sk66
Advertiser
- Messages
- 9,842
- Name
- Steven
- Edit My Images
- Yes
I recently acquired a pretty complete Nikon V2 kit but it didn't have an accessory flash... The Nikon 1 series uses a proprietary flash shoe that nothing but their 1 series flashes will work with, and they are pretty small/weak. The newer SB-N7 doesn't tilt/swivel, and the older SB-N5 is smaller/weaker. I considered buying one but thought I'd try something else.
So I bought a PC sync cable and an optical trigger online for a total cost of about $8.
Frame 1 shows the trigger and the guts out of it... the PC board is square and almost the size of the case. It sits loose inside with a piece of foam rubber holding it in placed. The back popped of just by squeezing with pliers, snip two little wires, done.
Frame 2 shows the PC board after I reworked the board and trimmed off the excess removing about 1/3 of the board. I relocated some connections to other open spots in the circuit in order to get it as flat as possible and make the portion of the used board smaller. I moved the sensor to the opposite side of the board (it's particular to polarity, I didn't think it would be) and I folded the capacitor and got everything as flat as I could.
Frame 3 shows the PC cable wired in.
Frame 4 shows it glued into the cover I made out of a scrap of kydex (heat formable plastic) that I had lying around. I made it so as to snap onto the V2's pop-up flash. The cable sheathing is superglued in across the top, the board is glued in with heavy duty contact cement.
Frames 5a/b show it installed on the camera and connected to my SB800 and my pixel king pro... The pro allows me to remotely control 3 groups of flashes as well as triggering. Everything is connected together with a cheap little "flash bracket" I acquired somewhere... I've seen them in many stores for less than $10.
I chose to go this route for several reasons.. It allows me to use the PKpro/SB800, it allows me to block the popup flash, it allows me to use the V2 flash at minimum power setting (the V2 eats batteries), it saves me $150 on a crappy little flash, and just to see if I could figure it out....
It works a treat! Of course, it somewhat defeats the point of the V2 as far as size/weight goes.
Off Camera Lighting with Nikon V2 by skersting66, on Flickr
So I bought a PC sync cable and an optical trigger online for a total cost of about $8.
Frame 1 shows the trigger and the guts out of it... the PC board is square and almost the size of the case. It sits loose inside with a piece of foam rubber holding it in placed. The back popped of just by squeezing with pliers, snip two little wires, done.
Frame 2 shows the PC board after I reworked the board and trimmed off the excess removing about 1/3 of the board. I relocated some connections to other open spots in the circuit in order to get it as flat as possible and make the portion of the used board smaller. I moved the sensor to the opposite side of the board (it's particular to polarity, I didn't think it would be) and I folded the capacitor and got everything as flat as I could.
Frame 3 shows the PC cable wired in.
Frame 4 shows it glued into the cover I made out of a scrap of kydex (heat formable plastic) that I had lying around. I made it so as to snap onto the V2's pop-up flash. The cable sheathing is superglued in across the top, the board is glued in with heavy duty contact cement.
Frames 5a/b show it installed on the camera and connected to my SB800 and my pixel king pro... The pro allows me to remotely control 3 groups of flashes as well as triggering. Everything is connected together with a cheap little "flash bracket" I acquired somewhere... I've seen them in many stores for less than $10.
I chose to go this route for several reasons.. It allows me to use the PKpro/SB800, it allows me to block the popup flash, it allows me to use the V2 flash at minimum power setting (the V2 eats batteries), it saves me $150 on a crappy little flash, and just to see if I could figure it out....
It works a treat! Of course, it somewhat defeats the point of the V2 as far as size/weight goes.
Off Camera Lighting with Nikon V2 by skersting66, on Flickr
