Nikon D750 and Nissin i40

[Arild]

Help!
Last fall I bought Nissin i40
Havent used it for ten months

Even by reading TFM manual -- I cant grasp how to use it :-(

I want my d750 to no output, just commander
I want the Nissin i40 to be the sunshine on my plants. By putting it at an angle some 50 cm away

The photo is the first and the only one time I used the Nissin i40
on a d7200 then it worked perfect (alas the camera was no good so I sold it)
that was aug 2016 and it worked perfect! It was dark owercast late in the evening. Had to use flash.

Will a SB-700 be a better choice or should I stay with Nissin for my d750?

[golunvolo]

After the obvious: d750 in commander mode, same channel group... in the flash, line of sight with the sensor in the flash, batteries, etc. I had one problem with my d750. It didn't work as a commander and had to be send in for repair -under warranty, I was lucky-.
 So check all the set up again and try the strobe with another camera and the camera with another strobe to be thorough.
   I hope this helps

[Arild]

.... line of sight
Please explain. On my photo the flash was behind the camera.

[David H. Hartman]

One of the first items you need is a Nikon SG-3IR which is a black IR pass filter. It clips in the hot shoe so the pop-up adds no light to the subject.

In the camera's custom settings turn off all groups that aren't uses. The symbol is "--". The pop-up won't try to send pre-flashes to remote units that aren't there. This saves the camera batteries and reduces lag time. My D800 requires me to press the OK button or the changes in the dialog are not save.

I recommend using a Sto-Fen type diffuser cap at this range. At 1 meter the diffusion cap gives a nice hazy bright sunlight appearance. At closer distance it's like a tiny softbox. After about 1.5 meter if there are no walls and ceiling to bounce off of the diffusion cap simply wastes power and batteries.

Line of sight is not always needed. If the distances aren't to great the pre-flashes can bounce off things in the environment. Sometimes it helps to have the sensor on the flash face the commander. Sometimes it can face the subject and get enough of the preflash. As distance increases and particularly in daylight a popup isn't that strong and strict light of sight from the commander to the sensor on the remote may be required.

Nikon's CLS/AWL works best in low light like evening, shade or indoors. At greater ranges a speedlight like an SB-700, 800, 910 etc. works better.

I hope something here helps.

Dave Hartman

[Arild]

Hmmm, still sooooooo confused

Lets see...
I set my Nissin i40 to SD and 1/1 on the other wheel

then the tricky part
I set my d750:
Custom menu
e Bracketing /flash
Flash cntrl for built in flash:
 TTL

OK??               

[HCS]

First, make sure the setup is correct: same channel, same group. No TTL.
Second, try first with the flash in front of the camera, IR eye facing the camera.

Then, if that worked, try to move the flash around until it no longer works (outdoors). Then, try to bounce the flash signal from camera to flash by holding your hand in front of the camera flash (at a little distance), or a piece of (white) paper/bounce card. Also, you can try to change to TTL mode.

If the first two steps don't work, check with the shop you bought it from.

[Alaun]

Maybe it helps, when you know how the external flash is being triggered, as far as I know, there are several ways, to do this (everybody: please refine, if something is wrong):

a) The external flash works as a slave flash. When it sees the light of the camera flash, it is triggered. Problem: When the camera sends a pre-flash for exposure measurement. Then the slave flash needs a detection system, so it is triggered only by the second flash of the camera. (Else, it would be triggered by the first flash, when the shutter is not open yet.)
Further, the external flash has to see the camera flash.

b) The external flash is triggered by an IR-Signal, send from the camera. This is the common way for most of the Nikon flashes. The IR-Signal can also send TTL-information.  Problem: The IR-sensor of the external flash has to see the IR-signal from the camera (That’s were the in line statement comes from I assume)

c) The camera and the flash are connected via a real wire/cable. This is a very reliable solution, but there is the cable alway around somewhere.

d) You replace the wire by a wireless connection. This works similar as c, is much more reliable than a) and b), works also over larger distances and when there is no visual connection between external flash and camera. Problem: you need a wireless set and additional batteries. And the batteries you carry with you are always empty. I haven’t looked into it but it seems one of the newest flashes from Nikon works with wireless?

[David H. Hartman]

The Nissin I-40 probably has several remote or slave settings. I must be set to the Nikon compatible or i-TTL remote setting. Don't look for "slave" in a Nikon manual. The term they now use is "remote".

Set the I-40 to cannel 1, group A. Set the camera to Commander, channel 1, set TTL or M (your choice. Set the commander and group B to off or "--". When exiting press OK. Don't exit any other way as changes won't be saved. The camera, commander should now fire.the remote. If not cry a spell until someone else comes along with better instructions.

Dave Hartman who phone changer words from time to time as a prayer tical joke.