About Nikon Ancient Speedlights

[lonesome-forest]

Hi everybody.
I got some ancient Nikon speedlights, the SB-11, SB-14, etc. They all work.
But on modern DSLRs, even with the TTL sync cord SC-23, it seems that the speedlight get signals from the camera body, but the body doesn't know there's a speedlight linked to it.
As a result, only the M mode is usable. Really an inconvenience.
On the Medical Nikkor 200/5.6 and 120/4, it's the same.
Is there any better way to use these speedlights on modern DSLRs?

Thanks!

[Luke Miller]

The modern Nikon DSLRs will ignore any Nikon flash set to TTL mode that does not support the current iTTL flash exposure control protocol. The old flashes only support film TTL.  Also the first generation DSLR D-TTL flashes are not recognized. Your flashes should be usable in Automatic (auto-thyrister) mode, where the flash controls the exposure.  Basically you enter the aperture and ISO settings and the flash will quench once proper exposure is achieved.  This normally works very well and is what I used with my old Nikon film bodies that did not have TTL flash control.

[gryphon1911]

I have an old SB-22 that is in the same boat.  It is TTL, but not iTTL.  The way I get around that is to use it as an off camera flash with a Radio Popper trigger and an RP Cube.  What this does is allow you to remotely control the power of the flash from the transmitter.  No, it is not TTL, but at least it gives you functionality back on the legacy flash unit.

It accomplishes this by using the quench pin on the flash unit to control the pulse duration.  I've been successful doing this not only with the SB-22, but with SB-24/26/28 units as well.