Nikonos SB-105

I'm currently have an oly SP350 with the Oly fl-20 in a housing. I'd like to use that setup to fire a slave strobe but have been told some strobes do not handle the digital preflash from the fl-20. I like the FL-20 because it uses TTL but wanted something to complement it before heading off to Cozumel in June. My budget is unlimited but I think I've almost reached the end of my wife's patience with my new hobby

No, I think the only ones that do are the Inons or the Ikelites with manual controller (maybe some Sea&Sea do too?).

Might I suggest surfing over to the Strobefinder:

http://www.digitaldiver.net/strobes.php

On the lower left side of the web page you'll find 3 Quick Query options. Click on the Quick Query labeled Optically Triggered Strobes. Study the pre flash characteristics of the 40+ strobes that meet that criteria. In that group I think there may be @ 20 that will either mimic or ignore the preflash.

If the Preflash field in the Strobefinder states "none", then the strobe in question is not equipped with either preflash cancellation or mimicking circuitry. The strobe will fire on the first optical trigger it detects. If it is only a preflash, the strobe may not be capable of recycling in time for the main firing event.

As Luiz states, such is the case for the SB-105.

If the system was being triggered by the internal flash of the SP 350, a HeinrichsWeikamp Digital Adapter could be attached to the sync cord of the SB-105. Another option for SB-105~SP 350 compatibility would be to replace the Oly bulkhead with a HeinrichsWeikamp bulkhead.

For HeinrichsWeikamp details:

http://www.heinrichsweikamp.net/blitz/indexe.htm

hth,

b

Whilst the SB105 in theory should sense and fire as the preflash goes off, in practice it may not do so. I say this because a friend uses a compact digital and SB105 to good effect. All I can think is that the slave sensor is not sensitive enough to detect the preflash from the compct camera!

So the answer is that it shouldn't but it might!

Bob,

Thanks for the link to the flash finder. Great site. The strobe that I'm using is the fl-20 in an oly housing...not the internal strobe. So changing to the Heinrichs adapter isn't an option unless I sell that strobe. I'd prefer to just sink the money into an Inon which is probably what I'll end up doing...thanks again.

Gary

HI Gary

firstly the answer is NO, it will just trigger on the preflash phase to whatever you have set the manual power too on the SB-105

if your camera is capable of turning off preflash as the 5060 SP-350 7070 8080 are, (SLAVE flash mode) it works just fine, but it will need a fibre optic cable link up to trigger UW.. you then just use the manual power settings to control flash exposure, simple and it works

second, they do work with heinrich/matthias converters

i've just set up 2 units for friends with my old Sb-105. they can function in TTL preflashing and then Exposure flash, works 100% Perfect TTL exposures on Olympus 5060 & Sp-350

Get the Heinrich New Bulkhead replacement and come over to proper connections that are universal (NIKONOS) & still have TTL, easy

craig