SkintBrit said:
Other than the non line of sight/distance benefits of a radio system rather than the Nikon CLS one, are there any other significant advantages to tell my wife when trying to justify the expenditure?

PocketWizards enable ultra-high sync speeds (up to 1/8000th, I think). It's one of PocketWizards' biggest advantages (in addition to the obvious RF benefits) over CLS, at least for me. Not sure about your SB-400 question.

Quick question all, will a Pocket Wizard FlexTT5 attached to an SB400, MiniTT1 combo work, or does the system only work on the high end flashes? I have 2 SB900s and a SB400, and am thinking of getting my first PW's. Just wanted to know do I need 3 TT5's or just 2 for the 900s? Other than the non line of sight/distance benefits of a radio system rather than the Nikon CLS one, are there any other significant advantages to tell my wife when trying to justify the expenditure? :-) Thanks Guys.

The biggest mistake that people make when shooting in TTL is they dont have the focus point on the right area for the TTL to take a reading from.

When shooting in TTL the flash sends out a pre flash a split second before the main flash, the camera then takes a reading of exposure from the image. As it does it so quickly, it cant check the whole image and only does the center focus point. If this area is on a white shirt or dress the the reflection back is high and it will under expose your image. If it reflects back of a black jacket or dress it will have less reflection and over expose.

Best to shoot with single center point and have the focus point on the eye of the subject closest to the camera or on a neutral area. this will give you best TTL reading.

Nikon do shoot under on the overall exposure when flash is used. The flash is used as a fill on the subject. this is how there camera's are set up. This gives best contrast of background image and has your subject set up perfectly. People who don't shoot corectly commonly have the problem of images shooting under exposure.

Plus, make sure your white balance is set to flash or use a Grey card and set in pre flash.

If this is to hard to set up TTL, shoot in Auto and bounce the flash but be prepared for over exposure on some images.

If you use TTL properly and not in bright sun light it will work perfect just about every time.

Good luck

Christian

What happens when you move up the flash compensation to +1?

I have a new SB400 that I'm using with my D300 and I'm having trouble with underexposed photos. I'm using "P"rogram, Auto-ISO (100-3200), exposure compensation at 0, flash compensation at 0 and my TTL setting is on. The flash works great as fill flash outdoors, but indoor portraits are dark. Any idea what I might be doing wrong? This is my second SB400, I has one three years ago with my D80 and it worked flawlessly. Is it me, my settings or the flash?