Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Hey Folks,
I'm new to flash photography. Someone is offering me his Alien Bee B800s at a good price with little milage on them. However, I have a Nikon d40 for a camera which has no sync cord outlet. Can I use on of the wireless triggers with me D40 to control the flashes. I've been reviewing the products on the website for some time now, but it's a little confusing for a beginner. Any feedback would be welcome. Thanks in advance, Johnny

Yes! You can either use the HSA or CyberSync system. Either will fit into the hotshoe of the camera. If you go the HSA route, no other parts are required. If you go with the CyberSyncs, you will need a CST transmitter and a CSR or CSRB receiver. I have links below. You will need to be in the manual mode, as auto modes will result in exposure errors (overexposure).

One cool aspect of the D40 is the ability to shoot at a higher than normal shutter speed. This is particularly useful when shooting outdoors in strong sunlight, to get the background to match, or get it darker than normal. This is difficult to do with newer cameras.

http://www.alienbees.com/parts.html
http://www.alienbees.com/remotes.html

In the link you posted there is an "SLFA". Would that take the place of the Zebra pc to flash hot shoe adapter. I have a Nikon SB600 which has no port so to fire it off camera I need an adapter with cord. Is the SLFA all I need (in addition to the reciever and trigger?

I use a Nikon D70 and it does not have a PC synch port either.

Nikon and other firms make a little cube which slips into the camera's hot shoe. On the front of the Nikon model there is a PC (Female) synch port. It works quite well.

I have tried various "Nikon compatible" adapters via eBay and most are junk. Just stick with the Nikon brand.

For radio slaves I plug a wire into the cube. One end is PC (Male) and the other is whatever the transmitter uses. This arrangement works well but I am going to convert all my transmitters and receivers to the new Paul Buff Cyber Commander units.

Best of luck.

Terry Thomas...
the photographer
Atlanta, Georgia USA
http://www.TerryThomasPhotos.com

Our SLFA, along with the cords included with the receivers, is all you will need to use our CyberSync remotes.

TS

Thank you for your help. This was such a quick reply! I stumbled upon this forum while I was wandering aimlessly through the Alienbees site. This is going to be such a valuable resource for me. Your quick support has encouraged me to the point where I will stop shopping for lighting brands. I'm going with Alienbees for sure. And, by the way, I will be letting others who haunt Flickr about this great site!
Regards!

I'm a Canon guy, so don't shoot if my casual memory of Nikon accessories is wrong, but I believe the SLFA unit offers a very desirable feature that the Nikon PC sync adapter cube lacks. It's the addition of a 1/8" mono plug socket for sync connection along with the nasty PC port.

That mono jack feature is worth it's weight in gold, as it offers a solid and secure connection for your sync cord, while PC connections are simply awful devices that we end up using just because they are as abundant as mushrooms in a manure pile in the photo world.

Another benefit of the mono jack is that they make it easy for you to homebrew your sync cords with cheap and easy Radio Shack audio connectors. Anytime you can eliminate a PC connection in your lighting setup, you are doing yourself a favor. I used to sync my Mamiya RZ67 to my PCB studio lights via PC connection on the lens, and I hated it. The more you use a PC socket, the more likely it is to fail at the most inappropriate time. Now I use the CST on the body mounted hotshoe of the RZ67, and I'm happy. One less PC connector in my life.

High on my shopping list for next week is a handful of SLFA units to replace the Pentax PC socket adapter cubes I use to sync my old style Canon 580EX strobes, and bypass the PC socket on my newer 580EXII strobes. That will go a long way toward getting rid of PC connectors altogether.....


Voyager