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<blockquote data-quote="WayneF" data-source="post: 237232" data-attributes="member: 12496">Yes, correct&nbsp; - Not in Any situation, TTL or Manual or whatever.&nbsp;&nbsp; It is a very big deal.&nbsp; &nbsp; The Nikon Commander is incompatible with regular Manual flash gear.&nbsp; It is its own very different system.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Commander puts out many command signal flashes which greatly interfere with optical slaves&nbsp; and flash meters. The internal flash door open blocks any hot shoe use, and it disables PC&nbsp; sync ports, etc.&nbsp;&nbsp; OK, some have discovered a specific loop&nbsp; hole or two, for very specific combinations/cases,&nbsp; but it is not the way you would work, and it simply is NOT the way to attempt do realistic work. We should simply choose to use one or the other system - either Commander or a real Manual flash system.&nbsp;&nbsp; The Commander system is ten years old, and is well known.Yes, you could put several flashes into one Commander Group (A, B, or C&nbsp; -&nbsp; to call all of them Group B for example).&nbsp; However, then they all flash their preflash at the same instant, and are metered together, and all receive the&nbsp; same signals (power level) and all do the same thing, in mass as a group&nbsp; (it is called a Group).&nbsp; Which is NOT individual control.&nbsp;&nbsp; No&nbsp; way to tweak any one of them individually (except their distance and modifiers).&nbsp; Might be suitable for some uses, but not for portraits.&nbsp; Normally, we want one light in each group we use, for the individual control.Joe McNally for example, favors FP flash mode (HSS) for outdoor portraits, and his videos show that he gangs 4 or 5 SB-910 in one umbrella, working as one, to get sufficient power level (back up to one regular flashes power level). That would be one group.&nbsp; All are controlled as one, all are acting as one.&nbsp; Most commanders (internal flash or SB-700 commanders) can only&nbsp; individually control two remote groups, A or B. The&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; SB-800/SB-900 and&nbsp; SU-800 can individually control three remote groups (A, B, C), but this&nbsp; is not &quot;many flashes&quot;, and not even sufficient for a standard four light&nbsp; portrait setup.&nbsp; Normally each light is in its own group, so it can be set to a different power level (for Manual flash, we use a handheld meter and Manual flash to do that - but a flash meter is not compatible with all the Commander flashing).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="WayneF, post: 237232, member: 12496"] Yes, correct - Not in Any situation, TTL or Manual or whatever. It is a very big deal. The Nikon Commander is incompatible with regular Manual flash gear. It is its own very different system. Commander puts out many command signal flashes which greatly interfere with optical slaves and flash meters. The internal flash door open blocks any hot shoe use, and it disables PC sync ports, etc. OK, some have discovered a specific loop hole or two, for very specific combinations/cases, but it is not the way you would work, and it simply is NOT the way to attempt do realistic work. We should simply choose to use one or the other system - either Commander or a real Manual flash system. The Commander system is ten years old, and is well known. Yes, you could put several flashes into one Commander Group (A, B, or C - to call all of them Group B for example). However, then they all flash their preflash at the same instant, and are metered together, and all receive the same signals (power level) and all do the same thing, in mass as a group (it is called a Group). Which is NOT individual control. No way to tweak any one of them individually (except their distance and modifiers). Might be suitable for some uses, but not for portraits. Normally, we want one light in each group we use, for the individual control. Joe McNally for example, favors FP flash mode (HSS) for outdoor portraits, and his videos show that he gangs 4 or 5 SB-910 in one umbrella, working as one, to get sufficient power level (back up to one regular flashes power level). That would be one group. All are controlled as one, all are acting as one. Most commanders (internal flash or SB-700 commanders) can only individually control two remote groups, A or B. The SB-800/SB-900 and SU-800 can individually control three remote groups (A, B, C), but this is not "many flashes", and not even sufficient for a standard four light portrait setup. Normally each light is in its own group, so it can be set to a different power level (for Manual flash, we use a handheld meter and Manual flash to do that - but a flash meter is not compatible with all the Commander flashing). [/QUOTE]

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