First question: I don't work for Adobe and for that matter, I don't even use any of their products.

We must have different thresholds for what is objectionable, rude and condescending.

Whenever someone capitalizes an entire word that is the internet equivalent of shouting which is, to me right off the bat, is rude.

When you admonish someone by stating "So your presumption that the OP is a thief is reflective of your inner feelings of guilt, not anything at all to do with him." and then continue "Next time learn some FACTS instead of trying to show the world that you googled some big, ominous sounding words and used them 100% out of context." that, to me, is both condescending and rude.

How does the poster know what his inner feelings are? How does he know he googled anything?

All of this was really unnecessary when you disagree with someone. Whether they are "facts" is not really the point. It is the tone of the message and the presentation of these "facts" that is objectionable.

No, you do NOT need Adobe's "blessings" to sell a computer with CS5 on it. The license is for the use of the software on the physical device, there is NOTHING in the license that says you cannot sell the physical device that the software is license to run on.

As Adobe themselves have stated "However we did see last week that a small number of completely genuine customers have been identified during validation and this reflects a glitch in the validation checking service."

So your presumption that the OP is a thief is reflective of your inner feelings of guilt, not anything at all to do with him.

Next time learn some FACTS instead of trying to show the world that you googled some big, ominous sounding words and used them 100% out of context.

PLEASE DON'T!

Hi Jim,

It sounds as if you have generous reasons for thinking you want to do so, but giving away your work for free is a very bad idea for a number of reasons.

First, it devalues your experience, knowledge and abilities... as well as that of every other photographer your "customers" might encounter from then on.

It also doesn't make sense for you to wear out your gear and have no means of replacing it.

Plus it unfairly undercuts other photographers in your area who are trying to make a reasonable living with their talents and a sizeable investment in gear. Ultimately, someone "giving it away free" will put others in the area out of business, which means that customers and clients will have fewer choices.

It reflects onto other service providers, too. How many clergy do you know who will conduct a wedding ceremony for free? How many free wedding gowns and cakes have you seen? Do you know any reception halls that don't charge or caterers offering free food?

Not to mention, "cheap/free customers" can be the absolute worst! Demanding and argumentative. Maybe even more likely to sue you for failure to perform. (Which they can still do, even though the work was done for free... And there you are, without insurance because you work for free!)

It sounds as if you want to "pay it forward" and that's a good thing. But you can do that while still charging a reasonable price. Mentor new photographers who want to get into the business... An important part of that will be teaching them to NOT give away their hard work and skills, wearing out the gear they've invested a lot in for no return. Teach them how to survey a marketplace and their competition, establish a business plan and analyze their cost of doing business, and establish a fair and equitable prices for their work. It's a lot like being a parent. Teach them to stand on their own and make a decent living doing what they love (unless you plan to have them live in your basement and you can afford to feed them and give them an allowance the rest of their lives.)

By all means, offer some free "introductory" classes. Limit the number of students as you see fit, depending upon the type of class. Also limit the jobs you take on to those you prefer and numbers you find comfortable (and develop a list of other photogs you can hand off jobs to, that you don't want to tackle) and keep your costs reasonable.

If you wish, donate "unwanted profits" to some worthy cause, do some charity work, and maybe some "in trade".

Just please don't think "giving it all away free" is a good thing. It's usually not!

There are places where philanthropy is a very good thing. But it must be done carefully and selectively. Otherwise, it all too easily becomes "welfare"... well-intentioned, but often quickly devolved into something that's destructive and self-perpetuating.

I had two camera bodies a while ago, a D300s and a D700. I had a SB-800 for each body and used them quite often. In January 2016, I sold both bodies and bought a near new D810. Obviously, I only need one external flash unit. But, I have been asked to take some group shots for a local NPO and thought that two light sources would be a good idea. So tonight I Googled “Best remote trigger for SB-800”. Imagine my surprise when I learned that the SB-800 has a built in slave! I had NO IDEA. I found this on “Stobist” and I am very happy to pass this on

How To Slave an SB-800
1. First, turn on your flash.
2. Now get into the submenu by pressing and holding the "sel" button for 2 seconds.
3. Arrow right (the "single tree" button) to get the upper right quadrant highlighted.
4. Push the select button again.
5. Scoll down ("-" button) until "SU-4" is highlighted.
6. Push "sel" again to select.
7. Push and hold "sel" for 2 seconds to get out of the submenu.
8. Your flash will now say "REMOTE."

You are now in SU-4 mode, a legacy, wireless, quasi-TTL mode for which the SB-800 is backward compatible. But you are not going to use it for TTL. By pressing the "mode" button you can toggle between automatic and manual. Choose manual.

By pressing the "+" or "-" buttons, you can change power in 1/3-stop increments all the way to 1/128 power.

You now have a flash that'll slave to any other flash. You want to use both in the manual mode, so they will not influence each other's output.

The "eye" of the slave is the circular optical port on the left side of the flash if you are facing the front of the flash. So you will want to rotate the flash body so the window faces the master flash.
If you use on-camera flash as the Master, make sure you set the SB-800 on manual and avoid TTL preflashes. The pickup is sensitive enough to fire from those little winks.

To exit SU-4 mode, do the following: Go into the submenu the same way as above, and scroll up to "off" from "SU-4." Hit "sel" to choose it. Press and hold "sel" for two seconds and you are back to normal.

Every SB-800 owner should know about this feature. If a flash costs as much as a car payment, you should know everything it'll do. So please help to spread the word.