unpossible to connect 2 SB800 to the ND70 subal

Hi guys,

I've 2 subal Housing for the SB800 speedlight.

I bought them to work with my ND70 Subal housing.

But when you try to conect them to the D70 housing , they don't stop firing one after the other one.

Any mode is able to work.

Is there a setting to do or is it simply unpossible to work with this configuration ?

Hey Jerome

That must be pretty annoying! I'm not so familiar with the D70 Subal housing. However when I bought my Subal D10 housing recently I found that the plug connections on the housing PCB needed switching from 5 to 3 pins to fire the strobes. The problem may well be associated with these plug settings.

Have you tried too firing one strobe as a slave? And the other hard-wired.

Worth talking to your Subal dealer I would suggest too.

I dunno, but I have heard that when the ND70 is supplied with 2 synch sockets - one is wired for 5 pin and one for 3 pin.

This will cause problems - but probably not the one you mention, Jerome.

Do you have the camera set on rear curtain synch? That way you would see the pre-flash from one strobe (connected via 3 pin) and then the main flash from both.

Alex

thanks for your replies,I first had a 3 and 5 connection pin , It works perfect with one Sb800 in M or TTL mode (5 pins) and with a second flash (always in manual mode 3 pins).

the problem comes when you want to work with the 2 SB800 in TTL : you need therefore to get a 2*5 pins connector, subal made it for me , but it doesn't work at all.

I m disapointed because you can iémagine that I bought 2 of them to shoot in Ittl mode , especially in macro.

My second disappointment goes to the manufacturer which has forgotten to install a window, letting the slave cell of the SB800 catching the light of the master speedlight .

That does not sound good. Have you tried testing that the wiring is correct using a multimeter?

There may also be a fundamental issue of running two SB800 wired together into one hotshoe. Maybe there is just too much talking going on between them and they are getting confused. I don't think Nikon provides a split cable to use two on land - so they may not be designed to work in this way?

The problem of running one in iTTL and one in manual is that the TTL exposure will be set with only one flash firing pre-flashes. Then for the main exposure both will fire and the iTTL exposure will be an over exposure.

Alex

On the Subal D70 you can have two N5 Bulkheads but the connectors they plug into are not both 5 Pin. One is 5 Pin and one is 3 Pin. So even thought you have two 5 Pin bulkheads you most likely don't have all 5 pins functional on the second bulkhead. To enable all 5 pins at both bulkheads the second synch socket must be hard wired into the 5 pin connector on the board inside the housing.

You can also use a Y-Cord or adapter off the first bulkhead which is wired N5.

If you're not comfortable making the wiring change and your Subal dealer should be able to assist you or I'd be glad to help out.

I was kind of wonder about 2 SB800. In my SB800 manual (page 90, multiple flash shooting using cords) it said:

"The SB-800 can be used with Speedlights compatible with the TTL auto flash mode to perform multiple flash shooting using cords"

Then a few lines down, it said:

"With digital SLRs and Coolpix cameras compatible with i-TTL, only manual flash operation is possible."

I think somebody much better than myself will have to figure this out!

this is exactly what I was thinking, how can do 2 sb 800 the preflash metering onthe same circuit .... but before purchasing them, Subal told me it was possible ....

Unless they put a window facing the slave cell I don't see how it should be possible to use them together (it also doesn't work in AA or M mode...)

..... VERY DISAPPOINTED

a complete new housing system (housing cable and flash) will be soon for sale

Score one for insignificant, lowly little ikelite iTTL conversion circuitry that we hope will be stuffed into the housing if we can find room. No problem with dual strobes.

you mean Ike that it will also be ok for th sb800 ? I was thinking it was just for the "old" Uw speedlights...

Score one for insignificant, lowly little ikelite iTTL conversion circuitry that we hope will be stuffed into the housing if we can find room.  No problem with dual strobes.

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Heh, heh, well, since as far as I know, Ikelite still has no plan for D2X housing, I wonder if Ikelite might be willing to make an outboard i-TTL converter unit for D2X.

Since I already have 2 DS-125, that would be very convenient

Conversion circuitry in the housing will allow two Ikelite DS SubStrobes to operate iTTL which is a trick the SB800 can not do............

One solution you might want to look at is

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

They make a small circuit border that goes into a housing between the hotshoe of the D70 and the strobes. It gives TTL with a number of u/w strobes (requirement is that the strobes can fire a preflash and then a main flash quickly enough)

I recently bought one of these circuits in the hope that it would work with my D2X. It worked well with the D70 but it looks as if the iTTL protocol of the D2X is different.

As far as I know there is no way to have two SB800s working in iTTL mode behind a D2H,D70 or D2X without using CLS and CLS of course uses a series of pre-flashes.

If anyone has any further suggestions then I'd love to hear of them.

I was under the impression that the ability to run two SB800 on iTTl in sync on a hardwire connection was not available from Nikon. I raised this question with Subal myself about a year ago and they informed me that Nikon said it was not possible on a H/W connection.

Alex where is the "ttl annonymous" thread?B)

Sorry Jerome I know that doesn't help after you have already bought the gear.

Alex where is the "ttl annonymous" thread?B)

It is here.

TTL Anonymous

Alex

If Subal can provide fiber connecter for SB800 housing, you can setup the SB800 work in wireless mode to running iTTL x 4.

If Subal can provide fiber connecter for SB800 housing, you can setup the SB800 work in wireless mode to running iTTL x 4.

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What does iTTL x 4 mean?

If Subal can provide fiber connecter for SB800 housing, you can setup the SB800 work in wireless mode to running iTTL x 4.

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That is interesting. Nikon's Creative Lighting System works by controlling 3 slave strobes (or 3 groups of slave strobes) using infrared. This does not work UW as infrared does not go travel through seawater. But as aabymiao suggests this could be overcome with fibre optic cables (and the housings would have to contain the bases for the strobes).

Then you would be able to set and control the output of the master strobe as well as the 3 other strobes from the main body. The strobes can be set in either iTTL (hence iTTL x 4) or compensated TTL or manual.

This may be the best way to use 2 or 3 SB800s underwater, given the problems that Jerome has had.

Alex

thanks guys, the optic fiber may be a good solution , but the cell is not accessible ...

anyway, I'ordered the i ttl converter and I m looking now for 2 new sbstrobes, maybe 2 subtronic mini ttl or 2 DS125 ..... I ll see with your experiences ,so any comments are welcome

I've asked today Subal to accept to get back my 2 housings ..... we'll see what they'll say