Nikon D200 and Nikon's Creative Lighting System
by Digital Darrell

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Basically the Commander Mode’s Mode fields will display the selections listed below. Use your thumb toggle switch to change the values.

Mode Settings Overview:

Mode Settings Detail

TTL Mode

The TTL setting represents using the full power of i-TTL technology. By leaving Mode set to TTL (as shown in Figure 1) on each of the Built-in or Groups A or B, you derive maximum flexibility and accuracy from all your flash units.

In this mode the Comp setting (Figure 1) will display exposure values from -3.0 EV to + 3.0 EV, a full 6-stop range of exposure compensation for each Group of Speedlights. You can set the compensation in 1/3 EV steps for very fine control. If you change Comp to a “+” or “–“ setting, the LCD Control Panel will show the flash compensation symbol.

AA Mode

I am only briefly touching on the AA mode, since that is an older non-i-TTL technology included for those accustomed to using the older technology. With the SB-800 it is used primarily by cameras not compatible with the Creative Lighting System. It is not available for the built-in pop-up Speedlight on the D200, or for the SB-600. You can safely ignore the AA mode, unless you want to experiment with it. It will not provide as accurate a flash exposure as TTL mode though, since it is not based on the amazing i-TTL technology.

M Mode

This allows you to set eight different levels of flash output for the pop-up flash or the Speedlights in Groups A or B. The settings you can put in the Comp field are: 1/1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, 1/64, or 1/128. Many people are used to working with flash units this way, so it seems more familiar. CLS is willing to oblige those experienced in working manually.

-- Mode (Double-Dash Mode)

The built-in pop-up Speedlight will not fire the main flash in this mode. It will fire the monitor pre-flashes, since it uses them to determine exposure, and communicate with the external flash groups. Be sure you always raise the pop-up flash in any of the Commander Modes, otherwise the flash Groups will not receive a signal and won’t fire their flashes.

Special Note: Since the pop-up’s monitor pre-flashes always fire, be careful that they do not influence the lighting of your image. Use a smaller aperture, or move the camera farther away from your subject if the pre-flashes add unwanted light.

When setting the Mode for Group A or B to Double-Dash mode, that entire group will not fire any flash output. You can use this mode to temporarily turn off one of the flash Groups for testing purposes.

Setting the Channel (CH) for Communication Look at Figure 2, or your D200’s Commander Mode screen and you’ll notice that just below Group B you’ll see a Channel 3 CH selection. (Outlined in red in Figure 2) The number “3” (factory default) is the communication channel your D200 is expecting to use to talk to the external flash Groups.

You can select any number between 1 – 4. There are four channels available, just in case you happen to be working in the vicinity of another Nikonian who is also using Commander Mode. By using separate channels you won't interfere with each other.

It is important that you realize that all your external flashes in all the Groups must be on the same channel. This involves setting up your individual flash units to respond on a particular channel. We’ll next examine how to do that for the SB-800 and SB-600 Speedlight units.

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