The Nikon SB-600 Speedlight is designed to be a stand-alone i-TTL flash or a remote wireless slave flash for the CLS system. It does not have a Master mode like the SB-800 does.
It is a simple but powerful Speedlight flash and does a great job as a slave for your D700 or a commander device to control. While referring to Figure 9-11, let’s look at the configuration method for the SB-600. It is quite different from the SB-800.
Setting Remote Mode on the SB-600 Overview of Settings:
Turn the SB-600 on with the ON/OFF button on back.
Hold down the ZOOM and Down– buttons for about two seconds.
Use the MODE button to turn Remote mode on.
Hold down the ZOOM and Down– buttons for about two seconds again, and the flash will switch to the Remote screen.
You can move around this screen by pressing the MODE button.
Move to the CH setting and select the channel with the Up+ or Down– buttons.
Press MODE again to move to the GROUP setting and select the group with the Up+ or Down− buttons.
Press the MODE button again to finish.
Use the controls, as shown in Figure 9-11, to set the flash to Remote slave mode so that your commander device can control it.
Turn the SB-600 on, then press and hold down the ZOOM and Down– buttons at the same time for about two seconds. It will switch to the screen as seen in Figure 9-12.
Now press the MODE button to change Off to On as shown on the right in Figure 9-12. This has enabled the Remote wireless slave functionality of the SB-600, but we need to validate the channels and groups settings to be sure they match our commander device’s settings.
Hold down the ZOOM and Down– buttons again, for a couple of seconds, and the SB-600 will switch to the screen that allows you to set the channel (CH) and group (Figure 9-13).
Notice how proper use of CLS can take out the harsh highlights and shadows produced by conventional direct flash.
Use the MODE button to move around this screen (Figure 9-13). Move between the CH and GROUP settings while making sure they match your commander device’s settings.
Press the MODE button until you see the channel (CH) number flashing. Now use the Up+ or Down– button to change the channel number.
Press the MODE button again until you see the GROUP letter flashing. Now use the Up+ or Down− button to change the GROUP letter to match that used by the commander device.
Press MODE again to finish and you are ready to take some pictures.
Do a test shot to see if your D700 will fire the SB-600 remotely. If not, check to make sure the channel and group on the SB-600 are set to the same settings as set in your commander device (D700 in Commander Mode, SU-800, SB-900, or SB-800).
It is relatively simple to turn off Remote mode on the SB-600. Simply follow these steps and the SB-600 will return to a normal iTTL stand-alone condition:
Hold down the ZOOM and Down– buttons for about two seconds. The screen will change to the remote On/Off screen.
Push the MODE button once to change On to Off.
Hold down the ZOOM and Down– buttons for about two seconds again and the SB-600 is now back to iTTL stand-alone mode.