Using a Cobra and speed light flash together??

[CJGrip]

Hi,

Can anyone help me with a flash problem Im having?

I have a Nikon D200 and a SB 700 Speedlight flash which all works fine. I also have from an old kit a Cobra 440AF flash which I thought Id try and use for a second fill flash. The Cobra works when I put it on the hot shoe of the camera fine.

However, when I attach it to a slave trigger that I already have, the flash doesn't sync with the speed light, which I understand is because the speed light remote system works from a pre trigger and therefore on a different system than the cobra+slave trigger.

The question is...Can I get another form of slave trigger that will make it work to the speed light system?? Would love to make this flash work as money doesn't grow on trees!

Thanks


Chris

 

[NikkiA]

Hi,

The question is...Can I get another form of slave trigger that will make it work to the speed light system?? Would love to make this flash work as money doesn't grow on trees!

There are 'smart' optical triggers out there that can be set to ignore a pre-flash. But to be blunt, they're more expensive than the mid-price radio triggers, so you'd be better off using radio triggers really.

You could also just use a longish PC cable from the PC sync socket, if you don't mind being tethered.

 

[CJGrip]

Thankyou for your answer.

I tried a pc cable which didn't work: but I have a feeling it might be the cable or the adapter for it as it didn't work on either flash. Was going to try getting a new one of theses to try: how ever would be handy to be wireless.

Maybe a radio trigger then. Would that mean getting two receivers and working my speed light through the radio trigger as well? Or would I run the speed light on its own remote system and the just the cobra flash on the radio trigger?

And would any radio trigger work or do I need to get a particular type?

 

[NikkiA]

Thankyou for your answer.

I tried a pc cable which didn't work: but I have a feeling it might be the cable or the adapter for it as it didn't work on either flash. Was going to try getting a new one of theses to try: how ever would be handy to be wireless.

Maybe a radio trigger then. Would that mean getting two receivers and working my speed light through the radio trigger as well? Or would I run the speed light on its own remote system and the just the cobra flash on the radio trigger?

And would any radio trigger work or do I need to get a particular type?

Most of the newer triggers have a TTL pass thru, so you can leave one on top of the transmitter, and get TTL on that, but also trigger the other flash via radio (which will be a manual setting, as it would have been with the optical trigger).

A transmitter/receiver pair would do the job, if you went with, for example, the Yongnuo RF-603 then each unit is a transmitter or receiver, depending on where you connect it.

Adding a 3rd unit would give you some more flexibility of course as you could remote trigger both flashes.

As for getting a special one? The really cheap radio triggers on ebay (with brands like 'iShoot' and such) don't have TTL pass thru, so you'd lose the ability to use the flash that way. The yongnuo's (RF-602 and RF-603) both have pass-thru, the 603 is newer and is based on the units being multi-purpose, whereas the 602 needs a special transmitter and receiver pair. There are a few 'UK' vendors on ebay that have RF-603 2-unit kits with the N1 cable for about £20. 3-unit kits are harder to find UK sources for, but if time isn't an issue you can find plenty of HK vendors that will sell them. You can always just buy 2 2-unit kits for 4 units of course.

Other brands like Pixel and such also have triggers that will do the same job, just make sure it's not one of the cheap ones (if you can see a picture of the foot on the transmitter, and it has TTL connectors, then you should be ok).

You'll most certainly want one with the 'N1' connection, which is the 10-pin remote connector on the d200.

 

[CJGrip]

Thankyou so much for your answer.

That is a lot of help and answers all of my questions.


Great!