thanks cline, that is an obvious idea i didn't think of! it works great.

i can afford pocket wizards right now. the battery pack is a good argument however.

I just tested my sb-600 attached to d7000. I was able to get it to work. I programed the button below my lens for no flash (when holding it in). When pressing this it will send the beam assist (red light pattern) and not flash. Hope this helps.

I use a SB900, I fact I have 3 of them, on a D700 and love them
more power than the SB 700 and with the suplied diffuser, bounced off a ceiling, the bigger head gives a nice soft light

outside, with out the diffuser, the SB900 will zoom to 200mm, great on sunny day for fill in flash, when using a 70-200

I think you will find the controls on the SU 800 awkward after the SB 700

How about Nikon pocket wizards (MiniTT1 & FlexTT5) you may find the SB700 will not trigger the flashes in the roof unless the infrared ports, in the roof, are pointing, unobstructed, at the master flash

(have to confess I have not tried a SB700 as they will not take an exteral batteryl

i need/want another flash for on camera and off.

My kids school play is coming up, and because i'm a turbo dad (and i work at and take all the photos for the preschool) i am superclamping 2 umbrella'd sb700 up in the roof area.

now i thought another sb-700 on camera that is on 1/128 and pointed straight up at them would do the job of triggering them and have ir af assist, and it will. but as stated, there is no af assist only on the sb-700.

I have a sc-29 and have in the past put a sb-700 on 1/128 in my pocket to take photos of subway train tunnels with the IR af assist. But it really would be nice to have a flash with af assist only.

do you guys think i should buy a used sb-800 if i can get one at a reasonable price (i saw one the other day, but it may be gone now) or another sb-700 given my situation?

i just looked at the su-800 and that is definitely due for an upgrade. seems crazy to spend money on that when i only have two flashes atm.

i don't want a sb-900, they are too big and no good for on camera on a d700.

The SU-800 cost over 300 dollars and is only slightly smaller than the SB-800. Why spend that much if the flash he has can already do what he is asking for free?

NikoDoby said:
But he has an SB800 which will do what he is asking. He doesn't need to spend money on an sU800 if all he wants is to use the IR beam to focus.

OutlierINC said:
is there anything more compact than the whole flash?

But he has an SB800 which will do what he is asking. He doesn't need to spend money on an sU800 if all he wants is to use the IR beam to focus.

the SC-29 TTL has a IR light and is cheaper than a SU800 but it must be connect to flash
If you don't want to appear to have a flash, you could put the flash in your pocket
but the SU800 is the only neat solution

SB-800 manual
http://support.nikonusa.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/13456

never had a manual, got it used Thank you very much though!

In the SB800 menu there are two options. "AF"-on or off and "FIRE"-on or off. Keep the AF beam on and turn the flash (FIRE) off.

Read your manual.

this link is to the SU-800. Note that it is not the SB-800. The SU-800 is the CLS command unit. The fine print says it handles af assist.

http://www.nikonusa.com/Nikon-Products/Product/Flashes/4794/SU-800-Wireless-Speedlight-Commander.html

and just for clarity, I dont want an assist that shoots a brigh white light like the one on camera, I'm looking for the subtle red grid that the speedlight fires

also, how might you put an SB800 into AF assist only mode?

is there anything more compact than the whole flash?

You can turn off the flash and only use the IR beam on the SB800 too.

yes, it pee's me off that the sb700 has no af assist only.

i too, wish nikon made a little ir light for the flash mount, just like the end of my sc-29 TTL Coiled Remote Cord.

I believe the su-800 will do it, but someone else should confirm.

Also, the sb-900 has an af-assist only mode, which fires the infra red but not the flash. Other flashes might have the same, again, someone else will have to confirm.

Quick Question ladies and gents

i've noticed after using my speedlight to shoot a school dance the other night, the lighting was terrible, but the flash seemed to put out a grid that the camera would base its focus off of, then take the shot and trigger the flash, so my question is, is there such a module as one that casts that same infra red net to base the focus off of, but without the flash?

i may be completely off base, but if I am not, i feel like this would help with night time shooting significantly

so did nikon ever make something like this?

CHeers!

Daniel