Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Based on a friend's recommendation I purchased the CSRB+ and CST to remotely control my Nikon D200. He told me that the units include everything to get it going. I received it and not sure how to make it work and my friend is useless.
How can I get it to work?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks.

Robert.

This may be a question of symantics -- but are you trying to *control* the D200... or are you trying to fire remote lights (speedlights or studio flash) *with* the D200?

In the case of the former, this is not the solution you are looking for.

In the case of the latter, we need more details about the remote light or lights you are trying to fire.

As said above, please be a little more specific in you needed set up. You can fire cameras with the CyberSync system, albeit with limitations.

The remotes do not come with everything you need to fire a camera. You will need a cable like this one: http://www.flashzebra.com/products/0130/index.shtml. You will need to leave the camera in manual focus, or continuous focus. Single shot AF will lock focus once the remote is engaged, and probably not where you want. Additionally, on some cameras, CSRB's work better than CSRB+'s, so once you get the cable, you may or may not find you will need to exchange the remote.

If you are trying to fire lights, then the units may or may not come with everything you need, depending on the light.

I am looking to fire the D200 remotely. I shoot amatuer ice hockey games and I would like to shoot from two angles at one time and may soon may get approval to get a camera installed in the net (in a case of course). Focus setting is no problem as I typically shoot in continuous mode.

So, if I get the ten pin cable I should be good to go???

Thanks for the replies.

Robert.

CDRice,

What alternate solution do you recommend I use to fire the D200?

Robert.

Are you looking to fire lights as well? If so, are the lights to illuminate for both cameras? Inherently, the remote camera will fire a fraction of a second later than the master camera. The master will not trigger the transmitter until the moment of exposure. The signal has to then go to the reciever, which then tells the camera to fire. The mirror has to raise and the shutter has to open. This variation will vary from camera to camera, but you are looking at a minimum of 1/100 of a second, and more likely 1/50 of a second or so. This would be with any remote (some pocket wizards may have some voodoo built in to help, but i think the fix is using double broadcast of the signal, with a manual delay dialed in). Using mirror lock up may help, as the mirror is already up, but there will still be a delay. So without using lights, the photos will still differ.

When using lights, the first camera will trigger the lights, but the lights will have fired by the time the second camera fires. Adding another transmitter to the remote camera will not help, as the lights will not have had time to recycle (unless they are dialed down really low). The solution would to be use a second set dedicated to the second camera, or to not use flash for one camera or the other.

As for timing, using burst mode on the master camera should cause the second camera to also fire each time (we have not tested this thoroughly, and certainly not with each brand of camera, so you should test with your setup before implementing this). This could allow the frame from the prior photo to fire the second camera while the the current photo is taking the desired photo.

As for focus, i would presume the remote camera (particularly if it is in the net) would use a wide lens. These have an inherent depth of field. I would preset and manually focus using the hyperfocal distance theory. However, instead of having everything from x to infinity in focus, have everything from the lens to maximum DoF in focus. This prevents the camera from focusing on the wrong place.

Not sure if it's the same for the D200, but I remotely fire my D300 using a CST to trigger it and a CSRB connected to the D300 with a cable purchased from flashzebra.com. Works great.

Larry

Sorry, I don't have a better solution, given the additional information of your recent posts. I didn't realize you'd be needing the distance/range likely involved in your case -- any other solution I was considering has too short an operational distance to be useful for your application.

Thanks all for the info. I ordered the cable today and will post results when I have had opportunity to 'play' with it.

Have a great weekend!

Robert.

OK, help me out here. If I have Einsteins and a CC I am hand holding, and, I have a CST attached to my D300 hot shoe (so that I can carry around the CC and not have to keep attaching it/detaching the CC from camera), what do I need to also fire the camera shutter remotely a CRSB+ and a 0130 Shutter Release Cable attached to the camera? What am I using in hand to trigger the camera remotely?

Regards,
Mike