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View Full Version : Extending the SU800's "angle of view"



DesmondD
03-10-2010, 12:41pm
For some this may be common knowledge but today I was doing some experiments with the SU800 outdoors .
I had the SB800 on a stand behind me in remote mode firing at 1/128th power and kept changing the angle of the camera until it would no longer fire .
When they were both pointing toward that fence it fired every time even with the flash behind the camera - maybe it was bouncing the signal off the fence ?
Anyway I reached an angle when the SB800 would no longer fire ...

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m300/dvdowns/Flash/CLS/asu800bounce002.jpg

You kind of wonder why Nikon would make the trigger system facing directly forward which is the last place anyone would have their lighting .
Then I added something to the equation , without moving anything , which made it fire again ....

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m300/dvdowns/Flash/CLS/asu800bounce003.jpg

I had tried simply placing my finger in front of the SU800 and that worked , the signal bounced off my finger and triggered the flash behind the camera .
I just added this little white object in front of the SU800 which bounced the signal backwards and made the flash fire every time .

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m300/dvdowns/Flash/CLS/asu800bounce007.jpg

I see possibilities here , for the SU800 and SB800 , I think I could design something that attaches to each of them to send and receive signals from any angle - or at least increase their reliability in some situations .


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DesmondD
04-10-2010, 4:03pm
Today I did some more tests - I tested how far it would work in bright sunlight and nothing to bounce off .

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m300/dvdowns/Flash/CLS/arange086.jpg

I counted that out at 19 large steps .

Then I turned around and added a wide angle mirror .

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m300/dvdowns/Flash/CLS/arange001.jpg

This only worked at 7 large steps away from the flash .

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m300/dvdowns/Flash/CLS/arange002.jpg

I suppose that's better than not working at all and not many people would want their lights 7 metres behind them outdoors .

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