This will date me a bit. But I still have my SB-24 and SB-26 from
film days. Even after switching over to digital, I kept both and
would use them at times with an SU-4 unit on the SB-24. I tried some
of the early "digital" slaves but could never get consistent results
when using TTL flash on my D70. On Manual, they would work fine as
slaves. But if I tried to use them with one of my SB-800s or with
the camera's on-board flash in TTL mode, all bets were off. So I
stopped using them, thinking that I would probably auction them off
on ebay or trade them in on something.

I was looking through some of the Wein peanut slaves on B&H after
some of the recent discussion about using older flashes. I found a
very interesting Wein "Digital" peanut slave that claimed (as my
early ones did) to be able to ignore the pre-flashes and fire non-TTL
speedlights in concert with TTL lights. The lights would still have
to operate in Manual Mode and be adjusted by hand but they could be
used to add to a photograph where TTL lights were being used, I-TTL
lights. I have been thinking a lot about adding an SB-900 or another
SB-800 to my kit. But being able to use my older flashes would give
me a lot more lighing power now and later. I thought it would be
worthwhile to buy one of the peanut slaves and the necessary SB24/25
adapter to try it out.

I got the slave and adapter today. I loaded batteries in the SB-24,
put the adapter into the PC outlet, then plugged in the Wein Digital
Peanut Slave. I set the SB-24 to Manual, 1/8th power and aimed it at
a set of keys. At first, I used the onboard flash of a D300 in TTL,
set to -3.0 compensation to see if it would trigger the SB-24. It
worked perfectly. Then I backed the power of the SB-24 back to 1/16,
and set up the SB-26 identically, moving it opposite the SB-24. They
were both keyed successfully.

I put an SB-800 on the D300, set it up as a Master with its output at
0. It also triggered both the SB-24 and SB-26 correctly. Finally, I
put my SU-800 on the D300. With no visible flash coming out of the
SU-800 (No visible pre-flash = no blinks!), both flashes fired
successfully. The only real limitation I can see with these peanut
slaves is that they must be able to "see" the controling unit, or one
of the remotes firing to be able to fire.

So now, I can use my two SB-800's in iTTL, controlling them with
either the D300's on-board commander or an SU-800, with full control
of their output from the camera, while also using my old flashes for
addtional lighting (lighting a backdrop or as a kicker or both.) I
can wait for the additional SB-900 for a bit now.

Here is a link to what was needed:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?
O=workaround.jsp&A=details&Q=&sku=63109&is=REG

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?
O=workaround.jsp&A=details&Q=&sku=263022&is=REG

Mel Hughes

Sparta, TN