Haven't heard a word. I have been watching to see what Pocket wizard says about canon adding wireless, but I haven't seen a thing at all.

A new member "diode" is wondering about this....??? Any new word?

I hope that Nikon does something like the new Canon speedlight and soon. I find all these third party products to be flaky at best. It would be so nice to have something built-in and not added ON.

Ofeqve said:
I found the powering sequence is VERY important when using the mini/flex units. One always have to power the flash first, the triggers second and the last the camera. Powering off should be done in the same order.
One other thing causing trouble is blocking the SB900's filter sensor with any modifiers.

Sorry to take issue with your post Ofeqve, but Pocketwizard specifically suggest starting at the top and working down as you suggest, but powering off in reverse order. Camera-PW-Flash. This is the proceedure I follow and have never had a problem. Maybe you have?

@pictaker, me too. The AC3 is excellent.

I found the powering sequence is VERY important when using the mini/flex units. One always have to power the flash first, the triggers second and the last the camera. Powering off should be done in the same order.
One other thing causing trouble is blocking the SB900's filter sensor with any modifiers.

So far my new Elinchrom D-Lite IT (400ws) units which have the Skylite radios in each unit are working great. While these of course need plugging in, if we are using off camera flash, indoors, this may not be a problem. My experience suggests the small battery operated units just do not have the power I have needed.....so.. maybe Nikon is not as excited about the new product as one might hope for. Of course, Canon may have changed all that.

I have found the mini can be temperamental using a Flex on the camera is more reliable

have you updated the Firmware you should have version 3.003 (~september 2011)

I do have the flex mini setup, and it seems everyone is happy with them but me. On my einsteins and elinchorms they seem to work great but with the sb900's, they seem very moody. I was actually thinking of getting rid of them. It seems i make an adjustment to my camera then all the sudden ill change a setting, then a flash will stop firing. Nobody else has had problems with them?

I'm another happy camper with the Flex/Mini arrangement and 3 strobes (900/910). I also use the tiny AC-3. Excellent arrangement.

I have the Flex/Mini setup with three strobes, and yes they work fantastically.. but I have to admit it'd be nice to not have to mess with adding "a middle man."

As nether the D800 or the D4, have a flash radio transmitter, it seems unlikely this year or even next

Are you using the Pocket wizard Flex and Mini, once you Get used to them, they are very
good, no more worrying if the flash is in line of sight

http://nikonrumors.com/forum/topic.php?id=3021

Does anyone know if there is gonna be a replacement for the Sb 910 any time soon. I figured since the Nikon CLS flash system is there claim to fame and canon just released flashes with built in radio. I was hoping that would pressure nikon to release a flash with radio transmitters built in as well to stay on top. As they should, I can see Canon stealing Nikon users who are heavy speed light users because of this. Especially wedding photographer. I have 3 sb 900 and wanted to pick up some more, but not if there is gonna be a replacement soon otherwise I would be wasting my money. The only thing I know is about a year and a half ago I was in a room with the guy who is in charge of nikon flash division and he said putting radios in their flashes "was on their bucket list ", his exact words. But then the sb 910 came out. My guess is that the SB 910 was created to just solve the overheating problem and to just hold people over while a new flash was in the making. I guess I have not seen any rumors on the internet, has anybody heard anything?

wiser to just rent some SB 700's or 900's...for your shoot, because they work REALLY well with our Nikon TTL-cameras.

Actually you can change it in even smaller increments than 1/3, I think it's 1/8. I have a very unscientific comparisson between the YN560 and LP160 on my blog: http://rifqisphoto.wordpress.com/2011/10/26/let-there-be-light/. I mostly compare them from a user perspective, not on a technical level.

Cool thanks for the info. Think I'll buy one, and I'll buy LP160 to compare the 2.

You say the 560 can be dropped in 1/3 stops? From the pictures it looks like full stops :/

As far as I know they don't sell the old versions anymore. I guess there might be a couple of them collecting dust somewhere but it was quite long ago since they replaced the old ones so if anything they should be rather rare.

Rifqi, how do you know if they are selling the newer model of the YN560? I got some contacts in the Auto industry that can probably set me up with a source for these flashes at a better price. The problem is, I can't just buy one.

Max, no, shortly after releasing the YN560 they released a second version with the improvements I mentioned. A lot of people complained that the zoom wasn't functioning when the received their units so they addressed that and also replace the plastic hot shoe with a metal one.

I think the YN565 is an even newer one that also has TTL support, no? As you say that one is around the same price as the LP160 but if you want to save money on going all manual I would stick to the YN560 (which also allows you to change the power in smaller increments than a full stop). My guess is that it's pretty much the same flash but without TTL and you can find it for under $70 on ebay, including shipping.

Thanks again Gareth.

Rifqi, are you talking about the new YN565? I like the 565 more and more, as I can change power settings by a 1/3 of a stop. It costs just a touch more than the LP160.

Regarding the quality of the YN560. There were some negative feedback at first but most issues seem to have been addressed with the second version. They replaced a plastic base with a metal one and fixed the issues people were experiencing with the zoom. The build quality is excellent and so far they've performed reliably for me as well. As you say, for the price it's definitely worth giving it a try.

yes, you can use a mini to trigger a plus II.

no, it wont trigger faster than 1/250th.

Thanks for the answers guys. Thanks for the backup Jared, and I agree Mike, that I should consider this for outdoors. This is actually... for outdoor location shooting.

The Pocket Wizard situation isn't a problem, as I already own 4 for my head/power pack strobes. With the optical slaves on top of it, there's no reason for iTTL.

It's more cost effective for me to have 3 SB-80DXs instead of one SB-900. I'm looking to bring my speedlight collection from 2 to 8.

I'll check on the LP160s, they sound too good to be true. Other than that, I've been leaning towards the SB-80dxs. The YN560s sound like the ebay special. How's the quality on it? At the price, it may be worth it just to test it.

Gareth, you bring up a good point about high speed sync. Now from my understanding, I can use a Mini TT1 to set off a Plus II. Would this keep my high speed sync though? I've hardly used my high speed, but it'd be nice to have if I needed it.

-MaxiVisVires

I have watched friends struggle with mixing and matching 3rd party lights especially if one or two throw out pre-flashes like the 900 does. Just like anything they learned to deal with it and bought a set of pocket wizards to control them. The kicker is that they have zero need for radio triggering and could have easily done it with the CLS. With the PWs they spent more on "each flash" than just buying Sb-900s. Most times it's just six of one or a half a dozen of another.

MaxiVisVires said:

I've been considering either going with SB-28 or SB-80 units. The thing is, I don't really use my TTL, and am perfectly fine doing everything in manual. So are the SB-80 units overkill as well? I do care about the optical slave, zoom focus, and digital displays.

You ask a good question though - I have wondered what does happen when you use the D-80/dx,28s, etc. with the Sb900s.

We all understand there is no iTTL - but no one ever says what happens or what you have to do to compensate for it for it to work or if it does.

If someone describe what happens that would be worth reading.

And please not another "this is what iTTL is" or "you're an idiot for not wanting iTTL" comment. If you don't know, seriously... why post something that doesn't answer the question?

Rx4Photo said:
I love reading Mike's comments. They always read like "Rules to Live By." Think I'm soon to buy a SB-700 to pair with my 900.

Hi,

And thank you so much. But the only credit I can take is for growing old.

However, I refuse to accept the idea of aging; that's something else. ;-)

My best,

Mike

I love reading Mike's comments. They always read like "Rules to Live By." Think I'm soon to buy a SB-700 to pair with my 900.