Question About High Speed Sync for Off Camera flash with D7000 and SB-700

[jordand]

Santa brought me a new toy, SB 700 speedlight!
Going through manuals and tutorials I learned that by producing multiple bursts, the flash actually paints as the shutter curtains of my D 7000 move at speeds exceeding 1/250 or 1/320 of a second.
The problem is that this is only possible when the flash is attached to the hot shoe of the camera.
My question is whether high speed sync is possible in remote mode?
And the answer to my question is YES!
In Commander Mode (Custom Settings Menu, Bracketing/Flash, Flash control for built-in flash) the built-in flash must be switched off (“--“ icon) in order to use High Speed Sync.
There’s also a noticeable delay between the pressing of the shutter button and the actual response.

[george013]

Santa brought me a new toy, SB 700 speedlight!
Going through manuals and tutorials I learned that by producing multiple bursts, the flash actually paints as the shutter curtains of my D 7000 move at speeds exceeding 1/250 or 1/320 of a second.
The problem is that this is only possible when the flash is attached to the hot shoe of the camera.
My question is whether high speed sync is possible in remote mode?
And the answer to my question is YES!
In Commander Mode (Custom Settings Menu, Bracketing/Flash, Flash control for built-in flash) the built-in flash must be switched off (“--“ icon) in order to use High Speed Sync.
There’s also a noticeable delay between the pressing of the shutter button and the actual response.

You mean wired remote, I presume?

George

[pnodrog]

You seem to have answered your own question. Just be aware of the limitations and reduction in power available in FP (high sync) mode.

[george013]

As far as I know, the signal for the remote flash is given through the popup flash. Did you do something as switching the flash off but still with the popupflash up?


George

[jordand]

No, George,
I meant wireless remote with built-in flash set as a commander.While going through menus, switching things on and off I found the answer,
as Paul pointed out, but the funny thing is that you won't find description about this in the manuals.

[Manfred M]

You can also use the high speed synch and Commander Mode if you use another compatible Nikon flash as the Commander, i.e. mount it on the camera's hot shoe. One of my D90 cameras has a problem with the pop-up flash, so using a Speedlight is less expensive than having it repaired.

Certain radio triggers (some of the PocketWizards, for instance) will also let you do this as well.

All that being said, I've played around this functionality but have never used it in 'real life" photography.

[george013]

No, George,
I meant wireless remote with built-in flash set as a commander.While going through menus, switching things on and off I found the answer,
as Paul pointed out, but the funny thing is that you won't find description about this in the manuals.

You probably missed my second post. Did you do it with the popup flash up?

George

[Mike Buckley]

Did you do it with the popup flash up?

You're correct that even though the built-in flash is turned off, it still has to be in the "up" position if it is being used as the Commander, as opposed to using another flash as the Commander as explained by Manfred. That's because it sends an infrared signal that activates the remote flash.

That signal also includes light in the part of the spectrum that can be seen by the human eye. If that light is reflected in something shiny such as glass, it can be blocked by adding this to the pop-up flash. It blocks everything except the infrared light. I learned about this device from someone here at CiC, so I'm happy to pass the information along.

[rpcrowe]

I totally agree that there is a reduction in power when using High Speed Sync (or whatever Nikon calls theirs). However, the reduction in power is not all that troublesome.

Remember, every time you shoot at 1-stop faster shutter speed you also open your aperture one stop.

In reality, considering that you are opening your f/stop when increasing the shutter speed, you are only losing about a total of one stop of light when shooting HSS.

Since, I use HSS primarily for fill light outdoors, that one stop loss doesn't impact my shooting to any great degree. I most often shoot my outdoor fill flash at a -1 ev.

However, if it did impact my shooting to any great degree, I could simply increase my ISO.

I never use my Canon EX style hotshoe flashes on anything but HSS. The neat thing about Canon's electronics is that if I have HSS selected and my shutter speed is at the maximum sync speed (or below) for the camera I am using; the camera/flash combination automatically reverts to standard sync. Then, if my shutter speed becomes faster than the maximum camera/flash sync speed, the combination switches back to HSS automatically. However, I don't think that Nikon functions this way.

I was at a Canon Flash Seminar and the "expert" who presented the seminar did not know about the automatic switching between HSS and standard sync.

Definition of an expert: Someone from out of town who has a projector

[dje]

My question is whether high speed sync is possible in remote mode?
And the answer to my question is YES!
In Commander Mode (Custom Settings Menu, Bracketing/Flash, Flash control for built-in flash) the built-in flash must be switched off (“--“ icon) in order to use High Speed Sync.
There’s also a noticeable delay between the pressing of the shutter button and the actual response.

Jordand the "--" setting basically stops the internal flash from firing in Commander mode (except for pre-flash signalling). Given that the internal flash is not capable of FP (HSS) mode, I guess it makes sense to make it necessary to turn it off in commander mode if you want to use HSS. The manual is a bit lacking in information on this though.

Dave