SB Shooter s - Would you upgrade your flash system

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SB Shooter s - Would you upgrade your flash system

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Willis

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I have to say I'm a little bit jealous of Canon's Radio Flash system (not to jealous of course, as Canon is terrible at flash).

We do a lot of on-location portrait work, and the SB's have become an integral part of the setup. More than a few times I've bumped up against the limits of what CLS will let you do... typically because of the line of sight limitation of Nikon's current system. A radio based system would go a long way toward rectifying these issues.

So a question for you folks? If Nikon released a radio based CLS II system, would you switch? What if it were backward compatible? How much would you be willing to pay?

Talk amongst yourselves.

Posted 1 year ago #
enigmeow

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My rate of failure on radio based systems has been pretty high where my rate of failure on optical based systems (once I solve the line of sight issues) has been pretty low

Yes, I am annoyed by the lengths I have to go to sometimes to trigger my flashes but I have to admit, the optical does work pretty reliably. This is just today, getting ready for a ice show (3 SB900, D700, 200-400M lens):

This image () was taken with me sitting on top of the engines that create the wave (water was flowing around me). I attempted originally to use pocket wizards but the radio interference was so bad that I was unable to get any of my remotes to fire. I ended up going optical (again, 3 SB900, D700, 70-200mm).

In the end, would I instantly go out and buy 3 more flashes at $550 a throw? Probably not the first week. Would I eventually buy native nikon radio units? Yeah.. The canon system is sexy and as long as I can chose optical or radio depending on the sitation.. I'd switch.

Posted 1 year ago #
TaoTeJared

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I would but as it would be two releases from my 900s it would be just as much for the radio as timing to upgrade equipment. It would ultimately have to do with usability - it would have to match PocketWizard's products.

PocketWizard has to be changing it's shorts about now.

Posted 1 year ago #
enigmeow

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TaoTeJared said:
I would but as it would be two releases from my 900s it would be just as much for the radio as timing to upgrade equipment. It would ultimately have to do with usability - it would have to match PocketWizard's products.

PocketWizard has to be changing it's shorts about now.

Yeah, the SB910 was not a compelling upgrade. I have learned to manage the heat issues

Posted 1 year ago #
elvishefer

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I recently went to Pocket Wizards, and while I don't have a huge inventory of flashes (1x910, 2x900s), I think I'd just get more of the 9xx series if there was a new Nikon radio line (and hopefully cash in on people dumping old 900s/910s). And more Pocket Wizards to go with them.

I too have had both optical and radio systems fail on me in different circumstances, so I'm not really convinced either is 'better' - it's more of a 'right tool for the job' thing.

Posted 1 year ago #
Krevlin

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If you read up on the new Canon radio trigger, PW still have an edge on them and they are strictly radio only triggers no optical as well. They also only work with the 1DX, 5DMKIII for now.

I think we'll see Nikon come out with a perfect system. Nikon is good at looking at what photographers really need and then making it work perfectly especially it comes to flagship models. They are just really slow about doing it.

I am sure we'll see an updated SU-800 probably SU-900 that will do both optical and radio. But whatever it is... it won't be cheap.

Posted 1 year ago #

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SB Shooter s - Would you upgrade your flash system

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