lose flash on the camera with this setup (that was my understanding from the start, and I've not tried any different).