Philip Wheeler Photography: Nikon's CLS: Part 3

CLS=Nikon's Creative Lighting System. Part 3 in a series.

In my last article I conducted Experiment 1: a simple setup using a Nikon D7100, the SU-800 commander and one SB-910 speedlight. Very simple.

Note: I used a Photogenic TALS 8 light stand (Mfr. 921990, $48.95 at B&H) with the Impact Umbrella Bracket and Adjustable Shoe (Mfr. 9101880, $24.95 at B&H). The bracket screws onto the light stand and it can hold one speedlight and one umbrella. I did not use an umbrella in the experiment.

Experiment 2: This is exactly the same as Experiment 1, except that I have substituted the Yongnuo YN467-II speedlight for the Nikon SB-910. Right out of the box, the YN467-II is set to TTL and the experiment failed. I pushed the Mode button once and it moved from TTL to M. One more push and it was on S1 (blue LED on). That worked, with pre-flashes. I pushed mode again (S2, red LED on), and it emitted a single flash.

The YN467-II manual says it uses radio signals, but the CLS uses infrared and the YN467-II works with CLS hardware, so that must be an error in the manual. I don't see any reference to channels or groups in the manual. It feels like a sturdy flash. Included is a small table-top stand. No snap-on filters are included. The Nikon SB-910 includes a snap-on diffuser, an incandescent filter, and a fluorescent filter.

The SU-800 owner's manual is bound together with the manuals for the R1C1, R1 and SB-R200. This is logical since the R1, the SB-R200 and the SU-800 are all a part of the R1C1 macro lighting system. However, there is precious little information included on the SU-800 itself, which I am using here without the rest of the R1C1 system.

The SU-800 can be used in Close-up or in Commander mode. I am interested only in Commander mode at this time. You can only switch between Close-up and Commander by removing the battery cover and flipping a switch. The display is very different in these two modes.

Page 58 of the manual has a cryptic 6-bullet list of items that pertain to Commander mode. The list may be easier to understand as a 3-bullet list with sub-bullets:

  • Channel Number
1, 2, 3 or 4
  • Group Name
A, B or C
  • Mode of Remote Flash Units
  TTL (Through The Lens metering)
        Set the flash output compensation value
  AA (Auto-Aperture flash)
        Set the flash output compensation value
  M (Manual)
        Set the manual flash output level
  -- (flash cancelled)
  RPT (Repeating)
        Set the manual flash output level
        Set the flash frequency
        Set the number of repeating flashes per frame

Channel Number is easy: set all your flashes and the controller to the same channel. This can help prevent accidental flash triggering if a nearby photographer is also using the Nikon CLS. Simply ask them to use a different channel.

The Nikon remote flash unit(s) have 5 modes. You set the mode on each remote flash unit as part of your setup, and you also set the group name on each individual flash unit. Next time I'll look at the modes and groups in more detail.

Philip Wheeler Photography