There are ways to lessen the exposure of
one Speedlight in a group, such as moving
it further away from the subject. The other
drawback to using the D70/D70s built-in
Speedlight as a commander is that it only
allows you the option of using one channel.
When using the Advanced Wireless Flash
different channels can be used to transmit
the information to the remote Speedlights.
Therefore, in a competitive shooting envi-
ronment, if someone near you is using the
D70 to fire an off-camera flash, their flash
will set off yours and vice-versa. As with the
D50, when used in conjunction with an SB-
800 or SU-800 the full range of advanced
wireless lighting options are available
including access to multiple channels.
While the D70/D70s do support FV lock, to
gain this control you need to access the
camera’s Custom Settings Menu. In the CSM
you can select the AF/AE lock button to act
as the FV lock when a Speedlight is
attached.

D200

Like the D70, the D200’s built-in Speedlight
can be used as a wireless remote com-
mander. The D200’s built-in Speedlight is
a lot more flexible than that of the D70.
It allows you to use any number of
Speedlights in two groups on four channels.
The D200 also allows you the option of
using the built-in Speedlight to add to the
exposure when acting as a commander.
To achieve the FV lock feature, the D200’s
function button must be set in the camera’s
Custom Settings Menu.
The D200 offers the full range of CLS fea-
tures when used with the SB-800 and a
CPU lens, with the added benefit of a built-
in wireless commander— something that
the D2-series, which is much more expen-
sive, does not provide. With any camera in
the D2 series you have to use either an SU-
800 or an SB-800 to use the advanced wire-
less lighting.

D2X/D2Xs and D2H/D2Hs

You are in luck with the D2 series of cam-
eras when using the SB-600 or SB-800
Speedlights. Not only are they the top of the
Nikon camera line, they support all available
functions of the SB-600 and SB-800.
SU-800 Commander
A Commander unit is what tells the remote
Speedlights when to fire. It also reads the
data provided by the remote Speedlights
pre-flashes and relays the information to the
camera body for use in setting the exposure
levels.
The SU-800 is an infrared wireless com-
mander for the Nikon Creative Lighting
System. It functions in much the same way
as the SB-800 does in Commander mode
except that it doesn’t emit any visible light.
The SU-800 Commander has four inde-
pendent channels, so if you are working
near other photographers you can work on
different channels so someone else’s SU-
800 Commander won’t set off your flashes.
It slides into the hot shoe of your camera
like any other Speedlight and is used to
wirelessly control the SB-800, SB-600, or
SBR-200 flashes. Each channel can be used
to control up to three groups of flashes.
From the SU-800 or SB-800 you can control
the output of each group individually. You
can set each group to TTL, A, or M in order
to fine-tune the lighting to suit your needs.
26 Part I ✦Using the Creative Lighting System
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