Advice about su800 vs pocket wizard

I posted on here a few days ago about my sb910 that went all wonky on me. I took it to the shop where I bought and lucky me I had a day left on the warranty, so it's off to Nikon for repair. Down side is since I am in the Caribbean this will take longer than usual and I wont have it back until the end of July after my vacation.

So I did what any reasonable person would do and I bought an SB700 to use in the interim.

My question is do I go with the SU800 or the pocket wizard to integrate them all together? And if I go with the pocket wizard do I need a tranceiver for both speed lights?

I noticed in the pocket wizard video the guy shows only one speed light with a transceiver on it and a second speed light in slave mode that will fire due to the flash of the first. How fast will this sync to the first light? Will this configuration limit me on high speed sync situations?

I am leaning towards the pocket wizard due to the distance and line of sight issues with the SU800, but if I need 2 transceivers that adds another 2oo bucks into the total cost.

Any input is appreciated.

Yes, you need a transceiver mounted on each flash with the pocket wizard (plus the one mounted on your camera), and you will not have access to Nikon's CLS with the pocket wizard as the flashes have to be set to manual.

I have both systems and use the SU 95% of the time because you have the freedom to move around and control the flashes from the camera/SU. The only time I use the flashes with the pocket wizard is for long distances that the SU won't cover.

I think your mistaken. I use pocket wizards with my SB800 and have full I-TTL functions. I use the mini tt1 and flex tt5. I know the radio poppers dont work with CLS.

FastGlass said:

I think your mistaken. I use pocket wizards with my SB800 and have full I-TTL functions. I use the mini tt1 and flex tt5. I know the radio poppers dont work with CLS.

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I guess it depends which version of transceiver your have. I thought the pocket wizards operate as radio signals. How do you control your flash EV when using your set up? Which one is mounted on your camera? Always ready to learn something new.

BigBird... I'm confused... the D7000 has a commander mode, and the SB-700 has a remote mode... They need to be line-of-sight... that is, the camera's on-board flash needs to see the SB-700's optical sensor... but the the SB-700 can be fired from the D7000 without an SU800 or pocket wizard...

I mount the flash to the flex tt5 and mount the mini tt1 to camera. Pretty sure the mini and the flex are the only ones in pocket wizard line up to support i-ttl.
The plus does not. Could be wrong though.

FastGlass said:

I mount the flash to the flex tt5 and mount the mini tt1 to camera. Pretty sure the mini and the flex are the only ones in pocket wizard line up to support i-ttl.
The plus does not. Could be wrong though.

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I checked the pocket wizard website and I think that your setup is the only one that does support iTTL. I am still curious to know how you can up or reduce the flash EV through this setup. That's a feature that is very useful and critical in flash photography. I don't always want what the camera "thinks" is the right flash output.

I know the D7000 has a commander, but I am limited to 1/250 or 1/320 sync speed with the built in commander. I want higher sync speeds.

ohkphoto said:

I checked the pocket wizard website and I think that your setup is the only one that does support iTTL. I am still curious to know how you can up or reduce the flash EV through this setup. That's a feature that is very useful and critical in flash photography. I don't always want what the camera "thinks" is the right flash output.

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I have the flex/mini setup. If you're using the ttl function you can use an AC3 mounted on the camera txer to control output per flash. If your going manual you can use sekonic meter to set power output per flash. I have a 478dr for this purpose.

I believe all I have to do is adjust flash compensation on the camera. I'll double check in morning. Another thing I do alot is put my SB800 in A mode. Its an automatic mode that enables the flash to do the metering of the light output and adjust accordingly. Works flawlessly. You just match the aperture from the camera to the flash and it will tell you what distances you can shoot from. Like if I'm shooting using f8 then I set that value on the speedlight and it tells me I can shoot from say 2' all the way to 17'. This is awesome because I can use a canon 580ex 11 or canon users can use nikon flashes with no issue. Only problem with this setup is using light modifiers. You cannot block the little window on the speedlight that reads the light or it will not work.

O'k I played around this morning and no I cannnot adjust flash output via flash compensation on camera. I have to do it right on the flash.
The previous post was correct that in order to accomplish this, one needs to put an AC3 atop their mini.

I just tested my D7000 with a SB-600, and I can adjust flash compensation 1 full stop in 1/3 stop increments on the camera...with both the Sb-600 on and off the camera... hold the flash button while turning the front adjustment wheel... The Sb-600 is in TTL mode

FastGlass said:

O'k I played around this morning and no I cannnot adjust flash output via flash compensation on camera. I have to do it right on the flash.
The previous post was correct that in order to accomplish this, one needs to put an AC3 atop their mini.

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Interesting as I just re-read this and thought to myself that you can compensate overall flash output from the camera but need the AC3 for different zones. I will go and check.

Ok I've now tested this on my setup which was D800 in manual mode set to under expose by 1.5 stops so I could see the ambient. I had a mini on the camera and a flex on the SB900 all set for TTL. I tried a shot with the flash comp at 0 and I got a nicely exposed shot as TTL did its job. I then tried -3 and +1. The results are very dark and a bit bright as expected. The AC3 is needed when you use two flexes and want flash ratios. I'm going to pick up an AC3 as they are quite cheap and I've played with one already.

Note that if you're in a trigger only or ignore camera mode the compensation won't work.

Thank you all for trying this out. This is something that I have been wondering about. While not really critical with using only one off camera flash, it is with a multi flash setup. It seems that with the pocket wizard setup, to get the same capability as a Nikon in commander mode, or with an SU mounted, you need not only a transceiver on the camera, another one on each flash you use and the AC3 zone controller.

You are correct. In fairness my mini and two flex units cost £450 in the UK. The AC3 is only £60. I intend to use a meter to control the flash manually when I can but I think ttl is probably better for any fast moving thing like a wedding.

When I tried to adjust flash compensation with the command dial while holding the compensation button. all shots looked the same. I assumed it didn't work. Of course the environment wasn't the best so perhaps i'll try again.

bigbird said:

I know the D7000 has a commander, but I am limited to 1/250 or 1/320 sync speed with the built in commander. I want higher sync speeds.

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Correct me if I am wrong but to my knowledge the D7000 with SB700/SB910 will sync up to 1/8000th using AutoFP. I use it regularly with my D300 and SB900/SB910.

simonhodge said:

Correct me if I am wrong but to my knowledge the D7000 with SB700/SB910 will sync up to 1/8000th using AutoFP. I use it regularly with my D300 and SB900/SB910.

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You are correct if you are using a compatible speedlight. I know the internal only does about 1/250.

Evening guys.
On this subject; I'm hoping you can help me out too
On my previous Pentax's, there was zero options for wireless TTL. If you wanted wireless, it's full manual or nothing. (Mind you P-TTL isn't worth wasting your time on anyway).
But, in the this wonderful new world on Nikon, I'm getting a bit lost. I use off-camera flashes every now and again for some home studio stuff. Usually two flashes.
There seems to be 3 ways to go...
Using 'Commander mode' and a good Nikon flash (I have a 910). I've played with this, but no matter what I do the onboard flash ruins the exposure.
Using triggers (eg Pocket Wizards/Yonguon 622's). I'm assuming these work just like the manual triggers (CowboyStudios) I used on the Pentax (I actually used them the other day with the D800) except they pass thru TTL info to the flashes. But I cant seem to find where you set the group exposure compensations? Does the camera going into 'commander' when using these?
The last, and where I'm really lost, is the SU-800. As far as I can tell, this does the same as the built-in 'commander mode' without having the pop-up flash ruin the exposure??

Cheers guys.