As I mentioned in the last chapter, one of the chief objections to the use of electronic flash is the stark, flat look of direct/on-camera flash, as you can see in Figure 10.1. But as flash wizard Joe McNally, author of The Hotshoe Diaries, has proven, small flash units can produce amazingly creative images when used properly.

An on-camera flash is useful for fill light or as a master flash to trigger other units; the real key to effective flash photography is to get the flash off the camera, so its illumination can be used to paint your subject in interesting and subtle ways from a variety of angles.

Of course, often, using a cable to liberate your external flash from the accessory shoe isn’t enough. Nor is the use of just a single electronic flash always the best solution; two or more units can be combined in interesting ways to sculpt with light. What we have really needed is a way to trigger one—or more—flash units wirelessly, giving us the freedom to place the electronic flash anywhere in the scene and, if our budgets and time allow, to work in this mode with multiple flashes.

Nikon shooters have long had wireless flash capabilities, ever since the creation of the Nikon Creative Lighting System, described in Chapter 9. Like the i-TTL exposure system, the Advanced Wireless Lighting (AWL) system uses pre-flashes that fire before the main exposure to transmit triggering and exposure information to external flash units that aren’t actually connected to the D500. Depending on whether you’re using the SB-5000 or one of the older flash units, you may be able to divide multiple flash units into as many as three different “groups” (six with the SB-5000) and communicate with them using your choice of any of up to four “channels” (to avoid interference from other Nikon photographers within range of your flash units who might be using the same channel).

Figure 10.1 On-camera flash is often harsh and unflattering.

It’s not possible to cover every aspect of wireless flash in one chapter. There are too many permutations involved. For example, you can use external flash like the SB-700 or SB-5000, an SU-800 wireless trigger, or a PocketWizard-type device as the master. You may have one external “slave” flash, or use several. It’s possible to control all your wireless flash units as if they were one multi-headed flash, or you can allocate them into “groups” that can be managed individually. You may select one of four “channels” to communicate with your strobes. These are all aspects that you’ll want to explore as you become used to working with the D500’s wireless capabilities.

What I hope to do in this chapter is provide the introduction to the basics so that you’ll have the information you need to understand the step-by-step instructions for your particular Speedlight using the detailed manual supplied with the unit. Once you learn how to operate the D500’s wireless capabilities, you can then embark on your own exploration of the possibilities.

Elements of Wireless Flash

Here are some of the key concepts to electronic flash and wireless flash that I’ll be describing in this chapter:

• Master flash. The master is the flash (or other device) that commands each of the additional flashes when using Commander mode.
• Remote flashes. For wireless operation, you need at least one more flash unit in addition to the master.
• Channels. Nikon’s wireless flash system offers users the ability to determine on which of four possible channels the flash units can communicate.
• Groups. Nikon’s wireless flash system lets you designate multiple flash units in separate groups (as many as three groups). You can then have flash units in one group fire at a different output than flash units in another group. This lets you create different styles of lighting for portraits and other shots.
• Lighting ratios. You can control the power of multiple off-camera Speedlights to adjust each unit’s relative contribution to the image, for more dramatic portraits and other effects.
• Control system. The SB-5000, whether used alone or with other flashes, can use either the existing optical/infrared control system deployed with earlier Speedlights or the newer radio control offered with this flash and the WR-R10 radio trigger.

Master Flash

The master flash is the commander that tells all the other units in a setup what to do, including when to fire, and at what intensity. It communicates with your D500, and then, when the firing parameters are determined by the camera (or you, manually), passes along the information to the individual remote flash units.

Your master can be one of the following:

• An external flash with Commander capabilities. Use a Nikon SB-5000, SB-910, SB-700, SB-500, or compatible earlier units to communicate with the remote Speedlights using optical or, with the SB-5000, radio control. When used as a master flash, the external strobe must be physically connected to the D500. You can mount the flash on the camera’s accessory hot shoe, or mount it on a cable, such as the SC-28 or SC-29, and then connect the other end of the cable to the D500’s accessory shoe. (See Figure 10.2.) The master flash can be set so that it does or does not contribute to the exposure, although, because it can be used off-camera, the latter mode offers more advantages.
• The Nikon SU-800. This device is an expensive non-flash (about $340) that does nothing but serve as an optical commander for CLS-compatible flash units (see Figure 10.3). It mounts on the hot shoe of the camera and emits infrared signals (rather than monitor pre-flashes) to trigger the remote flash units. It otherwise functions exactly like a “real” master flash, communicating to groups of Speedlights over the same channels, and allowing i-TTL exposure control. It has two main uses. One application is as a commander for Nikon’s wireless “macro” lights, the SB-R200 units. In that mode, it’s ideal for any Nikon dSLR, as it serves as a trigger for models without a built-in flash, such as the D500, D5, D4, D4s, D3, D3s, or D3x, and some earlier models. It’s also a more convenient close-range substitute for an attached master because it emits no light to cast shadows.

  I like to use my SU-800 for off-camera flash with no need to fuss with a cable connection or camera-mounted master flash unit. The owl shown at left in Figure 10.4 was perched on the limb of a fir tree, deep in shade. For the shot at right in the figure, a helper held my SB-910 flash eight feet off to the left while I concentrated on catching the bird’s reactions. The SU-800’s infrared control has an impressive 66-foot range under these conditions (that is, not under direct sunlight). It helped me capture the little owl using the off-camera flash (which provided a nice catchlight in the creature’s eye) as the primary illumination.

• Nikon WR-R10. When working with the SB-5000 in radio control mode, this device, plugged into the 10-pin connector on the front of the camera, can serve as a master controller. Unless you purchased your unit very recently, you may need to send your unit in to Nikon for a firmware upgrade to Version 3.00 to allow flash control. The firmware upgrade cannot be performed by the user.
• Compatible third-party triggering devices. These include models from PocketWizard and Radio Popper. The advantage of these devices is that, unlike the optical system used by Nikon’s CLS products (limited to about 30 feet), third-party devices use radio control to extend your remote “reach” to as far as 1,500 feet or more. Their transmitters/receivers can work in concert with your own master flash, which controls the remote flashes normally when they’re in range, with the radio control taking over when the transmitter senses that the remote flash isn’t responding to the master’s instructions.

Figure 10.2 An external flash can be used as an off-camera master when connected to a cable that links it to the camera.

Figure 10.3 The Nikon SU-800 can serve as a master unit.

Figure 10.4 A flash can provide the predominant illumination outdoors in the shade.

Remote Flashes

To use the Advanced Wireless System, you’ll want to work with at least one remote, or slave flash unit. You can use units that are compatible with CLS or, with the (now discontinued) SU-4 accessory, other Speedlights. The remote flash for optical control can be any unit compatible with the Creative Lighting System, including the current SB-5000, SB-910, and SB-700, or simpatico discontinued models, such as the SB-900, SB-800, or SB-600. (Of these, the SB-600 can’t function as a master flash on its own.) You’ll need to set the auxiliary Speedlights to remote mode. For radio control mode, at this writing only the SB-5000 is compatible as a remote.

Channels

Channels are the discrete lines of communication used by the master flash to communicate with each of the remote units. The pilots, ham radio operators, or scanner listeners among you can think of the channels as individual communications frequencies.

If you’re working alone, you’ll seldom have to fuss with channels. Just remember that all the Speedlights you’ll be triggering must be using the same channel, exactly like a CB radio or walkie-talkie. (Google these terms if you’re younger than 40.) If every flash isn’t set for the same channel, they will be unable to “talk” to each other, good buddy. I’ll show you how to adjust channels shortly.

The channel ability is most important when you’re working around other photographers who are also using the same Nikon CLS system. Each photographer sets his or her flash units to a different channel as to not accidentally trigger other users’ strobes. (At big events with more than four photographers using Nikon flash, you may need to negotiate.) Don’t worry about Canon or Sony photographers at the same event. Their wireless flash systems use different communication systems that won’t interfere with yours.

It’s always a good idea to double-check your flash units before you set them up to make sure they’re all set to the same channel, and this should also be one of your first troubleshooting questions if a flash doesn’t fire the first time you try to use it wirelessly.

Groups

Each flash unit can be assigned to one of three groups, labeled A, B, and C. The SB-5000 has additional groups, D, E, and F. All the flashes in a particular group perform together as if they were one big flash, using the same output level and flash compensation values. That means you can control the relative intensity of flashes in each group, compared to the intensity of flashes assigned to a different group. A particular group needs at least one flash unit, but can have more.

For example, you could assign one (or more) flash to Group A, and use it as the main light in your setup. Group B could be used as the fill light, and Group C designated as a hair or background light. The power output of each group could be set individually, so your main light(s) in Group A might be two or three times as intense as the light(s) in Group B (used for fill), while another power level could be set for the Group C auxiliary lights. You don’t have to use all three groups, but it is an option.

But there’s a lot more you can do if you’ve splurged and own two or more compatible external flash units (some photographers I know own five or six Nikon Speedlights). Nikon wireless photography lets you collect individual strobes into groups, and control all the Speedlights within a given group together. You can operate as few as two strobes in two groups or three strobes in three groups, while controlling more units if desired. You can also have them fire at equal output settings versus using them at different power ratios. Setting each group’s strobes to different power ratios gives you more control over lighting for portraiture and other uses.

This is one of the more powerful options of the Nikon wireless flash system. I prefer to keep my Speedlights set to different groups normally. I can always set the power ratio to 1:1 if I want to operate the flash units all at the same power. If I change my mind and need to make adjustments, I can just change the wireless flash controller and then be able to manipulate the different groups’ output as desired.

Remember that with whatever equipment you are using, outdoors if you are using optical triggering, you must have a clear line-of-sight between the master flash or SU-800 unit and sensors on the front of the slave flash units. Indoors, this requirement isn’t as critical because the pre-flash and IR signals bounce off walls and other surroundings. Radio control has a longer 98-foot (30 meter) range.

Lighting Ratios

Lighting ratios are the relative proportions of the illumination among the groups, as I just described. To get the most from the CLS system, you’ll want to understand how ratios work. That’s a topic that deserves a chapter of its own, but many Nikon D500 owners will already be familiar with the concept. If not, there are plenty of good books and online tutorials available.

Setting Your Master Flash

Nikon’s wireless flash system gives you a number of advantages that include the ability to use directional lighting, which can help bring out detail or emphasize certain aspects of the picture area. It also lets you operate multiple strobes (although most of us won’t own more than two Nikon Speedlights). You can set up complicated portrait or location lighting setups. Since the top-of-the-line Nikon SB-5000 (and former champ SB-910) pump out a lot of light for a shoe mount flash, a set of these units can give you near studio-quality lighting. Of course, the cost of these high-end Speedlights approaches that of some studio monolights—but the Nikon battery-powered units are more portable and don’t require an external AC power source.

This chapter builds on the information in Chapter 9 and shows how to take advantage of the D500’s wireless capabilities. While it may seem complicated at first, it really isn’t. Learning the D500’s controls takes a lot of effort, and once you get the hang of it, you’ll be able to make changes quickly.

Since it’s necessary to set up both the camera and the strobes for wireless operation, this guide will help you with both, starting with prepping the camera. To configure your camera for wireless flash, just follow these steps. (I’m going to condense them a bit, because many of these settings have been introduced in previous chapters.) I’m going to assume that you’re using an external flash connected to the D500 as a master strobe.

Setting Commander Mode for the SB-5000

If you’re using an SB-5000 as your Master flash, setting it for Commander mode can be done using the Flash Control entry in the Photo Shooting menu. Just follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the Flash Control entry. As with all menu functions, you can press OK or press the right directional button to select this and the following entries.
2. In the Flash Control screen, select the Wireless Flash Options choice, shown at left in Figure 10.5.
3. In the next screen, shown at right in Figure 10.5, select Optical AWL.
4. Next, select Remote Flash Control, as seen in Figure 10.6, left.
5. Select Group Flash from the screen shown in Figure 10.6, right.
6. From the screen shown in Figure 10.7, left, select Group Flash Options.
7. You will need to specify a group, mode, output level, and channel for each flash. Entries are shown in Figure 10.7, right. Master sets the current flash as a Commander. Group A, Group B, and Group C controls specify a Group for the current flash. (We’re using Optical control here; for Radio control, there are six different groups, including D, E, and F.)
8. Mode. Choose from TTL, AA, M, or --. If you select -- for any flash or Group, that flash or Group will not contribute to the exposure. (For example, you can set your Master Commander flash to -- and it will trigger other flashes wirelessly, but will not emit a burst during the exposure.)
9. Output level. For each flash or group, you can specify flash exposure compensation (for TTL mode), or flash power level (for M mode).
10. Channel. Specify a Channel, selecting from available channels numbered 1–4. (Not all Nikon flashes can use all four channels.)

Figure 10.5 Wireless flash options

Figure 10.6 Setting remote flash options.

Figure 10.7 Choosing Group flash functions.

The next step is to set up each of your off-camera flashes as a remote. That’s done using controls on the flash units themselves. I’ll get to that after I’ve explained how to set Commander modes for some other Speedlights.

Setting Commander Modes for the SB-910 or SB-900

Setting Commander modes for the SB-910/SB-900 has been greatly simplified, compared to some previous Nikon Speedlights. If you’d rather use an attached flash as the master, just rotate the On/Off/Wireless mode switch to the Master position.

You’ll want to tell the SB-910/SB-900 which channel it is using to communicate with the other Speedlights. You’ll need to do this separately for each of the SB-910/SB-900 units you are working with, if you’re using more than one. Here are the steps to follow. (I recommend doing several dry runs to see how setting up multiple flashes works before trying it “live.”) The steps are almost identical between the SB-910 and SB-900 (shown at the bottom of Figure 10.8), differing primarily in the Function buttons used. In each case, the buttons numbered 1 through 3 are the first three buttons just south of the LCD panel starting from left to right.

1. Set master flash to Commander mode. On the master flash, rotate the power switch to the Master position, holding down the center lock release button of the switch so that it will move to the Master position. (This extra step is needed because Nikon knows you won’t want to accidentally change from Master to Remote.)
2. Access Mode. Press the Function 2 button (Function 1 button on the SB-900) to highlight M on the LCD. (Note: M in this case stands for Master, not Manual.)
3. Select Mode. Press the MODE button and then spin the selector dial to choose the flash mode you want to use for that flash unit, from among TTL, A (Auto Aperture), M (Manual), or - -. Then, press OK.
4. Set Flash Exposure Compensation. Press the Function 3 button (Function 2 button on the SB-900), and rotate the selector dial to choose the flash compensation level (–3 to +3) or manual power level (1/1 to 1/128). The amount of EV correction appears at the right side, opposite the master flash’s mode indicator.
5. Specify group. Press the Function 2 button (Function 1 button on the SB-900) to move on to the Group Selection option. Press OK to choose Group A, or rotate the selector dial to choose Group B or C, then press OK to confirm the group you’ve chosen.
6. Set modes for group. Once a group is highlighted, select the mode for that group. Press the MODE button and then spin the selector dial to choose the flash mode you want to use for that flash unit, from among TTL, A (Auto Aperture), M (Manual), or - -. Then, press OK.
7. Set Flash Exposure Compensation for group. Press the Function 3 button (Function 2 button on the SB-900), and rotate the selector dial to choose the flash compensation level for the current group as you did in Step 3. The amount of EV correction appears at the right side, opposite the group’s mode indicator.
8. Repeat for other groups. If you’re using Group B and Group C, repeat steps 4 to 6 to set the mode and Flash Exposure Compensation for the additional groups.
9. Specify channel. Once the modes and compensation for all the groups have been set on the master flash, press the Function 3 button (Function 2 button on the SB-900) and rotate the selector dial to set a channel number that the master flash will use to control its groups.
10. Set up remote flashes. Now take each of the remote flash units and set the correct group and channel number you want to use for each of them. I’ll describe this step later.

Figure 10.8 Location of the control buttons on the SB-700, SB-910, and SB-900 Speedlights.

Setting Commander Modes for the SB-700

Setting Commander modes for the SB-700 is similar in concept to the settings for the SB-910 or SB-900. The controls for the SB-700 are shown at top in Figure 10.8. If you want to use an attached SB-700 as the master flash, follow these steps:

1. Set master flash to Commander mode. On the master flash, rotate the power switch to the Master position, holding down the center lock release button of the switch so that it will move to the Master position.
2. Choose mode. There’s a sliding switch on the left side of the SB-700. You can choose TTL, M (Manual), or GN modes.
3. Set Flash Exposure Compensation. Press the SEL button to select the master flash, then choose a flash compensation value/output level using the selector dial. Press OK to confirm.
4. Specify group. Press the SEL button to move on to the Group Selection option. Press OK to choose Group A, or rotate the selector dial to choose Group B. (Group C is not available with the SB-700.) Set the flash exposure compensation value for each group using the selector dial. Then press OK to confirm.
5. Specify channel. Once the modes and compensation for all the groups have been set on the master flash, press the SEL button to highlight the Channel, then rotate the selector dial to set a channel number that the master flash will use to control its groups.
6. Set up remote flashes. Now take each of the remote flash units and set the correct group and channel number you want to use for each of them. I’ll describe this step next.

Setting Commander Modes for the SB-500

Setting Commander modes for the SB-500 is similar in concept to the settings for the SB-910, SB-900, or SB-700. If you want to use an attached SB-500 as the master flash, follow these steps:

1. Mount the SB-500 on the D500 and turn on the power. Rotate the SB-500’s power switch, located on the lower-right corner of the back of the unit, to the lightning bolt icon.
2. On your D500, navigate to the Optional Flash entry. Under the Optional flash entry (which appears when the SB-500 is attached and powered up), choose Commander mode. Select TTL flash mode in the center column, and any flash compensation in the third column (Comp.).
3. Specify group. In the D500 menu, choose Group A or Group B. (Group C is not available with the SB-500.) Choose the exposure mode and flash exposure compensation value for each group using the entries in the second and third columns.
4. Specify channel. Once the modes and compensation for all the groups have been set on the master flash, choose a Channel. The mode indicator lamp (CMD) on the flash illuminates when settings are made on the D500.
5. Set up remote flashes. Now take each of the remote flash units and set the correct group and channel number you want to use for each of them. I’ll describe this step next.

Setting Remote Modes

Each of the external remote flash units must be set to Remote mode. With the SB-5000, that’s as easy as rotating the On/Off switch to the Remote position. Then press the wireless setting button located at the 11 o’clock position above the switch and choose optical, direct remote, or radio control remote modes. (I’m covering only optical triggering here, as radio control pairing and setup is complex and beyond the scope of this book.)

Here’s how to set up the Nikon SB-500, SB-700, SB-900, and SB-910 Speedlights as remote slave flash units. Note that you don’t need to specify compensation/output level; that’s handled by the master/commander flash. You just need to set the flash to Remote, then choose Group, Channel, and Zoom head function.

1. Switch flash to remote mode. With the SB-900/SB-910 or SB-700, rotate the power switch to the Remote position, holding down the center lock release button of the switch so that it will move to the Remote position. If you’re using the SB-500, you’ll set remote mode in Step 2.
2. Select group. With the SB-500, rotate the power switch to A or B to correspond with the remote flash group you selected for the master flash. With the SB-910, press the Function 2 button (Function 1 button on the SB-900) and choose Group A with the selector dial, and press OK. With the SB-700, press the SEL button to highlight the group, then press OK. Repeat for Group B or (with the SB-900/SB-910 only) Group C.
3. Set channel. With the SB-500, set the remote flash channel to Channel 3 (the only one available with that unit). With the SB-900/SB-910, press the Function 2 button to highlight the channel. If you’re using the SB-700, press the SEL button until the channel is highlighted. Then, rotate the selector dial to choose the channel number. Make sure you choose the same channel number you set earlier on the master flash. Press OK to confirm.
4. Choose zoom head position. With the SB-910, press the Function 1 button (or the Zoom button on the SB-900 or SB-700) to highlight Zoom Head Position, and choose a zoom head setting with the selector dial. Press OK to confirm. With the SB-900 and SB-700 push the Zoom button multiple times to change zoom settings. The SB-500 does not have a zoom head.
5. Repeat for each remote flash. If you’re using more than one remote/slave flash, repeat Steps 1 to 4 for each of the additional CLS-compatible units.